Strong Bitter Common Room ESB

HItransplant said:

Can someone suggest a wyeast strain to use for this beer. Thanks

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That's easy: WY1968 (Fullers)

Probably by far the most used Wyeast yeast for an ESB.

Kal

Going to brew a slight variant of this on Sunday. Using Briess Pale Ale malt for the base malt, with .75 lbs of Simpson's Crystal 50-60 and .25 lbs of Simpson's Extra Dark (155-165) malt. My AA% on the bittering hops is a little low as well, so might throw in a bit extra of the Fuggles at 20 mins to both add some IBUs and add some more hops character.

And yes, I had access to plenty of MO, but I've been dying to try out a domestic Pale Ale malt for some time now -- and particularly in a British-style ale. It's a big cost savings over time, and I want to support local/regional maltsters, so it's worth a shot, right?

Anyway, can't wait to brew this up. Cheers!

Kingbrianl,
What hop utilization did you use...I'm only calculating 26.2 IBU with beer tools pro and tenseth.

HItransplant said:

Kingbrianl,
What hop utilization did you use...I'm only calculating 26.2 IBU with beer tools pro and tenseth.

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I'm not sure whether Beersmith defalts to Tinseth, Rager or whatever, but I just use the default. Different formulas will probably handle the FWH addition differently, while things like boil volume and boil gravity will also effect the calculation as you know.

KingBrianI said:

I'm not sure whether Beersmith defalts to Tinseth, Rager or whatever, but I just use the default. Different formulas will probably handle the FWH addition differently, while things like boil volume and boil gravity will also effect the calculation as you know.

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Yeah, and I'm not sure if you can select FWH in beer tools pro...it's just treating it as a 60 min add.

Thanks for getting back so quick- I'm brewing this one up in a couple of days, looking forward to trying it.

If you were going to add hops as you suggested in one of the posts on this thread, would you just increase the flame out addition? I'm thinking of adding more fuggles.

Thanks again!

HItransplant said:

Yeah, and I'm not sure if you can select FWH in beer tools pro...it's just treating it as a 60 min add.

Thanks for getting back so quick- I'm brewing this one up in a couple of days, looking forward to trying it.

If you were going to add hops as you suggested in one of the posts on this thread, would you just increase the flame out addition? I'm thinking of adding more fuggles.

Thanks again!

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Additional flameout fuggles couldn't hurt.

I just had my first pint of this last night. It was an experiment for me, I started with distilled water & added salts from there. I didn't have much for hops on hand, so I used 100% Chinook. I still shot for 35IBU's & did a FWH with .5oz. I kept everything else the same. It went from grain to glass in 16 days & it's fantastic, probably the best beer I've made to date! Very clear already, nice & malty, with a slight hop bitterness. The nose is amazing.

Thanks for this recipe Brian, I love how simple it is!

KingBrianI said:

Additional flameout fuggles couldn't hurt.

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AA on fuggles I got is 6.9, yikes!
I may stick to your hopping weights, assuming I'll get a few more IBUs out of my roided out fuggles.

Thanks!

Making this Wednesday morning

HItransplant said:

AA on fuggles I got is 6.9, yikes!
I may stick to your hopping weights, assuming I'll get a few more IBUs out of my roided out fuggles.

Thanks!

Making this Wednesday morning

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That's what mine are, did you get them from Freshops? Although Fuggle is usually always higher than EKG

bottlebomber said:

That's what mine are, did you get them from Freshops? Although Fuggle is usually always higher than EKG

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Yeah, they are from freshops...yes fuggle is typically higher than EKG... but usually around 5%.

In the fermenter! Looks tasty. I think my eff was up, OG was 1061. It's an EESB

Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to give this a try!

Brewed my variant of this yesterday:

10 lbs Briess Pale Ale malt
.75 lbs Crystal 50-60L
.25 lbs Simpson's Extra Dark Crystal

60m: 1.5 oz Kent Goldings (AA 5.0%)
20m: .25 oz Kent Goldings, .5 oz Fuggles (4.0%)
1m: .25 oz Kent Goldings, .5 oz Fuggles

Rehydrated S-04. Ambient basement fermentation temp of 58F (so low 60s for the beer).

Also made this my first batch with 1/4 crushed campden tablet to eliminate the chloramine in my municipal tap water.

Mashed in at 154, finished after 75 minutes at 152. Pretty good for BIAB in a pot! 24 hours later, I see the krausen ring when holding up a flashlight to the ale pale, so it's looking good. OG was 1.051, right about where I expected for my brewhouse efficiency (~70% these days).

Can't wait to drink this in January. Will be a welcome respite from the Minnesota winter. And while this is super nerdy, the whole "fantasy novel" vibe is working for me... been logging more hours than my SWMBO might prefer playing Skyrim!

