Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S04
Yeast Starter: No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.007
IBU: 30
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14
Tasting Notes: Fruity, slight oaky after taste and a hint of herbal earthiness from the hops.

This is a real nice, easy drinking ESB. I wanted more than the 'traditional' bitter, as I live in England and there is ample amounts of that around without needing to brew it. This beer is nice and fruity from the special-b which blends nicely with the oak. Had some efficiency problems recently from doing mashes too thin (darn spread sheet!), which is probably why the OG is low from the grain bill and fg is 1.007!

Malts
5.4lb Maris Otter 75%
0.8lb Munich 11.1%
0.3lb Biscuit 4.2%
0.3lb Special-B 4.2%
0.4lb Wheat malt 5.6%

Hops
0.2oz Chinook 12.9% 60min
0.7oz Goldings 5.4% 60min
0.3oz Chinook 12.9% 2min
0.3oz Goldings 5.4% 2min

Mash 150F for 60min
Sparge 170F

1oz medium french oak chips for 2 weeks in secondary to add a little flavour but primarily it brings the flavours together and smooths the beer.
I also used some whirlfloc/protafloc and 'kwik clear' 2 stage finings, maybe not so necessary if doing a longer primary but I was a little rushed for time.

I bottled this to 2.0vol and it's come out really well, not fizzy at all but it builds a head and if you disturb it a little you can see the residual CO2 in there, the way a cask conditioned beer appears. Maybe upping the wheat to 8-10% might even make the head last longer, or having a higher FG from a more accurate mash.