Golden Progress
This brew is going to be another bitter, this time a little darker than my usual pale ales because I'll be using some dark crystal to give it a little more sweetness and body.
Starter
As is always the case I got my starter going on the Tuesday evening before Sunday's brewday. I made it up to 1.5 litres with 0.5 litres being earmarked to be stored in the fridge for next time and the remaining litre to be pitched into the wort on Sunday.
As is usual, the WLP002 yeast fermented out extremely quickly and appeared to be done after just a single day on the stir plate. I gave it an extra 12 hours so after a total of 36 hours I separated off 500ml to keep for the next brew and left a litre in the fridge for the brew on Sunday.
Brew day
This time I've decided to use a combination of First Gold and Progress hops. I think that they'll go together well in this brew.
Recipe Specifications
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Date: 10 August 2025
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 17.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 31.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:76 Mg:16 Na:9 SO4:92 Cl:108
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type %/IBU
29.36 L Tesco Ashbeck Water -
3.70 g Calcium Chloride (Mash) Water Agent -
3.40 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) Water Agent -
1.20 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) Water Agent -
0.10 ml Lactic Acid (Mash) Water Agent -
4.000 kg Weyermann Pale Malt (6.0 EBC) Grain 95.2 %
0.200 kg Crystal, Dark (Simpsons) (265.0 EBC) Grain 4.8 %
0.80 g Calcium Chloride (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.70 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.30 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.20 ml Lactic Acid (Sparge) Water Agent -
20.00 g First Gold [8.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 19.4 IBUs
20.00 g First Gold [8.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins) Fining -
20.00 g Progress [6.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 3.0 IBUs
25.00 g Progress [6.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 1.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.200 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 24.36 L of water at 71.3 C 67.0 C 60 min
Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5.00 L water at 75.6 C
Absolutely no issues on brew day, everything went as planned and I collected the expected amount of wort into my stainless steel fermenter.
The OG was 1.042, just one point shy of the 1.043 estimate. I'm happy with that. I managed to chill the wort down to 22C with my immersion chiller which meant it was safe to pitch the yeast starter immediately and leave it in the brew fridge set to 20C for the coming weeks.
Kegging day
After two weeks it's now kegging day. I was able to get a full corny and 4 bottles from the fermenter. The final gravity was 1.007 which means that this ale will be 4.7% ABV, just right for my tastes.
Tasting notes
This is my favourite beer of the last few months. There's a noteable caramel flavour running through it from the crystal malt and the hop flavours are highly remiscent of my Fuggle Duck from years ago. Progress and First Gold seem to be made for each other.
This is a recipe that I will do again, only next time I think I will save the First Gold for the flavouring addition and introduce a more assertive hop for the bittering because there's enough sweetness there from the crystal malt to handle it. I have some Target hops in stock so I think I'll try that.