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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator

Contents:
  Old Ale Query (Andy Newman)

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Date: Thu, 27 Apr 89 16:05 EDT
From: Andy Newman <NEWMAN at Venus.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Subject: Old Ale Query

Greetings:

A bit over a week ago I was feeling lazy and decided to try a "beer kit"
instead of putting together my own formulae.  I chose Munton and Fison's
Old Ale kit mostly due to the slightly unusual instructions printed on
the back label.  I made a double batch.  The directions called for using
no corn sugar and roughly 3.6 gallons per 7 pounds of malt extract (the
actual recipe specifies the number of cans of water ala orange juice).
In addition, no priming sugar is used when bottling (!!).  I followed
the recipe exactly except I added 3 tsp. of Gypsum to the wort.

Well...on Monday I bottled the stuff.  If had fermented to completion.
The hydrometer was stable at 1.020 (o.g. was 1.058) and the fast bulk
of the yeast had settled out.  Out of curiosity I tasted some of the
green beer still in the fermentor.  It was INCREDIBLY bitter and 
seemed quite alcoholic.  My questions is...What exactly IS Old Ale, 
and roughly what is it supposed to taste like (opinions are welcome
on this last question)?  Did I screw up?  What is this going to 
taste like when it's mature?  Is 4 weeks long enough to mature it?
I've made bitters, pale ales, stouts and browns and nothing has ever
tasted this bitter right out of the fermenter.  I guess I'm more
curious than worried....HELP!

				-Andy Newman

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