Beer of the Month Article - Riggers on Pale Ale / Bitter

Paul Rigby

This is the first in a series of articles on beer styles and general information on brewing those styles for the home brewer. The information and opinions are very subjective, they are mine, and I'm positive that if I were to get a group of passionate home brewers together there would be endless debate on virtually every aspect of these articles.

My personal philosophy on brewing will also influence the content of these articles. My philosophy is simple, if, for instance, I am brewing a German lager I would, if possible, only use German malts, classic German hops, German lager yeast and if I'm really on the ball I would attempt to duplicate the appropriate German water chemistry. This maybe pedantic but I brew beer for me and not competitions, so to me the process is as important as the end product. If I brew an award winning German Lager I want to feel comfortable that the beer I have submitted to the competition is not just a fluke but brewed from the start as a true to style German Lager.
Paul C. Rigby

Pale Ale or Bitter?

Firstly we must start at the beginning, always a good place to start, and that is the history of the beverage known as "Pale Ale" and more specifically English Pale Ale (Australian and American Pale Ales are an entirely different story and will be dealt with a later article).
English Pale Ale is probably one of the most brewed, most consumed, and least understood of all of the classic beer styles. There are many views, opinions and questions regarding Pale Ale, not the least of which is, "What is the difference between pale ale and bitter?" To gain an insight into this dilemma we must delve into the quite extensive historical records. A common opinion is that the term "Pale Ale" came about in England at the time of the Industrial Revolution when the traditional wood fired malting kilns were replaced with coke fired kilns. Wood fired kilns produced very dark coloured malts with a distinctive smoky aroma whereas the new kilns produced very light coloured malt without the smoky aromas. The availability of this new "pale" malt to the brewers of the day in turn spawned a whole new generation of "pale" ales.
A new generation of both capitalism and "pale" ales saw the emergence of advertising and marketing as an ally to the commercial brewers of the day, all trying to gain a little more of the market than their competitors. We know that the crux of advertising and marketing is to make the product that you are trying to market different, or apparently different, from all the others in order to gain an edge, enter the "bitter" tag. I suspect that originally a commercial brewer probably made a version of pale ale that was a little more bitter than all the others of the day, and to gain that elusive marketing edge the name "bitter" was coined, this clearly was successful for the brewer concerned, and soon everyone called their pale ales "bitter" in order to preserve their market share - or possibly gain a little extra.
It should be apparent by now that in my opinion "Pale Ale" and "Bitter" are essentially different names for the same thing!
Time has complicated the situation since the Industrial Revolution, probably due to the same reason that the Pale Ale/Bitter dilemma, and that is the search for "uniqueness". What does a brewer do to create "uniqueness" in his pale ale? Well, there are few real options, higher or lower alcohol, lighter or darker colour, more or less bitterness, more or less hop character and that's about it. We now have a plethora of "bitters" of all strengths, colours, and hop profiles, so how do we differentiate between them all? Similar ones are grouped into categories. For the sake of time and space, the categories have been arranged generally according to alcohol strength, which must also influence the bittering levels, to maintain an acceptable balance in the finished product. Generally the accepted categories are Ordinary Bitter (3-4% alc, 20-35 IBU), Best or Special Bitter (4-5% alc, 23-48 IBU), Strong or Extra Special Bitter (5-6% alc, 30-55 IBU) and India Pale Ale (5-7% alc, 40-60 IBU), the latter being so "unique" that it almost should be in a category all of it's own.
Now down to the nitty gritty of it, how to brew a classic pale ale? As you have probably already gathered "Pale Ale" is a very broad term and almost anything brewed as an ale style would qualify as "Classic Pale Ale". My personal opinion comes to the fore again and I'm of the opinion that beers of around 5.0% alcohol seem well balanced, so we will concentrate on brewing 23 litres of best or special bitter.

Riggers' October Best Bitter

Enhanced Kit Version
I suggest starting out by purchasing a good quality Pale Ale/Bitter kit. There are numerous choices and the final decision is yours. There really isn't much that can be done to enhance a kit beer but there are a couple of things that I have tried and I think are worthwhile.
1. Substitute 1 kg of Light Malt Extract for the sugar or dextrose.
2. Put 2 litres of cold water in a saucepan and add 300 gms of Crystal Malt and heat up SLOWLY (over a 15 to 20 minute period) until just short of boiling. Strain the liquid into your fermenter, and discard the grain residue.
3. Put 2 litres of cold water into a saucepan and add 20 gms of fresh "Noble" British hop pellets (In my opinion there are only two to consider and they are Goldings and Fuggles) bring to the boil, as quickly as you like, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the strained liquid into the fermenter and discard the residue.
Follow the usual kit instructions for the remainder of the brew. This version will have a much better malt and hop profile and more body or mouth feel than a straightforward kit alone.

Malt Extract Version
Base Malt - 3.5kg Light Malt Extract
Grains:
200 gms Crystal Malt
80 gms Wheat Malt
20 gms Roast Malt
(Follow the method in point 2 of the enhanced kit instructions above)
Adjuncts - 500 gms Demerara Sugar
Hops - Preferably only English hops should be used, I generally use medium alpha
Northern Brewer for bittering, Goldings or Fuggles for flavour and aroma.
(For bittering aim at around 30 - 32 IBU's. Quantity will vary depending on the % Alpha Acid of the hops being used. Grain & Grape staff will be happy to do the calculations for you.)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1098 British Ale as a good reliable performer
If you prefer the convenience of dry yeast then try DCL Safale S-04.

Full Grain Version
Grains 3600 gms Ale
1000 gms Light Munich
300 gms Crystal (Lightest colour available)
100 gms Wheat
Mashing regimes are many and varied. Most good quality ale malts are very well modified and only need a simple single step infusion mash to obtain very good results.
Adjuncts - 250 gms Golden Syrup.
Hops - Aim at 34 - 38 IBU's using Northern Brewer for Bittering, Goldings or
Fuggles, for flavour, aroma and dry hopping. (I recommend dry hopping with
20 gms Goldings after racking)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1098 (See above) or Wyeast 1318 London Ale III