Traditional British Beer Ian Bearpark Production

Traditional British Beer
Lecture given by
Ian Bearpark
Production & Distribution Director
Daniel Thwaites Brewery
Blackburn, England
Master Brewers Association of the Americas
District Northwest Fall Meeting
Nov. 4-5, 2011
Renton, WA
Traditional British Beer - who is this bloke (Guy)
Romford Brewery ‒ Maintenance, Packaging & Projects
Alloa Brewery ‒ Chief Engineer & IT
Tetleys Brewery (Carlsberg Leeds) ‒ Chief Engineer
Carlsberg ‒ External Brewing & contracts
Daniel Thwaites ‒ Production & Distribution Director
Also Examiner for the IBD Master Brewer
Module 4 ‒ Resource Mgt and Regulation Compliance ‒ the one the brewers hate
Chairman Great Northern Section of the IBD
Traditional Beer
•  Also known as:-
‒  Real Ale
‒  Cask conditioned beer
•  Until the late 1950 s the only beer but:‒  Short shelf life, skilled handling and often
poor quality
‒  2 main types, Mild & Bitter
•  Introduction of brewery conditioned,
filtered, pasteurised beer ‒ Keg Beer
•  Some beer enthusiasts formed CAMRA
to preserve the old methods
What is Cask Beer
•  Unfiltered beer which has undergone clarification and a
secondary fermentation in cask. Definitely not Reinheitsgebot,
celiac or vegetarian approved but tastes good
•  Dispensed without gas pressure by hand pull from a cask filled
and dispensed at atmospheric pressure
•  Unique beer style - part of Britain s heritage
‒  c. 6 Million Hl brewed/annum (8% of market)
‒  Brewed by c. 550 mostly small local breweries, some medium sized
family owned regional breweries eg Thwaites, Robinsons, Hook
Norton, Timothy Taylor
•  Huge choice of beers ‒ refreshingly light 3+ % abv through to
stronger beers >6%
‒  Light ->copper coloured -> dark beers
•  The BEST pubs always serve excellent cask beer.
A Beer Cask
UK Cask Sizes
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Pin
Firkin
Kilderkin
Barrel
Hogshead
4.5 UK galls
9 UK galls
18 UK galls
36 UK galls
54 UK galls
•  1 UK brl = 1.4 US brls
36 pints
72 pints
144 pints
288 pints
432 pints
20.34 L
40.86 L
81.72 L
163.6 L
246.2 L
What is good cask beer
•  Clear and bright (not cloudy!)
•  Cloudy beer must be wrong ‒ wheat beers never sell well
•  Must taste fresh and have condition
‒  (Naturally developed CO2 ‒ approx 0.9-1.1 vols)
•  Sparkle, not flat /dead taste
•  Good head (local variations! more later)
•  Correct Temperature in the glass.
10 ‒ 13C ‒ depends on beer / location or 55 F
Why is it special
•  Usually a good balance of flavour ‒
•  malty, bitter/sweet, often with noticeable hoppy
flavour and aroma
•  Because it is not too cold or highly carbonated, the
beer envelopes the whole mouth and tongue giving a
total flavour experience and unique mouth feel
•  Wide appeal to customers
•  We let anyone into our pubs
Some British Beer Types
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Bitter ‒ Pale to medium, 3.4 ‒ 4%, not over hopped session beer, 26-28 IBU
IPA ‒ Pale/medium, 4-4.5% fruity & hop aroma, bitterness 35-40 IBU
Mild ‒ dark, 3-3.5%, nutty, malty 18-22 IBU
Porter ‒ dark 4-5% smooth, caramel, 30-40 IBU
Stout ‒ dark 4-4.5% roast, 40-45 IBU
Note 60% of beer sold is now either UK brewed or
imported Lager, 20-26 IBU
•  Cask beer is growing - mostly by small brewers
Some Award Winning UK Cask Beers
Timothy Taylor Landlord
Draught Bass Ale
4.3% abv
Bitterness = 42
Colour = 22
*Former Champion cask beer BIIA awards
*Former CAMRA beer of the Year
*Full tasting, fruity, citrus, malty, hoppy
from Fuggles, WGV and Styrian Goldings
4.4% abv
Bitterness = 27
Colour = 21
*Cask Beer “icon” from Burton-on-Trent
*Full, malty, distinct bitter/sweet, toffee/liquorice
*Subtle hoppy flavour from East Kent Goldings
Fullers London Pride
Deuchars IPA
3.8% abv
Bitterness = 28
Colour = 14
*Current Champion cask beer BIIA awards
*Former CAMRA beer of the Year
*Very light refreshing, malty beer, with strong
hoppy/fruity flavour derived from Fuggles copper hops
and Styrian Goldings (and some Willamette!) late hopping
4.1% abv
Bitterness = 30
Colour = 24
*Gold medal – Premium Bottled Ale
International Beer & Cider awards
*Former CAMRA champion cask bitter
*Rich, smooth, malty and fruity beer with
an excellent hop character from English hops
– Target, Challenger & Northdown
The beer for tonight
Lancaster Bomber
4.4% abv
Bitterness = 30
Colour = 30
*Gold Medal European Star 2007 – who knows next week
*Full tasting, classic English strong ale, hoppy
from Fuggles, Challenger in the kettle
and Styrian Golding (dry hopped in the FV & cask - hopefully)
Expertly brewed for tonight by Jeff Clawson – Director of International
Brewing – Oregon State University
- Some Seasonal Thwaites Cask Beers
‒  13 Guns‒ an American IPA 5.6% abv
