Author: Matt Del Fiacco

Compared to their modern American counterparts, English-style ale is typically known for being more focused on malt and yeast derived ester characteristics than just hops, which despite my love for a good hop-centric IPA, I really appreciate for its relative balance and easy-drinking nature. One style from this regional family of beers is the British Golden Ale, which the BJCP describes as, “A hop-forward, average-strength to moderately-strong pale bitter. Drinkability and a refreshing quality are critical components of the style.“

While British Golden Ale is noted for having a stronger hop characteristic than other English styles, it’s important to note that said character usually comes from less pungent traditional English hop varieties such as East Kent Goldings or Fuggles, which tend to lend more floral and earthy tones than popular American hop varieties. The yeasts of choice for fermenting British Golden Ale are those known to produce more esters while the malt bill is often kept simple in order to let the hops shine.

My standard process for brewing British Golden Ale would generally include a 60 minute mash to ensure good conversion, a 60 to 90 minute boil to drive off DMS, pitching a healthy yeast starter to avoid diacetyl, and controlling my fermentation temperature to about 65°F/18°C to keep some of the esters restrained. However, I wondered what might happen if I cut a bunch of corners and brewed one up Short & Shoddy style!

| BREWING THE BEER |

I’m a big fan of East Kent Golding (EKG) hops and made them the focus of this beer. I also decided to use a blend of Pilsner and Maris Otter malts, as that’s what I had available.

Short & Shoddy British Golden Ale

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5 gal 20 min 39.4 IBUs 4.5 SRM 1.046 1.013 4.4 % Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt, Maris Otter 7.25 lbs 75.32 Swaen©Pilsner 2.375 lbs 24.68 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % East Kent Goldings (EKG) 57 g 20 min Boil Pellet 5 East Kent Goldings (EKG) 114 g 5 min Boil Pellet 5 Handful of Cascade 50 g 0 min Boil Pellet 5.5 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature SafAle English Ale (S-04) DCL/Fermentis 73% 59°F - 75.2°F Notes Water Profile: Unfiltered Chicago tap water treated with Campden Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Intentionally going into this brew with lacking preparedness, I collected some tap water and hit it with Campden rather than using RO water like I usually do. As soon as I’d collected the full volume, I flipped the switch to the electric elements.

While the water was heating to strike temperature, I weighed out and milled the grains.

When the liquor was warm enough, I added the grains and gave it stir before checking the mash temperature.

Rather than recirculating the sweet wort with a pump to maintain a stable temperature, I unplugged the controller and left the mash alone for 20 minutes. When the abbreviated mash step was completed, I checked the temperature again and noticed it had dropped a bit.

I lifted the grains out and let them drip into the kettle to reach the full pre-boil volume of wort.

I turned the elements back on at this point and set the controller to boil mode. I then proceeded to weigh out all of the hops for this batch and immediately added the first wort hop addition. This is when I realized I was a tad short on EKG…

I set a timer for 20 minutes as soon as the wort reached a boil then added hops at the times listed in the recipe.

At the end of the short boil, I embodied the Short & Shoddy spirit and tossed in a “handful” of Cascade hops running the wort through my chillers directly into a 6 gallon PET carboy.

A hydrometer measurement showed the wort was at 1.046 OG, smack in the middle of the range set by the BJCP guidelines, and good for a respectable 64% efficiency.

All said and done, I was into this brew day just about 2 hours, the shortest I’ve ever experienced. Rather than fermenting in a controlled chamber like I usually do, the filled carboy was placed in my basement bathroom, which maintains a fairly steady 68°F/20°C. With the temperature of the wort sitting at 77°F/25°C, I sprinkled a single packet of Safale S-04 Whitbread yeast directly onto the wort.

I returned 8 hours later to an actively fermenting beer.

I noticed visible signs of fermentation activity dwindling after 4 days and decided to let it sit 3 more days before taking a hydrometer reading that showed the beer was at FG.

I decided it was time to keg the beer.

