Strong Bitter Common Room ESB

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How long did you leave your 1969 for a D-Rest, and did you create a starter? Just curious as I was not able to draw a sample of my 1969 batch yet and didn't have the chance to make a starter before pitching.

Sorry for the late reply - been a busy summer!

I basically rested it for 3 days, I guess. Detected the diacetyl on day 3 and by day 6 it was gone. I never do a starter for smack-packs.

Overall, I found that that the 1968 did not attenuate enough and the beer, while tasty, is too sweet for my dry palate. I will still drink it, but this isn't the common-room quaffer I was expecting. It also bears noting that I was super-efficient in my mash and ended up with an OG of 1.059 and an FG of 1.016, for about 5.7% ABV.

Any suggestions for a different yeast to use next time? S-04 is not available in my local area as far as I know. Common dry yeasts around town are Nottingham and Windsor, and I can get any Wyeast strain also.
 
S-04 is available at most online HBSs. I imagine the shipping for a few packets of dry yeast is pretty inexpensive, even crossing the border.
 
S-04 is available at most online HBSs. I imagine the shipping for a few packets of dry yeast is pretty inexpensive, even crossing the border.

Very true. Still, if Windsor is readily available, would it be that different? I've never used it but my impression was that it wasn't too far off from S-04. Please do correct if wrong.
 
Sorry for the late reply - been a busy summer!

I basically rested it for 3 days, I guess. Detected the diacetyl on day 3 and by day 6 it was gone. I never do a starter for smack-packs.

Overall, I found that that the 1968 did not attenuate enough and the beer, while tasty, is too sweet for my dry palate. I will still drink it, but this isn't the common-room quaffer I was expecting. It also bears noting that I was super-efficient in my mash and ended up with an OG of 1.059 and an FG of 1.016, for about 5.7% ABV.

Any suggestions for a different yeast to use next time? S-04 is not available in my local area as far as I know. Common dry yeasts around town are Nottingham and Windsor, and I can get any Wyeast strain also.

Thanks for the information. Actually, the 1968 made an outstanding Common Room. I'm at work at the moment and don't have my notes, but it fermented down to the 1.014 range with close to 5% ABV (it's a very sessionable beer) and a very good balance of malt flavor with a hop finish. Out of the three batches of Common room made thus far, it is by far the best.

The other batch made with S-04, which was pitched with 2 packets, came out with too much diacetyl and an over the top buttery flavor. It's been resting in the keg at room temp for a few days in an attempt to let the residual yeast try and do something, but I'm not certain it will.

As far as other yeast options, I've had great success with 1318, although with your statement about a dry palate, it wouldn't be the best choice for you. I haven't used it on the Common Room, but used with my brown ale and a pale ale, it left a residual sweetness with slight fruity esters, but it seems to mute the hop aromas a bit.
 
I brewed this one a couple of weeks back, and S-04 is a BEAST. It ripped through in 2 days. I went to keg after 16 days (poor planning) and when I opened the fermenter I could see nearly all the way through to 3 gallon mark on the bucket. Went to keg over the weekend at 30PSI (24 hours) and am letting it chill at 12PSI for a bit before pulling a pint.
 
I brewed this one a couple of weeks back, and S-04 is a BEAST. It ripped through in 2 days. I went to keg after 16 days (poor planning) and when I opened the fermenter I could see nearly all the way through to 3 gallon mark on the bucket. Went to keg over the weekend at 30PSI (24 hours) and am letting it chill at 12PSI for a bit before pulling a pint.

I had the same experience, S-04 ferments really fast and clean but its taken a while to start tasting good after I kegged it.

I kegged after three weeks then let it carb up for almost a week and it was not good when sampled. Now it has been almost 6 weeks since brewing this up and its starting to get good. I was told S-04 takes longer to condition compared to liquid yeasts and that seems to be the case.

Let me know how yours tastes at first
 
barhoc11 said:
I had the same experience, S-04 ferments really fast and clean but its taken a while to start tasting good after I kegged it.

I kegged after three weeks then let it carb up for almost a week and it was not good when sampled. Now it has been almost 6 weeks since brewing this up and its starting to get good. I was told S-04 takes longer to condition compared to liquid yeasts and that seems to be the case.

Let me know how yours tastes at first

I just pulled a pint on day 20 since brew day and it tastes great. It is lacking a bit of that malty esb character, but its tasty.
 
Alright, I think the beer has progressed very well and is only getting better. The sourness I had at first has given way to all of the characteristics that are supposed to be present in this ESB. If it keeps getting better, this will be a staple on tap at my house. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
 
I got my first batch of this fermenting away right now. I am so excited for it. It was mt first all grain attempt and it was rough...I think the beer will turn out though! I'm going to give it a go again sometime now that I have my mash tun situation worked out.
 
I got my first batch of this fermenting away right now. I am so excited for it. It was mt first all grain attempt and it was rough...I think the beer will turn out though! I'm going to give it a go again sometime now that I have my mash tun situation worked out.

Don't worry, the ones you screw up usually turn out the best!