•  Simco, Citra, Centenial Hops in the Kettle
•  Simco, Citra and Apollo in the FV
•  Brewed by the
‒  Crowd Pleaser ‒ An organic summer beer
4.1% abv
•  Organic Marris Otter, Nelson Sauvin hops
‒  Flying Shuttle‒ a dark ruby ale 4.9% abv
•  Unofficial beer of Lancashire Day, Nov 27th
Hop Flavour in Cask Beer
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Hop plugs (½ oz size)
•  Hop plugs are added direct to cask at filling ‒ 2oz/brl
•  Traditional method - less used now
•  Flavour takes time to develop ( 1-2 weeks) ‒ often variable results, with
best flavour developed after 10-14 days
•  But - Hops block up cask cleaning equipment
Late Hopping to Kettle or Hop-back/Whirlpool
•  Most commonly used method ‒ (start at c. 0.2lb/brl)
•  More consistent flavour than dry hopping
Dry hopping in the fermenter
•  Often 3-7 Kg per brl, becoming more popular in smaller breweries ‒ also
blocks the drains
Use of Hop oils (c. 1ml/ brl) ‒ not so traditional - no
•  Dosing of distilled hop oil from specific varieties
•  Need proper dosing equipment
•  Flavours on latest oils are better than early offerings
Note - Keep hops fresh
•  Hops get old and lose their aroma very quickly in contact with air.
•  Kept sealed packs and stored in a cool place
Open Square Fermenter
Yorkshire Square Fermenter
The Thwaites Tun Room
Secondary fermentation and condition
Cask beer is unfiltered beer which has been clarified and undergone a secondary
fermentation in cask.
2 methods :
1. 
The Primary fermentation is stopped by skimming (top fermentation) and
applying cooling in FV (bottom fermentation) when there are 0.5-0.75 Plato
(1-2 degrees) of fermentable sugar left. This extra sugar will ferment in the
cask to give added CO2 and condition
2.
An alternative is to fully ferment the beer in FV, but add a small amount of
PRIMINGS (sugar solution) to the cask
‒  Priming sugars can be : sucrose, glucose, plus other sugars
‒  A typical sugar addition rate is 0.75g/Hl (0.9g/USbrl)
‒  Used in Thwaites Mild production only, not bitters
However the secondary fermentation is initiated, the CO2 in the cask should
increase by 0.1- 0.3 vol/vol to 1.1-1.3 vol/vol
Beer Clarification using Finings
•  Cask Conditioned beer MUST be clear.
•  Finings are used to clarify the beer in cask before serving.
•  There are 3 types of Finings :
‒  Kettle or copper finings ‒ added to the copper or whirlpool/hop
back. Not used by Thwaites
‒  Auxiliary finings ‒ added to cask during filling or to racking tank,
but NOT at the same time as white finings
‒  Thwaites now use a polysaccharide/silica/hydrosol solution
between FV and racking tank
‒  White ‒ isinglass finings ‒ added to beer during cask filling
Cask Filling (Racking) in North England
4 Breweries
Black Sheep Brewery
•  Masham, North Yorkshire
•  Started 16 years ago following a family
dispute when Theakston s was sold
•  Based in an old maltings
•  100,000 Hl per year
•  No pubs but sells through other brewers, pub
chains and bottles in supermarkets nationally
•  Original Theakstons brewery is again family
owned and all are friends again
Brewdog
•  Started 2007 by 2 trawlermen aged 24 in
Frazerborough 100 miles north of Aberdeen
•  50 Hl brewhouse expanding September 2012
to 100 Hl
•  Exporting to 27 countries
Copper Dragon Brewery
•  Based Skipton
•  Started 2000
•  Now 6 pubs and sales through other brewers
and pub companies
•  Output 20,000 Hl per year
•  New 100 Hl brewhouse 2008
•  Beers bottled by Daniel Thwaites
•  Visitor Centre
Daniel Thwaites Brewery
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Founded 1807
Still family owned
Brews 200,000Hl per year
Installing a 20 brl craft brewery
Unique Family brewery with keg,
cask, bottle and can packaging
•  350 pubs mostly in NW England
An English Village ‒ 2 pubs, church & a brewery
Lets go in
The Yorkshire Way
The Autoback
German Dispense
A pint please
Top it up please
The Cask Market (From the Cask Report)
•  Cask beer is now 16% of the on-trade beer market
and 45% of the ale market, both increasing
•  More younger people and women are drinking cask
beer
•  Cask beer appeals to people looking for crafted,
traditional British products ‒ a booming area postrecession as people seek out simplicity and
authenticity. Has local appeal.
•  Cask beer appeals to the environmentally aware
consumer ‒ a bottle of Bordeaux wine has a carbon
footprint four times greater than a pint of cask ale
The Hard Sell
•  The Scandinavian Brewing School and the
VLB in Berlin are good and speak better
English but the IBD offers the widest range of
qualifications including distance learning
‒  Fundamentals
‒  Certificate
‒  Diploma ‒ almost degree level
‒  Master Brewer- almost an MBA in running a
brewery
Lets go for a beer