The filled keg cold crashed in my keezer for 24 hours before I added the gelatin fining. I cranked the CO2 up to 40 psi and let it sit for 24 hours of burst carbonation before reducing the gas to 11 psi. After 2 more days of conditioning, only 10 days after it’d been brewed, the beer was ready to serve.

| METHOD |

Participants, all blind to the brewing methods used, were served samples of the beer in standard clear taster glasses then asked to focus on its appearance, aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. Each participant completed a brief survey in a relatively quiet setting after being instructed not to interact with others while evaluating the beer.

| RESULTS |

A total of 21 people of various levels of experience participated in this Short & Shoddy evaluation. Participants were first asked to write-in the style they believed the beer to be based on their perception.

Tasters were then instructed to rate how hoppy, malty, and dry they perceived the beer to be on a 0-5 scale where a rating of 0 indicated “not at all” and 5 indicated “extremely;” these ratings were then averaged.

Tasters were provided a list of common hop, malt, and yeast characteristics then instructed to select from each the one they perceived as being strongest in the beer.

Hop Characteristics

Malt Characteristics

Yeast Characteristics

Next, participants were asked to indicate whether or not they detected any off-flavors in the beer; those who did were provided a list of common off-flavors and instructed to select the one they perceived as being strongest. Out of the 21 participants, 16 felt the beer possessed no off-flavors. Of the 5 who did perceive off-flavors, 3 detected DMS and 2 noted it as being estery.

Tasters were then asked to rate how much they enjoyed the beer on a 0-5 scale where 0 indicated they hated it and 5 indicated they loved it.

Finally, the beer style was revealed to participants and they were asked to rate how representative it was on a 0-5 scale where 0 meant “not at all” and 5 meant “extremely.”

My Impressions: The first thing I noticed about this beer was the lack of esters in the aroma. Based on previous experiences with SafAle S-04, along with the fact I didn’t control the fermentation temperature, I expected the ester character to be far more prevalent than it was. The Cascade and EKG hops worked well together in both the aroma and flavor, which was otherwise bready and delicious. My only complaint about was that I perceived a very slight creamed corn note that made me think DMS might be preset, though this may very well have been in my head given my knowledge of the short boil length.

| CONCLUSION |

Not the most widely known style, I was admittedly optimistic about how a British Golden Ale would turn out when brewed using a Short & Shoddy process. A clean, moderately hopped ale, the Golden Ale is a balanced style of moderate ABV and bitterness with a light to medium body. With the exception of a slight hit to efficiency, I wasn’t too worried about the impact of the reduced mash and boil lengths, and while the indeterminate amount of Cascade hops seemed to lend a citrus character to the beer, I thought it was complimentary and fit within the style guidelines.

While a large majority of tasters perceived no off-flavors in this shoddily produced British Golden Ale, I thought it was interesting that 3 of the 5 who did indicated DMS as the most prominent, as that was the only potential flaw I picked up as well. Considering the results of prior boil length xBmts and lab data showing a pils malt based beer boiled for 30 minutes had no detectable DMS, I’ve come up with some hypotheses. It’s possible DMS was not present in the beer and the 4 of us who thought it was were wrong, perhaps influenced by an expectation or the belief in our palate’s prowess. However, if DMS was in fact present, it was clearly in too small of a concentration for most tasters to pick up, suggesting those who did might be more sensitive to the compound. My final thought is that what the 3 tasters and I perceived as DMS may have been the flavors produced by the combination of ingredients used.

Regardless of whether DMS was actually present or not, it didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this beer! Clean, crisp, and easy to drink, this Short & Shoddy British Golden Ale hit the spot, and based on the preference ratings of the blind participants, I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Not too shabby for a 2 hour brew day squeezed in after a full day of work!

I experienced the Short & Shoddy process to be a bit more hectic with less downtime than my regular 5-ish hour brew days, the major upside being that I was able knock out a standard size all-grain batch in way less time. While I felt a sense of freedom in allowing myself to do things “wrong” and certainly plan to brew more Short & Shoddy beers in the future, I won’t be making it my default approach, as I enjoy a relaxing brew day where I’m able to think about the process, kick back, and maybe drink a beer or 3 between steps.

If you have thoughts about this Short & Shoddy brew, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

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