Brakespeares Bitter

When brewed in Henley, to me it sometimes would have a slight sulphur note to it, especially if it was a bit young, but I don't think it was intentional. The main flavour to me was some good orangey hoppiness, a load of bitterness, for such a low ABV & a bit of slight butterscotch flavour from the diacetyl-producing mixed-strain yeast.

I've enjoyed the odd pint of it since brewed at Witney - I was really pleased with how close it was to how I remembered the Henley version, but I've not tried it very recently.

We did use mineral salts at Henley, but AFAIR not so as to replicate that overpowering "Burton snatch" (great term!) effect that Bass & Marston's can/used to have.

Why not send Wychwood an email & ask if sulphur is part of the intended flavour profile - I doubt it. From brakspear.co.uk & brakspear-beers.co.uk - "A superb session beer. Amber in colour with a good fruit, hop and malt nose. The initial taste of malt and the well hopped bitterness quickly dissolves into a predominantly bittersweet and fruity finish."

Tel - 01993 890 800 / email - snipped-for-privacy@brakspear-beers.co.uk / brewer - Jeremy Moss.

cheers, MikeMcG ex-Brakspear brewer.

I just had a quick look on the Brakspear / Wychwood sites - there's a nicely produced series of 'Brewery Tour' films -

- click on "mashing" for this quote from head-brewer, Jeremy Moss -

"we add gypsum to the water, it's a very traditional method of what they call 'Burtonising' the water - making it slightly harder. Though the water here is quite hard, it's full of bicarbonate - temporary hardness. So when you boil your kettle, you end up with a kettle full of 'fur'. We don't want temporary hardness, we want permanent hardness, so we add some gypsum, which also helps to make the beer more bitter . . ."

no mention of the "drains" or "struck match" smell of Sulphur. cheers MikeMcG

In message , MikeMcG writes

Gypsum's calcium sulphate: if you burtonise the water there's going to be some sulphur in the beer, though it needn't be given off as hydrogen sulphide. Even if it is, I don't think the customer's supposed to taste it. I seem to remember soft-spiling Burton beer to allow the sulphur to vent off before we sold it.

Brakspears ought to have a surprisingly rich complex flavour for its abv, but it shouldn't taste as heavy as Burton beer, and certainly not of sulphur. I had a couple of pints last weekend: the first barely touched the sides but the second was fine.

it is/was part of the description given to some Burton bitters, by writers like Michael Jackson (RIP) etc. Marson's (Banks's/W&D, whoever) even talk about it positively on their website -

"As well as producing a clearer, brighter bitter, natural filtration through the gypsum beds also adds the distinctive sulphurous aroma that has affectionately become known as the 'Burton snatch'."

before we sold it.

I know it's an odd aroma/flavour to like, but (like diacetyl) in certain beers & in low doses, I've quite enjoyed slightly sulphury pints of Marston's & IIRC a while back Bass too.

I'm not sure I follow you - do you mean the (extinct?) style "Burton Ale", or Marston's "Burton Bitter" or all beers brewed in Burton?

I can still remember my 1st pint of the stuff - such a shock with that bitterness, but so moreish.

Ha! Excellent! cheers MikeMcG

Personally I think the Wychwood brewed beer lacks the complexity and subtlety of the Henley brew, although it's still a very pleasant and drinkable beer. It's difficult to make the comparison though, since the beer went through many changes between the end of brewing at Henley and the current Witney arrangements.

A bigger loss has been Brakspears Special which was a wonderful special bitter. Little effort seems to have been put into taste matching this.

I've not noticed an obvious sulphur tang in the Witney Brakspears though it is quite a bitter beer (as was Henley Braks).

Paul

I disagree, but each to his own - I do remember the Burtonwood beers being literally & taste-wise miles away from the Henley version - not good IMO.

oddly, from the website, there is no mention of Special, which I always thought of as being better-known than the "ordinary" bitter.

