Time for a new homebrew, the middle of May and a recipe based on Timothy Taylor Best Bitter, thus Maytim is the chosen moniker for my latest beer. I was very pleased with my previous attempt at the recipe (Tiny Tim – September 2014), probably one of my most successful to date but decided to meddle with the recipe a bit. The original recipe just had pale and crystal malt and Styrian Golding hops. With 10l of water I mashed a more varied grain bill – pale (1000g), mild ale (140g), crystal (100g) and biscuit (60g); this will either add more complexity or muddy the waters! I also used Fuggles hops instead of Styrian Goldings, which I understand to be a fairly close swap.

The beer had a 1.5 hour mash at about 66°C and then a hour long boil with 13g of hops at the start and another 5g with a generous pinch of Irish Moss ten minutes before the end. After cooling in a jerry can overnight, I set fermenting the next day with about 5.5g of Safale S-04 yeast. That was over the weekend and it is now fermenting along well.