Trelawney Ale is brewed to be a light bodied, session beer, namely one which you can have a few of (if necessary) and not feel any consequences the following day !
My inspiration for brewing this beer is the wealth of English bitters which abound in the UK that allow the drinker a couple of beers without having to worry about making an arse of yourself afterwards !
In doing this, these beers do not sacrifice any of the requirements of a fine ale and rather complex beers often result.
Full malt flavours abound, coupled with glorious hop notes and, depending on whose taste buds you believe, there can be sultanas, tart fruit, citrus flavours and all manner of other things in between just lurking there to entice you.
On flicking through the pages of a book like Wheeler & Protz's "Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home" I was amazed at how many of their all grain recipes (in the Pale Ale & Bitters section) are really just small variations on one another. Some key aspects are present in all of these recipes and when you think of how many different tasting beers there are out there, all based on recipes which are plus or minus the same, you start to wonder where the differences lie !
Now, I covered that in my brewing philosophy page to some extent but what it said to me was . . . . take a basic recipe and brew it to death, investigating every possible angle and innovation your brewing skills allow !
And that, in a nutshell, explains why I have now brewed "the same beer" so many times, they have all been plus or minus the same recipe but, as time has passed, the source of my ingredients has changed, the variety of my hops has changed, the internet has opened up access to different yeast strains and my understanding of the brewing process, coupled with my own, personal interpretation of it in the form of my current brewing equipment, has led to a wonderful journey through beers of varying strength (I've brewed it variously from 1036 to 1048), varying bitterness levels (typically 20 to 28 IBU) and varying hop flavour / aroma profiles (I've experimented with various forms of Goldings, Cascades, local Southern Brewer and occasionally Fuggles). Not to mention the variety of yeast, both liquid form and dry, self cultured or grabbed at a moment's notice from Drayman's Brewery of Pretoria (thanks Moritz !).
Trelawney Ale is a light, copper coloured, English Bitter, that straddles the 'ordinary' and 'best' bitter categories, depending on the starting gravity. It has a light maltiness, light to medium in body, with medium to assertive bitterness. The bitterness depends on who you ask . . . I taste bitterness very poorly . . . so I often taste it as less bitter than my peers !
Trelawney Ale is my recommended recipe for a beginner, all grain mash brewer who needs to develop his / her brewing technique. Nothing is overwhelmingly assertive and mistakes are often easily picked up. OK, not so easy as in a lager but . . . when someone once told me my beer tasted of absolutely nothing, I was quite relieved . . . it was the first beer that I had ever brewed that didn't have noticeable faults in it ! Since then I have developed the character of each part of the beer's profile, whilst aiming to keep those faults way in the background !
Please feel free to go check out the Trelawney Ale recipe.
HOME