There's a (bottled only?) 4.2% beer called EPA - English Pale Ale, but no mention of a draught version of it or Special.

quite a bitter beer (as was Henley

I'm sure you can have one without the other though :~) cheers MikeMcG

Thank you all for your remarks. It seems that we are all agreed on what this beer ought to be like or used to be like. The recent sulphurous taste

-fireworks and steam- engines- not egg or sneg, may have been a passing error. Years ago when I used to brew beer we used sodium metabisulphite to sterilise the equipment. If grown- up breweries use it, an oversight could have led to an unfortunate taste in one batch. I will repeat the experiment and try it again when the opportunity appears.

I'd put money on them *NOT* using sodium met. A very poor product compared to modern sterilisers.

I use sodium metabisulphite when I make wine and beer. What are "modern sterilisers"?

For home sterilising, I use Videne Antiseptic Solution. It's a providone-iodine 10% solution with water (see

You can order it in Boots, or some other chemists may stock it. Be sure you order the Antiseptic Solution, NOT the surgical scrub or alcoholic tincture. The stuff is distributed by Adams Healthcare.

Although it may seem expensive at first glance, for a no-rinse solution it should be diluted to 1.5ml Videne per ltr water. Clean your equipment with a cleaner (weak bleach or similar) rinse well, follow up with Videne steriliser. At the recommended dilution you don't need to rinse it, if you make it stronger, then theoretically you do, but taste tests indicate it as pretty well undetectable in stronger concentrations.

There was a whole load of discussion of it on

, but I'm unable to log into there at the moment to get the details.

Your homebrew shop *can* obtain something similar from Brupaks, but it's much more expensive and *may* (I'm not sure) contain cleaning agents as opposed to Videne which is just steriliser. Known as Iodophor ( see

and

Sodium met is fine for washing your fruit etc for wines, but does not kill nasties thoroughly, just puts them to sleep for a while.

I believe commercial brewers use far stronger cleaner/steriliser compounds, but these aren't really recommended for home use.

If I can help some more, please post back here.

Wow, thanks for the info, Keith - a real eye opener! I'll try and track Videne down.

Actually sodium met is excellent for what it's used for and has the advantage that an excess doesn't give off tastes and actually stabilises the beer. It doesn't kill all the bugs but I used nothing other than good kitchen hygiene for the first 20 years of homebrewing and like countless generations before me found that it worked perfectlywell.I never lost a brew through infection. Most brewers seem to use peracetic acid these days.I was offered some but chose to stick with sodium met.

Some small brewers tend to take the "no taste" as gospel and overdo the sodium metabisulphite quantity in an effort to preserve the beer when sent to the agency trade. Unfortunately the no taste aspect isn't true and you can tell when it has been over used. I recall sitting in a judging panel a number of years ago and playing spot the beer and spot the fault with the assistance of a local brewer.

As an experienced home brewer and commercial cider maker I strongly disagree with this advice. I would never use any iodine-based product in any vessel designed to hold either of these drinks.

Caustic soda is ideal for actually cleaning vessels and containers, and sterilises as well. Commercial brewers use it for cleaning vessels. Sodium metabisulphite *will* sterilise; you need to add some citric acid to release the sulphur dioxide. The sulphur dioxide produced is the only preservative permitted in beer, wine, etc in the UK.

My regime is to clean with caustic soda; rinse with plain water, then fill with a solution of sodium metabisulphite and citric acid, and stand for a while. Then empty and drain. The container is now sterile and the slight residue remaining in it is in no way harmful to the contents and can be beneficial. I have never had any drink go off in bottle as a result of this procedure.

Chlorine bleach is often used, but the odour is difficult to get rid of. I would recommend you avoid it.

Roy.

It has been used in the dairy and food industries for many years, and is perfectly safe. See

I'm sure you can Google for Iodophor/betadine/videne and get many more results. I have been using it for about 10 years with no problems

Agreed. Personally I would not use it, based purely on my own dislike of handling aggressive materials, but that's a personal call. Also it needs rinsing, which could possibly reintroduce infection.

As I said above, each to his own. Hold your breath while using :)

Preservative yes, but we're talking sanitiser, which is used to sanitise equipment and containers. Iodophor is permitted and has been for years.

I did say a thin bleach (solution)and rinse well. Also Iodophor/Betadine/Videne will neutralise any bleach residue (which shouldn't be present if rinsed thoroughly) That said, bleach is not a friend of stainless steel, so I wouldn't leave the two in contact for an extended period.