Codename : Golden Slumbers
As I was scrolling through assorted styles, I discovered a British Golden Ale. In stark contrast to the darker beers I have brewed since I started, I decided to go much lighter. The title is once again inspired by the Beatles Song, “Golden Slumbers”.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Maris Otter malt
- 0.2 oz East Kent Golding hops at 60 minutes
- ¼ Whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes (optional)
- 0.1 oz Fuggles hops at 10 minutes
- 3 ml Nottingham ale yeast
Vital Stats
- Anticipated IBU : 26
- Anticipated ABV : 5%
- Target OG : 1.050
- Target FG : 1.012
- Arbitrary Brewhouse (in)efficiency : 65%
Brew Day
- Prepare 9.5L strike water, 154F
- Add the grains to the bag.
- Calibrate sonic screwdriver.
- Place the bag in the hot water, set the timer for 90 minutes, and maintain the temperature at 149 F. Looking for a minimum SG 1.020
- Lift the bag out of the pot, allow the contents to drip back in.
- Bring wort up to 212F to boil for 10 minutes, then bring down to 210 F. Total boil time is 2 hours.
- Add hops and Whirlfoc as prescribed above.Looking for a minimum SG 1.050
- Sanitise everything required for fermentation.
- Cool to room temp, an ice-bath or a snowbank work effectively
- Prepare yeast mixture.
- Add wort to the jug. Pitch yeast.
- Store in a cool place for primary fermentation for 14-21 days.
Bottling Day
- Sanitise everything required for bottling.
- Transfer from carboy to bottling pot.
- Prepare 19g corn sugar with enough hot water to dissolve it. Add to pot.
- Bottle.
- Preferably conduct bottle conditioning for at least 2-4 weeks.
Brew Notes
- Pre-boil SG 1.025 (yay!)
- Based on previous brewhouse efficiency, I had calculated a much lower OG of 1.042. I hit 1.053, so I kept tweaking the efficiency numbers until I reached something much closer. My estimated efficiency is now 65%.
- The significant change I made for this was steeping for 90 minutes, up from 60, and boiling for 2 hours.
- After one week, I filtered, and transferred the wort to a sanitised carboy. SG was measured at 1.024, that brings me to an ABV of 3.9% currently. Yay!
- Since my gravity readings were wonky with what was originally calculated, plus other unknown factors (stuck fermentation, maybe?) the FG was still 1.024. With bottle conditioning I can hope for a small bump, so hopefully 4.1%, which before revisionist history, was the expected ABV.



Tasting notes
An easy drinking ale, no complexity.
Brew day : 2-Apr-2022
Bottling day : 15-Apr-2022