All-Grain - 4-way ESB - 2011 British Bitter Brew-Off winner & runner-up

**Randar** · 07-15-2011, 05:21 PM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: see below
Yeast Starter: no
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: NA
Batch Size (Gallons): 14.5
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.013
IBU: 36.3
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 10.5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 @ 64
Additional Fermentation: 3 @ 64 then cold condition for 1 week @ 50
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 3 @68
Tasting Notes: see below for comments and scoresheets

The beer was based off KingBrianI's Comon Room ESB found at the following link. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/common-room-esb-83878/

While variations to Brian's recipe are minor at several points in the process, my intent here was to pick a house English bitter yeast from the 4 yeasts I used given the fermentation process described below. This batch was evenly split to 4 carboys and fermented simultaneous with the 4 yeasts listed above with a single smack pack of yeast (fully revived, no starter).

The thread that spawned the competition: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/british-yeasts-fermentation-temps-profiles-cybi-other-thoughts-221817/
The competition thread: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/official-thread-2011-british-bitter-brew-off-242894/

Recipe Specifics:
Batch Size (Gal): 14.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 27.5
Anticipated OG: 1.054
Anticipated SRM: 10.5
Anticipated IBU: 36.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80%
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grainbill:
25.00 lbs Maris Otter
1.875 lbs. Crystal 60L
0.625 lbs. Crystal 120L

Hops:
6.00 oz. EKG (pellet) 4.50% 60 min - 31.5 IBU
0.80 oz. Fuggle (pellet) 4.00% 20 min - 2.3 IBU
0.80 oz. EKG (pellet) 4.50% 20 min - 2.5 IBU
0.80 oz. Fuggle (pellet) 4.00% flame-out - 0.0 IBU
0.80 oz. EKG (pellet) 4.50% flame-out - 0.0 IBU

Yeast:
WYeast 1318 - London Ale III (1 smack-pack)
WYeast 1026 - British Cask Ale (1 smack-pack)
WYeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Ale (1 smack-pack)
WYeast 1968 - London ESB Ale (1 smack-pack)

Mash:
Single Infusion Mash @ 1.0 qt/lb to hit 152 for 60 min
Mash-out to 170
Fly Sparge for 60-90 min

Collect 16.5 gallons pre-boil volume

Fermentation:
- Chill to 64 degrees and aerate (I use pure O2) and pitch holding at 64 degrees for the first 24 hours
- allow fermentation to rise to 68 degrees and hold for 3 days
- drop temp to 64 degrees for ~3 more days
- Cold Condition for 1 week (my ferm chamber can only get down to ~50 degrees)

MISC Notes:
- Bottle primed with DME (boiled in just enough water to dissolve) to 1.3 volume target carbonation.
- Use SuperMoss HB for fining.
- oxygenated with pure O2

The judging sheets from the British Bitter Brew-Off as judged by KingBrianI and friends are at the following links in Google Docs. The 1968 was declared the overall winner of the competition and the 1318 judged to be runner-up:

1026 (scored 27 and 38): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_vHhnN Wiu9VMmE4MTFmYTgtYWQ1Yy00Yjg3LWJkNTktZTNiNjA4Mjc2Z TY1&hl=en_US&authkey=COvHuVo

1318 (scored 38 & 43): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_vHhnN Wiu9VMjU3MGRiNjEtMjZiYS00MTVkLTg0ZWEtOWQ1OGE3YTRhZ mNm&hl=en_US&authkey=CJqhsMQL

1469 (scored 31 & 40): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_vHhnN Wiu9VMGJkYmU4N2QtNTRkOS00ZjBlLWI2YjAtNGIyYzlmM2ViN jkz&hl=en_US&authkey=CKSppdMK

1968 (scored 39 & 42): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_vHhnN Wiu9VN2I2NzIyZDAtOTVkYi00MmI0LTg2MTItNTVhNTU0MmU0Y jJh&authkey=CJ-cnN4N&hl=en_US

corncob · 07-16-2011, 01:57 PM

Very nice. You obviously had no trouble bottling with these yeasts, especially the Fullers strain? To what do you attribute the phenomenon discussed in the original thread? Did any of your older bottles of these beers suffer?

**Randar** · 07-16-2011, 05:28 PM

I used DME and the beers were still quite fresh. Also, I am guessing the cold crash/conditioning reduced the yeast numbers in the bottle so even after bottling perhaps this slows up the yeast clean up. I think you could also potentially store at fridge temps after conditioning if you had the space to preserve the ester profile of young ESB/bitters

corncob · 07-17-2011, 11:59 AM

So, for the record, you ended fermentation by chilling to 50 degrees (per the original thread) for a week. Then you primed with DME--no additional yeast. Then kept the bottles at room temp to carb for how long? And how long have you let a bottle go (at room temp) and not had the loss of body/ester profile/etc. everyone was complaining about?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am planning a 19th-century porter with a large fraction of brown malt for my brother-in-law's graduation in December. It will need to mature for a few months, I'm sure, and I don't want it taking up space in my kegerator. I use the Fullers strain for all my English beers, but never bottle, and I don't have time to get trained on a new yeast between now and then. I want to make sure it lasts in the bottles.

**Randar** · 07-18-2011, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corncob

So, for the record, you ended fermentation by chilling to 50 degrees (per the original thread) for a week. Then you primed with DME--no additional yeast. Then kept the bottles at room temp to carb for how long? And how long have you let a bottle go (at room temp) and not had the loss of body/ester profile/etc. everyone was complaining about?

You have it right. For me, room temp is low 60's in my basement. I carbed at that temp for about 2 weeks before serving or chilling to serve.

I can't yet say about the last question. I haven't really noticed it but I also don't store bitters very long. Perhaps high storage temps or priming with dextrose bring this out?