Shales Bitter

Ken Shales was a British beer writer whose book, "Advanced Home Brewing", was first published in 1972. When I got the book in 1978, my only other reference was Leigh Beadle's pamphlet. (I got my original equipment at Leigh's brew store in Carrboro.) It is an excellant book with just enough information and lots of good recipes. It is well worth searching out.

Brewer:	Prince George's Brewery		Email:	arthurpmetzner@gmail.com
Beer:	Shales Bitter		Style:	English Ordinary Bitter
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	6.4 gallons
Color:	13 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	28 IBU
OG:	1.036		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	3.1% v/v (2.5% w/w)
Water:	6 gallons Deer Park Water 1 teaspoon water salts (calcium and magnesium sulfates)
Grain:	4.0 oz. American victory 4.0 oz. British crystal 50-60L 4.0 oz. British crystal 95-115L
Steep:	30 minutes in 160°F water
Boil:	70 minutes	SG 1.077	3.0 gallons
	5.0 lb. Light malt extract 1.0 lb. Wheat malt extract
	Irish moss for 15 minutes
Hops:	.3 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 45 min.) 1.5 oz. Bramling Cross (5% AA, 45 min.) .5 oz. Bramling Cross (aroma)
Yeast:	Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale Yeast large smack-pack, added to 0.5 gallons starter liquid. (0.5 lbs dried light malt extract, 1 tsp calcium chloride, 0.5 teaspoons yeast energizer, oxygen from diffusion stone) Starter only 5 hrs old when pitched. (I.E, yeast packet pitched into starter 5 hrs before starter went into fermenter)
Log:	Pitched yeast Sunday Oct 5 at 1130PM Bubbling every 60 seconds Oct 7 9:00AM Bubbling every 7 seconds the next day
Carbonation:	Added 7.9 gms of malt extract to 6 (US) gallons of beer I think the f*#&~#@ Ringwood yeast settled out before fully attenuating the beer. Its massively overcarbonated.
Tasting:	I have to lift a portion of the cap to let it fizz off. Then I recap and wait a day for the yeast to settle. At that point, its quite a nice beer. Light malt and ester aroma up front, followed by light hop aroma. Some malt sweetness with caramel note up front. Bitter flavor follows strongly. Hop flavor is moderate and quite pleasant. Perhaps some black currant flavor from Bramling hops - cannot quite detect it clearly.. Finish is hop flavored.

Recipe posted 12/28/08.