Cheers.

Keep us posted borden, I'm interested to hear how it turns out with the MO substitution.

commonsenseman said:

Keep us posted borden, I'm interested to hear how it turns out with the MO substitution.

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Will do. I'm going to be getting a corona mill so I can buy base malt in bulk, and I'd really like something versatile but relatively cheap. Domestic pale ale malt would seem to fit the bill, as it could fit into almost any style as a base malt without compromising too much on British pales, stouts, and the like. This should be a fun test drive for it.

Has anyone else had little to no Krausen with WY1968? I pitched 2 packs and had a quick start. Keep waiting for things to get frothy, but it's staying pretty mellow. 66 degrees at this moment.

Thoughts?

I accidentally added 1oz of fuggle pellets to the beer at 20 minutes into the boil. Do you think this will ruin the beer?

zach1288 said:

I accidentally added 1oz of fuggle pellets to the beer at 20 minutes into the boil. Do you think this will ruin the beer?

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Nope, it will be fine!

KingBrianI said:

Nope, it will be fine!

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I added them in addition to the hops the recipe calls for. Will it be too bitter?

It will be more bitter than the recipe intends, but not so bitter that the beer will be ruined. Some people may actually prefer it more bitter, as yours will be. It will still be a great beer. Don't worry!

KingBrianI said:

It will be more bitter than the recipe intends, but not so bitter that the beer will be ruined. Some people may actually prefer it more bitter, as yours will be. It will still be a great beer. Don't worry!

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Thanks!

.

Thanks for the recipe! ! Almost through the boil gotta love it when your brewing on a chilly night.The garage door shut it smells great in here cheers!

HItransplant said:

Has anyone else had little to no Krausen with WY1968? I pitched 2 packs and had a quick start. Keep waiting for things to get frothy, but it's staying pretty mellow. 66 degrees at this moment.

Thoughts?

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Its been almost 24 hours since I pitched.The air lock is bubbling like crazy but no sign of a Krausen.I wouldn't worry about it. I guess as long there's no funky growth in a couple weeks its all good.

I brewed this on 11/14. It was only my third AG brew (3 gal BIAB brew, like in DeathBrewer's Easy Stovetop All-Grain Brew), and I had some problems on brewday:
- First, I miscalculated my grain bill and ended up coming under my target volume, so I added a litre of 1.050 wort made with light DME to top it off.
- Second, I discovered while cooling the wort in a water bath that the thermometer I used while mashing was no longer working (it's a dial-type thermometer, and the needle seems to have come loose of the bimetallic strip).

The ferm seems to have stalled out at 1.022. I monitored it over two weeks while trying various things to start the fermentation up again -- warming, then swirling the carboy, and finally pitching more yeast -- with no luck. I suspect that I mashed too hot (remember the busted thermometer?), so the sugars that are left are just not fermentable, and have resigned myself to the knowledge that this batch won't be as good as I'd hoped.

Now I just want the damned stuff to clear so I can bottle it, but it's not doing that either. I didn't use any clearing agents in the brew, and I'm still a novice brewer, so I don't mind a little bit of cloudiness, but this stuff is still fully opaque to my "flashlight test". Is the cloudiness a result of mashing too high?

I don't want to dump this, but enough has gone wrong with this batch to make me just want to free up the carboy and try again. Any suggestions on what I can do to make it settle out? I don't have a fridge big enough to hold the carboy, and Canadian winter is setting in to the point that I don't think I can cold crash it outside without it freezing.

Mine stalled out too.. at 1018...well, it seems that way. Wednesday will be 2 weeks. I don't think my mash was too hot, and I pitched 2 wyeast smack packs, so... I'm wondering if I let the ferm temp get too low, and this caused the yeast to poop out.
Anyone else have this experience?

Sample is not very hoppy, but it seems like in my experience the yeasty bready flavor takes some time to clear away, letting the hops come through.

I was thinking of packaging this at 2 weeks, but I think I'll give it a little more time.

borden said:

Will do. I'm going to be getting a corona mill so I can buy base malt in bulk, and I'd really like something versatile but relatively cheap. Domestic pale ale malt would seem to fit the bill, as it could fit into almost any style as a base malt without compromising too much on British pales, stouts, and the like. This should be a fun test drive for it.

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I think you'll be happy with the results. Maris Otter is fantastic stuff, but I'm on the same versatile/cheap thing with base malt. I use regular 2-row (current bag is Malteurop) with a little victory/munich mixed in. Is it exactly the same as using MO? no, not exactly but I think it's damn close (i've made both versions a few times) and I'm very happy with the end product. Here's my domestic version:

Hopville . "Chiswick ESB" Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) Recipe

Hope yours turns out great!

mcritchlow said:

I think you'll be happy with the results. Maris Otter is fantastic stuff, but I'm on the same versatile/cheap thing with base malt. I use regular 2-row (current bag is Malteurop) with a little victory/munich mixed in. Is it exactly the same as using MO? no, not exactly but I think it's damn close (i've made both versions a few times) and I'm very happy with the end product. Here's my domestic version:

Hopville . "Chiswick ESB" Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) Recipe

Hope yours turns out great!

