Winter's Night Ale No.2
I rather enjoyed my Winter's Night Ale, it's still cold here and I've got quite a lot of dark grains in stock so I thought I'd do this one again with some minor adjustments to the ingredients and a reduction in the gravity to make it more of an approachable ale.
Starter
I've decided to use the WLP025 again because, even though it's a tough one to clear, it does make a very tasty ale. I used my 500ml overbuilt starter from the fridge and used it to make up a 1 litre starter. I won't be saving this one to use again because I've also got the venerable Brewlab Yorkshire in the fridge.
Brew day
Here's the recipe that I decided on. There are no changes to the composition of the grains, only the weight is reduced to bring down the estimated OG to 1.043. Magnum, First Gold and Fuggle still make up the hops. I added a little more to the Fuggle and First Gold flavour additions and that's it.
Recipe Specifications
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Date: 14 March 2026
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 25.9 EBC
Estimated IBU: 37.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:67 Mg:13 Na:10 SO4:79 Cl:77
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type %/IBU
29.49 L Tesco Water Water -
2.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash) Water Agent -
2.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) Water Agent -
1.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) Water Agent -
1.30 ml Lactic Acid (Mash) Water Agent -
3.900 kg Crisp Clear Choice Extra Pale Malt (4.0 EBC) Grain 88.6 %
0.300 kg Dark Crystal (Crystal 400) (Crisp) (400.0 EBC) Grain 6.8 %
0.200 kg Wheat, Torrified (3.3 EBC) Grain 4.5 %
0.50 g Calcium Chloride (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.40 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.30 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.30 ml Lactic Acid (Sparge) Water Agent -
15.00 g Hallertau Magnum [11.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 19.8 IBUs
30.00 g First Gold [8.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10.6 IBUs
30.00 g Fuggle [5.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins) Fining -
1.0 pkg Southwold Ale (White Labs #WLP025) [35.49 ml] Yeast -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.400 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 24.49 L of water at 71.3 C 67.0 C 60 min
Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5.00 L water at 75.6 C
Brew day went off without any hitches and I was able to collect the usual 24 litres or so into the fermenter by 11am. The OG was 1.042, near enough to the estimate of 1.042 as to make no difference.
I checked in later at 6pm and, as before, the Southwold yeast was already off to a flying start. I'll say one thing for this yeast, it doesn't hang around.
The plan is to let this ferment for 2 weeks and then keg it.
Kegging day
After 16 days in the fermenter I kegged this ale. I got a full keg and 4 bottles from the fermenter.
The final gravity was 1.007 giving an ABV of 4.6% which is about where I wanted it compared to the 5.1% that I got last time. This should make it a more enjoyable ale to drink. The sample was lightly cloudy which is about the same as it was last time and is what I now expect since the WLP025 Southwold yeast only contains the flavour strain and not the flocculant strain. The appearance doesn't affect the flavour though because this sample jar tasted wonderful already and should only improve as it matures.
Tasting notes
As usual it took the Adnams strain a while to clear but it was certainly worth the wait. The taste is absolutely spot on for a clone of any Adnams dark ale and I really enjoyed this ale. I've now switched over to the Brewlab Yorkshire strain for my next run of ales but this is a strain I'll miss. It's a shame that it's a White Labs vault strain because it really does deserve to be on the list of regulars.