CF103 Trial Hop

We love experimenting with new ingredients. So when I spotted a bunch of trial hops at The Malt Miller I bought three different ones straight away.

The first one we tried was called “Bishop” and you can read about it here.

More recently, we have made a trial beer with a variety only known as “CF103” (although I have a suspicion that the final name will be “Duchess”). This hop was described only as “peppery, spicy, floral”.

We have a very simple recipe we use for trialling hops. It’s mainly maris otter pale ale malt, with a small amount of biscuit malt to give it a slightly richer bready flavour.

I was keen to use most of the hops at the end of the boil, ensuring that we got the best flavour and aroma that we could from the trial hops. So we used Northern Brewer hops for the bittering, saving all the CF103 for later in the boil.

I have recently become increasingly concerned about high fermentation temperatures (with it being summer and all that). I know English ales are fermented at reasonably high temperatures, but I am becoming convinced that if you want a clean uncluttered flavour you need to be fermenting at 18C, not 21C. Which makes a temperature controlled fridge essential kit, especially during summer. This brew was fermented at 18C throughout. I think this has made a considerable difference. The flavour is cleaner right from racking into the keg. In the past we’ve had “that homebrew taste” which we have only been able to get rid of through many weeks of maturation. (It’s probably diacetyl, which tends to be produced in the early stages of a rapid fermentation). The problem is many weeks of maturation result in loss of hop aroma, flavour and bitterness. It’s OK for a dark malty ale, but not a light hoppy beer.

OK, so what does CF103 taste like? In short, Boddingtons!! At the moment, because it is young, the beer has a strong hop aroma and flavour. There’s a straw-like aroma that is very reminiscent of Boddingtons. That goes through into the taste, and you get it very clearly in the “back-aroma” when you breathe out after swallowing.

So there’s an irony here. This beer in the closest we have managed to get to Boddingtons in terms of aroma, flavour and colour. And we weren’t even trying. (To read about our most recent attempt go here).

Andy has suggested that we should call this beer “Duchess of Strangeways”. :-)