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I just want to bump this recipe, as it got me where I wanted to be in terms of brewing a good English bitter. I had an involuntary hiatus from brewing (had a kid, moved, job, etc.), and am now returning. An ESB based on Bob's ratio is the first beer out of the gate, probably the 5th or sixth...

Interesting. I'll proceed with caution, as I'm not looking for as much of the toasty cacao as a nut brown has (even taking the 2% chocolate into account). Probably start at 4-5% for the first one, knowing I can increase later. Thanks!

Just down Old 86 from you here. Welcome!

Thanks for the update. I made Jamil's recipe a while back, but without the benefit of knowing this about wlp002. I actually used S-04. I'm thinking the 002 is a far better choice, especially with the cold crash. My next bitter will be 80% Maris Otter, 10% Amber Malt, 10% British Dark Crystal...

Sounds like things are coming together. The esters are what really gives it the English character, imo, and it's pretty remarkable how estery a lot of English ales are, especially on cask in England (I've only been once, but I fell in love with bitters on cask, and refuse to accept that I have...

Yep, but it's been suggested, with good reason, that I should have used the 64F (the temperature at which the beer finished fermenting) as my temp to calculate the sugar addition, as the beer wouldn't have absorbed more co2 during the crash cool. Definitely carbed at room temperature- I'm...

Awesome! Here's to progress!:mug: Will do. As we've seen, I have a few things to do better next time around, but in the past, my bitters have not come out of the bottle as tasty as when they went in, so I'm encouraged nonetheless (and the outcome is a really nice beer at this point, so while...

I just entered the temp the beer was at when I bottled, and the carbonation came out fine. I took about .2 oz off of what Beersmith told me to do, to compensate for table sugar instead of corn sugar- imprecise, but close enough. Maybe it's a bit less than 2 volumes in reality, but not by much...

1. Bierhaus suggested sanitizing a balloon and putting it across the top of the fermentor. Frankly, a solid stopper would work too. The airlock would lead to suckback, which *so far* hasn't hurt me, but is worth avoiding. 2/3 I took it down to 4 for about 4 days. 4. That's what I did, but...

Can't make it tonight, but very likely moving to Durham in June, so we'll have to drink a few together for sure! I live west of Carrboro now, so it's about 45 minutes up to Durham anyway, which is why we're moving. The picture you posted with your Common Room ESB recipe was what made me go in...

Yeah, I eyeballed about 2g of S-05, rehydrated it and added it as I filled up my bottling bucket, so it would distribute evenly. The beer I just drank was as much to see if that worked as anything, and the carbonation was perfect. I think this whole process is a major advance in my own brewing...

That tartness may well be yeast bite, and should disappear after the cold crash. Mine had the same thing, but it's part of the cluster of flavors I associate with "green" beer. It's gone now.

I cracked the first of my ESB to celebrate UNC's not-losing a few minutes ago, and am pretty damn thrilled with it. The malt flavor comes through wonderfully, with a bit of diacetyl in the finish- enough to emphasize that smoothness of a good English ale. In short, I've made a good English...

It's actually really hard to get a good flavor extract from cilantro- the tastiest compounds volatilize incredibly easily- even food scientists haven't nailed this one yet, from what I understand. I think you'd have to add it at serving to get good cilantro flavor. Coriander is of course...

Thanks for this update! It's interesting to see roughly the same results produced with the British/Ringwood strain, which I favor for slightly bigger English ales, and especially to read you comparison of the "standard" homebrew fermentation against this more manipulated one. I'm plotting a...

It should- just swirl the bottles a bit to rouse the yeast.

+1 You need your yeast to be trained to eat maltose and maltotriose, not just sucrose, which is simpler and therefore easier for them to ferment.

Not a lot of info is making it out, but things sound really, really dire. I don't think I'm alone in keeping you, as well as the whole of Libya, in my thoughts and prayers. I appreciate you checking in, and hope you're staying safe.

So is there any logic to thinking the same temperature regime might work with Burton Ale yeast (WLP023, Thames in the Wyeast world)? I'm thinking a Special Bitter with no sugar addition and the WLP023 will be my next English attempt. It seems that the Fuller's schedule gets it to pump out...

Hope the OP is safe and sound, given the events in Libya the last few days.