Joosemaus.co.uk

Tags: Beer

We've just finished bottling a new batch of beer. It's one of my favourites - we call it "Golden Boris IPA", named after the biggest fish in our pond. Golden Boris is India Pale Ale made with Maris Otter pale malt, and hopped with Fuggles, Goldings and Cascade. It should turn out to be around 5.9-6.0% alcohol and has a crisp Citrusy taste and flowery aroma. I based the recipe on the ingredients in Marston's Old Empire, but I think i've made something that I prefer more. I must admit i've been trying to make a good IPA for a while and I think I've cracked it. The leamington spa water here seems to be perfect for pale ale although i'm still not sure what other minerals I can alter to make the beer better. We certainly have a lot of sulphides in the water, but nowhere near that found in Burton on trent.

One of the things i've tried to do this time is to ensure that the PH of the mash is correct, tried to tighten up the sparging process to get a better extraction of colour and sugars and eliminate some of the subtle impurities in the aftertaste.