jpsloan

Recipes 

Brewed this up yesterday. It's my fourth batch since I started. We'll see how it goes!

1/2 lb British Crystal malt 55L
1/2 lb CaraAmber malt (replaced for biscuit malt)
6 lbs Light DME
1 lb Extra light DME (late addition at 15 min)
1 oz Target hops at 60 min
1/2 oz Styrian Goldings at 15 min
Whitelabs English Ale Yeast

I was shooting for something English-tasting, and upped my bittering hops at the last minute for no good reason except it seemed like a good idea at the time. I also threw in some extra extract to grab a little extra ABV.

I measured the Original gravity at 1.016.

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"An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to a blade of grass, and keep from slipping off the face of the Earth."

the_bird

Recipes 

Well, the OG's not 1.016, there's something wrong - almost certainly with how it was measured. When you topped off in the fermenter, did you stir the wort afterwards? If you don't, the liquid on top (where you probably took the sample) will have a lower gravity than the liquid on the bottom. Very common problem. Nothing to worry about, the yeast will find the sugars, except be careful about that next time i fyou want to know your true OG.

While there's nothing wrong with putting in a bit more extract, at that point you don't want to call it an ordinary bitter - it might be a special bitter, or an ESB, or something like that, but when you use the term "ordinary bitter" it's describing a beer with a very low OG (usually 1.030 - 1.035ish, IIRC). It's a defining characteristic of the beer. Just a quibble.

Actually, considering that you added more bittering hops at the end, you may be closer to an ESB than anything else. Ordinary bitters aren't known to be terribly aggressively hopped.

Alright, I'll stop being an EAC now. Looks like a tasty brew!

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Sir Humpsalot

Recipes 

"Bitter" is just the british way of differentiating kiddy-beer from grown up beer. Back in the day in merry old London when the water was unsafe to drink, everybody drank beer. Generally though, it wasn't a good idea to send the kiddies off to school after a pint of high-proof beer, so the kids got beers designated as "Milds" which were somewhere around 2.5% to 3.5%ABV.

Then for the adults, there were "Bitters". They weren't necessarily bitter, but they were for grown ups. My imagination tells me that they called them "Bitters" mostly to discourage the kids from wanting them. LOL. So anyway, bitters weren't terribly bitter and they still aren't. The thing that makes a bitter a bitter is the alcohol content, generally between 3.0% and 3.7%. Remember, that the world wasn't interconnected back then like it is today, so there is some overlap and regional variation in these styles, so you should expect some overlap... Anyway, if the grownups wanted a stronger drink, they would order a Best Bitter or a Special Bitter which was generally between 4.1 and 4.8% abv. Then there were the "Strong Bitters" or Extra Special Bitters which were as high as 5.8% ABV, or as low as 4.8%.

In other words, nowadays, "Extra Special Bitters" are about the strength of beer that most people expect when they crack open a cold one....

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In Process: Big Big Barley Wine, Hob Goblin Clone, Chocolate Porter, Light American Wheat
Bottled/Kegged: :-(
Up Next: Oatmeal Cookie Stout // Gumball head clone // ESB

jpsloan

Recipes 

I think I read it wrong... I went back to try to figure this durn thing out. I think I read 1.060, not 1.016.

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"An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to a blade of grass, and keep from slipping off the face of the Earth."

Sir Humpsalot

Recipes 

You recipe there is very similar to the one from my first beer. Yours will be a bit darker and less hoppy, but should be quite delicious. We used the same yeast strain and pretty much the same fermentables. Your hops profile will be more mellow, which should be an improvement.

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In Process: Big Big Barley Wine, Hob Goblin Clone, Chocolate Porter, Light American Wheat
Bottled/Kegged: :-(
Up Next: Oatmeal Cookie Stout // Gumball head clone // ESB

Orfy

Recipes 

Well at 1060 it is defienetly not a ordinary bitter and with the increase hops you've probably gone away from the bitternes range for an OB.

You'll possibly have a good beer but it will not be a ordinary bitter.

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jpsloan

Recipes 

Well, here's hoping!

Just checked, and the airlock is bubbling away evenly. I suppose it's a good thing that each batch has been getting better than the previous one.

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"An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to a blade of grass, and keep from slipping off the face of the Earth."

TheJadedDog

Recipes 

Looks like you've got an ESB there to me, also looks like it should be a decent beer.

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Primary: Nadda
Planning: Extra Special Bitter

Whelk

Recipes 

A question--did you replace the amber malt with biscuit malt, or the other way around? Just curious. Either way, yeah, I agree with these guys--not an ordinary bitter, but definitely a tasty-sounding beer.

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jpsloan

Recipes 

I originally wanted to use biscuit malt, but the shop was out. They had a conversion list next to the bins of grain, and the guy there recommended I use the CaraAmber as a replacement.

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"An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to a blade of grass, and keep from slipping off the face of the Earth."