08: Southsea Special Brew

Southsea Special Brew (Batch #1, OG 1054, Brewed 13/10/17)

This was a homage to a drink of my youth - the mighty Horndean Special Brew. The recipe was taken from the fabulous David Line 1970's era 'Brew Beers like...' book (p.88).

The recipe looked too light for HSB but the 'old boys' tell me that in the 70's to early 80's it was a much lighter, un-fined and powerful brew.

My first attempt has made a cracking 'brown beer' that i would have been delighted to have made years ago, but after the wave of hoppy and weird brews of late is now 'just' a brown beer. Hopefully they will come back in to fashion but this is an unimposing session ale. Will attempt to darken a tad for the next brew to get closer to the HSB i grew up on!

Ingredients:

4,000g pale ale malt
125g crystal malt
60g wheat malt
100g black treacle
450g soft brown sugar
Demererra sugar for priming
Saccharin tablets x5

Hop Profile:
Brambling 30g 75m
Golding 60g 74m
Golding 25g 0m + 15m soak.
Golding 15g, dry hop, 19/09/17

Yeast: English Ale.

Notes:

  1. Kit: stainless boiler, coolbox mashtun and plastic fermenter.

  2. Mash: 3.5gall @75C (stir) then leave for 90m and drain to bucket.

  3. Sparge: 85C and a jug slowly pour over grain (with perforated tin foil) to gather 5.5gall of wort.

  4. Boil: 75m to hop profile above, Irish moss (15m to end) add the sugar/treacle (at boil), cooling coil added at 0m to end of boil and cooled to 20C and add saccharin.

  5. OG: 1054

  6. FG: 1006 (~6.2% ABV)

  7. Finings: 23/10/17, gelatin.

  8. Bottled: 27/10/17, tasted very good.

  9. Condition: 1 week warm, then two weeks cool prior to drinking.

  10. Priming: A teaspoon of brown sugar per bottle.

  11. Taste: Hits the mark, very tasty and just what i was after.