SchlazzGraft

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I'm planning on making an ESB in a couple of weeks, and I picked out some ingredients for it. I meant to order dry light extract, but somehow I ended up clicking amber instead.

I figure using all amber should turn out ok, but I'm concerned that it may be too malty. Would an all-amber recipe be overkill for this type of beer? Should I get rid of the crystal malts if I decide to go with all amber? Any other advice on the recipe would be greatly appreciated!

My first ESB:

Weight (lbs) Grain/Extract
0.5 Simpsons medium crystal
0.25 Belgian Biscuit
0.25 Cara-Pils
3.0 Dry Amber Extract (Muntons)
3.15 Liquid amber Extract (NB)

Weight (oz) Hops
1.0 Northern Brewer (60 min)
1.0 EKG (15 min)
1.0 Styrian Goldings (0 min)

JonK331

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It's really hard, if not impossible to tell what the amber extract has in it but yeah I'd consider removing the simpsons meduim crystal. Also remember that Carapils is technically a crystal malt as well.

SchlazzGraft

Recipes 

Thanks for the advice, I might end up picking up some dry light and just saving the amber for another time... I'm sure this won't be my last batch!

Another question... I'm thinking the whole ounce of norther brewer hops for bittering might be too much, does anyone have much experience with these? Should I do half an ounce for 60 min and the other half with the rest of the flavor hops? I believe that the ones I have are about 9.5% AA

dcp27

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IIRC, briess amber extract is around 5% munich and 5% C60 with the rest being base malt, so I'd guess others are similar. If that's the case, it puts you around 0.5lb crystal from the extract, so you could go either way with keeping or ditching the extra crystal if you stick with the amber.

How big will your boil be and are you adding any extract late? How much bittering hops to use depends on that.

SchlazzGraft

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I was planning on doing about a 3 gallon boil (limited kettle size) and not doing late extract additions. In what way do late additions change the bitterness and overall flavor/mouthfeel?

lumpher

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i love northern brewer, but not as a finishing hops. it's for bittering, unless you're brewing a steam beer. i'd drop the crystal or the amber, too, as they contain a lot of nonfermentables, and will end up malty and sweet, and replace with light

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dcp27

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well according to beersmith, that will only put you around 30IBUs, which is just enough for the style. It's up for debate, but until recently the thinking was that late extract additions upped hop utilization due to a less concentrated wort. For instance, in beersmith if you add the lme late, it ups you to around 40ibus. late extract adds also limit caramelization, which keeps the color lighter and can allow more attenuation.

rayg

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I have to disagree with that. Northern Brewer is basically a higher aa
version of English Fuggles, and as such they are great for flavor additions
(at 10 min) with hops such as Goldings. That's the way I make my porter:
60 min with Goldings, 10 min with NB, then dry hop with Goldings.

Ray

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SchlazzGraft

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Yeah I like the earthy aroma they give, like in a steam beer. I think i'm just going to boil the whole ounce for an hour though, and let the goldings take over the aroma.

In beersmith, i'm getting an IBU/OG ratio of 0.725 (36 IBU / 50 OG), does this sound about right for the style? I'm also planning on doing a late addition with the liquid extract (as suggested! thanks!), so it comes out a little lighter... the ibu is adjusted above for that.

rayg

Recipes 

ESB's are supposed to be malty, so if anything that seems a little
high for IBU's. On the other hand, with that much and that gravity
it should taste like a premium bitter, which would be fine with me!
Put it this way: Jamil's ESB recipe calls for 1.063 og and 30 IBU.

Ray

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Zymotechnia Fundamentalis
Ask not for whom the beer twangs; it twangs for thee.