Ideas on old ale? new to the style

I guess BJCP says that the lighter end is 1.060, but I think a big beer like an old style won't be ready for 6 months or more.

I'd go with an English Bitter. ZING!

 

I'm not a huge fan of the style, so I'll let other veterans chime in here. I have found that aeration is crucial when you pitch to get this beer to shape up in the appropriate amount of time.

 

Old Ale was just that , ale with some age to it (otherwise it was mild ale),
Bitter comes from the beer family rather than the ale.
Here's something from Ron's blog on the subject.Ignore anything the BJCP write about old ale unless you are entering one of their competitions!
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/old-ale-in-1790s.html
And Martyn provides some well researched background;
http://zythophile.wordpress.com/201...e-difference-between-barley-wine-and-old-ale/
Here's a recipe for "Sussex Old Ale" , makes 6 US gallons with OG 1.048
7 1/4 lb pale malt
5 oz black malt
1 oz molasses
3 oz Fuggles hops
1 oz WGV hops All hops full boil
14 oz soft dark brown sugar
5 saccharin tablets

Taken from "Brewing beers like those you buy" , no yeast specified, mash at 151 degrees.

 

Another recipe from Dave's book.Written in ca 1970 it doesn't specify which crystal malt to use as HB stores only sold one! And it simply asks for a wine yeast such as HB stores would have stocked at the time.
Gale's Prize Old Ale;
OG 1.100 Makes 2 UK gallons or 2.4 US gallons.
6 1/2 lb Pale Malt
1 lb crystal malt
1 oz black malt
4 oz molasses
Mash at 151 degrees (all Dave Lines's beers were mashed at 151 regardless of style!!!)
3 3/4 oz Goldings hops , full boil.

 

I'm skeptical about this part. I won't be surprised if you tell me at one time it was practiced somewhat commonly in the trade, but it seems unnecessary.

 

Naah, it was the Germans who used to put saccharin in beer.

 

Thing about saccharin is that unlike sugar it sweetens but isn't fermentable. It's present in a lot of homebrew recipes.

 

I understand that saccharin is sweet and not fermentable, but I was suprised to see it in a homebrew recipe. I'm from the generation where saccharin was vilified (falsely, apparently) as a carcingogen over here in the US, and it still causes me to shudder in fear, although I sometimes use other sugar substitutes that have their own dark sides.

Five tablets doesn't seem like a lot for a 6 gallon batch, but saccharin is several hundred times sweeter than sugar, so it probably does have an impact on the homebrew. Still, I struggle to understand why it is right in an old ale. I'm no beer historian, but I suspect that in olden days, old ales didn't have saccharin! My understanding is that these are there English beers where Bretannomyces and perhaps some lactic acid bacteria would have had some impact due to long term aging, i.e., staling (please correct me if I'm misguided on this point) - I wouldn't have thought residual sweetness would have been characteristic, unless maybe they were often served blended with newer beers?

 

Dave Line, when he wrote the book, worked out recipes which gave a result as close as possible to the commercial version.He realised that simply scaling down the actual recipe doesn't do this so he scored his goal by using ingredients not in the original and not using ingredients present in it.That's where the saccharin came from.
This was not a true Old Ale in the old style of course, it was a 1960s/70s beer.

 

I'm not casting stones because I use natural ingredients when I make root beer, but it sounds like it's not great for you. Neither is drinking, smoking, having fun, life, etc. etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin

 

OP a porter also dates back to the 1700s and could easily shape up in 5 weeks if you keep it light in style.

 

Had a beer at Victory a few weeks ago called a "Kennett Ale" it was based on a recipe from the 1800's with a strength of 8.6%. Very tasty. Here is how Victory describes it.

A 19th century-style ale, our Kennett Ale is brewed using English and German malts, brown sugar, esplette peppers, grains of paradise, and coriander. Its deep brown color and earthy aroma complement the sweet fruit flavors and slight peppery heat left on the tongue.

 

6lbs extra light DME
.5 lb 40L crystal steeped
.5lb 120L crystal steeped
2oz Fuggle @ 60 min.
1oz EKG's @ 15 min.
1oz EKG's @ 5 min
WLP 007
You will not be disapointed with this recipe. If your a hop head you can always add more. Good luck.

 

I brewed a hodgepodge of sorts Old Ale with MADhombrewer in September. Gleaning a couple tidbits, we used something like 45% light Munich because of an old thread I found on ratebeer, some treacle because Jamil Z says you can't brew an authentic old ale without it, a dash of rye to give a rustic character, bittered to style, finished with Saaz to accentuate any rye spice, and fermented with WL013. Worked out pretty good. Lots of rich fruity components to that beer. Bottled a 1.016 FG 9% ABV beer after 28 days and it carbed just fine. My collab partner has plans to brew it again very soon and I'll be likely cooking up another batch this fall.

 

I'm sure it was a lovely beer, but it certainly wasn't authentic, because using treacle would have been illegal until the last quarter of the 19th century, in the UK at least.

 

One of my favorite beers – Bell's Third Coast Old Ale. You'll need a LOT of time on this one, as well as a larger than normal mash tun, and metric s$&@ ton of grain for 5.5 gal but hey, it'd be worth the wait. If you have a kegging system, it could potentially be ready for your 4th of July party:

1.095
80 ibu

5.5 gallons

mash 150-152
24 lb 2 row
1 lb victory
.5 lb 40 crystal
.5 lb 80 crystal

2 oz 10% aa centennial 60
2 oz 10% aa centennial 20
.5 oz 10% aa centennial 0

pitch on huge slurry of american or english ale strain

 

....and just realized you said half grain, half extract.. so it could be done in a standard sized mash tun. Just do 12 lb of the 2 row instead of 24, and add around 4.5 lb pale malt extract @ 60 min and another 4.5 @ 30 min. Everything else should stay the same.