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Cool, and good idea with your 2-Row/Victory/Munich blend. My domestic pale ale malt rendition of this ESB is still fermenting away, but I don't see why it wouldn't be a great beer (fingers crossed, of course). I'm fighting the urge to bottle it too early... I haven't checked the SG but I'm sure it's done fermenting. Still, I usually wait 3 weeks as a matter of principle. Might as well stick to it.

Anyway, cheers, and I might just try your version one of these days. (The straight EKG sounds fun too.)

Bottled this beer (with Briess Pale Ale malt replacing the UK pale) on Tuesday after three weeks in the primary. Aimed for about 2 volumes of CO2 -- a little high for the style perhaps, but as I'm bottling, I find that I usually end up with less, rather than more carbonation than expected.

Now, I shouldn't have cracked one after 48 hours in bottle, but I couldn't resist. Too soon for tasting notes, but I'll say that it's still green, yet has a nice nutty (?) undertone to it that I expect will become more pronounced as the beer sits for a few weeks. It's still a bit muddy, flavor wise, so time will tell how this compares with what would be expected from the original, UK-base malt recipe.

The real reason I wanted to post already was the stunning color of this thing. Sitting on the coaster near my desk lamp, this beer was a phenomenal, rich red. I tried to get a good photo of it, but the shot didn't do it justice (point and shoot for you). Just gorgeous, though. Very much like the OP's shot, which I'm excited about.

Anyway, will post more after some more time in bottle, but wanted to share the happy first taste of this excellent beer.

I modified this recipe a bit, mostly because i could only get 9 pounds of MO so i have to use a pound of pale to hit the gravity i wanted.

Anythoughts?

thanks


BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Home Brewing Software, Recipes, Podcast and Blog
Recipe: Otter ESB
Brewer: Andy
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.25 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 9.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 49.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 81.8 %
1 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.8 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.3 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 33.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 10.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [4.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 5.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.60 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [4.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 17.30 qt of water at 156.8 F 148.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 3.45gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - BeerSmith Home Brewing Software, Recipes, Podcast and Blog
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I brewed this on December 26th. Do you think it's too soon to keg it?

bmason1623 said:

I brewed this on December 26th. Do you think it's too soon to keg it?

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What's the gravity? How's it taste? If both are good then I'd say go for it.

I'll check gravity either tonight or tomorrow. I'm eager to start drinking this one.

i plan on brewing this soon, but with only fuggles or ekg(one or the other, not both like the recipe calls for). I have a sack of wheat, do you think replacing a couple pounds of the 2row with wheat would be a nice change?

I just washed and saved a few jars of WLP007, so this recipe seems like it might be next on the list. I actually never had an ESB until yesterday. Tried a Evolution Craft "Exile ESB" and loved it. This recipe seems to be popular so it must be good

I've been drinking this for a couple of weeks with mods... Bumped the EKG and Fuggle to 50 IBUs total and dry hopped with 1/2 oz of amarillo... It was a little harsh at first... OG was 1.046... but has mellowed... it's freaking delish now....highly recommend to ESB lovers and those looking to try a classic beer...

This has been my AG learning recipe. I still make a bunch of mistakes but it churns out good beer. Looking forward to tomorrow's LHBS brewday batch.

Thanks again!

EXTRACT VERSION

I've paged through all 32 pages looking for an extract version. Surprisingly no one's mentioned an extract version so here's what I've come up with myself:



I changed the hops schedule a little because I can order the hops in 50g amounts, so it's more economical for me to order 50g of each Fuggles and EKG. (Decreased EKG FWH and added some Fuggles at 60mins). Do you think this will still give a good hops profile or would it give me any lesser of a result?

I also figured a little carapils would be a good addition since it's an extract batch.

First Wort Hopping: I've done this in a partial mash brew before. But what about first wort hopping an extract batch - does it work? I could throw in the hops after I remove the steeped grains. Perhaps even thow in some malt extract at this stage (instead of waiting until close to the boil as I normally do) to simulate a first wort?

aidin, I think your recipe and the process you describe for FWH are good. Toss the hops in when you take the steeped grains out and it should be very close to the same results. Cheers!

Brewing this as a two fold experiment! 1, trying my hand at a Bitter and 2, I've always shopped my lhbs for ingredients. Going to see how Brewmasters Warehouse does with ordering these grains and hops.