My first try with this recipe resulted in 3 stuck sparges (2nd all grain attempt) and turned out to be fantastic. Good luck, AG is very rewarding when you figure your system out.
 
Just brewed up 5 gallons yesterday. Very excited to see how this turns out. Destroyed my previous efficiencies somehow and came out with 1.059 wort. Hopped exclusively with EKG (1.5 oz/5,4 AA @ 60, .25 oz at 20, .25 at flame out). The immersion only gets her down to about 75/80, so I set it in the swamp cooler for a few hrs to get the wort down to 65. Pitched with a 1 liter starter of wyeast 1318. I had put my starter in the fridge so I could decant. The yeast was super chunky when i pitched. Checked this morning and there is a decent little layer of krausen, but nothing crazy. Hopefully she'll kick into gear. Keeping wort at that temp in a swamp cooler is a pain in the arse.
 
I brewed up about 7 gallons of this on Sunday, hit the OG right on the head, pitched the S-04, and did a terrible job of controlling the ferm temp. It was up around 74 for about a full day. I really hope I didn't just ruin this whole batch. I surely won't be dumping it, but man, I wish I wouldn't have gone by the Fermentis temperature ranges. Reading a few comments further I found that people tend to hate S-04 above 65.

Happily though, I pulled a sample for a reading last night and the gravity is ~1.017 and the color is beautiful. Spot on with the picture. It does taste a little strange, with the raw wort flavor (still grainy, a bit hot from the alcohol) being noticable. Here's hoping another 2 weeks will do my failures some justice.
 
I finished carbing this batch a few weeks ago, it is now approaching 6 weeks in the bottle. The beer is uncharacteristically dark and sweet, almost like a Newcastle. Any ideas as to what I might have done wrong?
 
This is my 7th AG brew and by far my best. It has chilled out to a nice clarity and had a perfect balance of hops to malt. Will be brewing doubles of this when I go to 10 gallons per batch.
 
I finished carbing this batch a few weeks ago, it is now approaching 6 weeks in the bottle. The beer is uncharacteristically dark and sweet, almost like a Newcastle. Any ideas as to what I might have done wrong?

Did you go by the recipe exactly? I know you were talking about trying to average out the crystal malts and just use C80 or something. If you changed the malts that could be your problem.
 
I only changed the two crystals to C80, nothing more. It's at least as dark as your average Brown Ale, and twice as sweet. My wife loves it!
 
Choosing this brew as my first AG brew here in the next week or so. Excited and a bit nervous to have a mashout on my first one. We'll see how this goes...:)
 
One more thing. Since this is my first AG -- and I'm still learning -- Have any of you done a secondary fermentation for this? Also, how many days bottled?

This forum is fantastic. I've learned so much here in such a short amount of time. Thank you for all of you help!
 
The general opinion of most folks around here is that secondaries aren't really necessary if you do an extended primary (2-4 weeks). Bottle condition for 2-3 weeks at room temperature.
 
So I cracked the first one of these (it was bottled on 9/7) last night. It was carbonated enough, which was good. I posted earlier how I think a fruit fly got in and infected the batch (no idea how). Either that, or because I let it ferment WAY high for about 2 days and created that cidery taste. Anyway, it tastes pretty good, but has a slight Acetaldehyde note to it. I think I'll give it about a week and try it again. Hopefully that mellows out and all will be good!
 
I brewed this as my first AG this weekend. Gravity and volume were dead on. 1.054 and ~5.5 gallons. I sparged with a little more than 3 gallons to get to ~6.5 gallons for my pre-boil volume.

One adjustment: I didn't notice until brew day that my LHBS gave me 2oz of Fuggles and only 1 oz of Goldings. Now I know to check before I leave. I ended up using 1oz of Goldings at 60 min, 1oz of Fuggles at 20 min and 1oz of Fuggles at 0 min. Oh well, might just be a Common Room Bitter now!

Did anyone else have an issue with mash temperature dropping a few degrees over the hour? I had read that sometimes when there isn't enough water volume, the temp can drop quicker. I also plan on warming my mash tun (rubberware cooler) for a bit longer next time. I don't think I did that long enough so it's probably brewer's error.

Other than that, I still haven't decided if I am going to try and dry hop this with centennial hops from my own backyard. I know that takes away from the "English" aspect of this brew. I'm also not so sure I trust my own hops, even though they dried well and smell delicious...
 
Looks like I'll be brewing up yet another KB recipe this weekend.. I have all these ingredients on hand, only I would be using the Edinburgh yeast strain. Also my MO is around 3L not 1.4 and I'm not wanting to go any darker with the brew so I'm not quite sure yet what I'm going to change there. I definitely want that whole quarter pound of dark crystal. Maybe I'll draw back on the medium crystal.
 
Looks like I'll be brewing up yet another KB recipe this weekend.. I have all these ingredients on hand, only I would be using the Edinburgh yeast strain. Also my MO is around 3L not 1.4 and I'm not wanting to go any darker with the brew so I'm not quite sure yet what I'm going to change there. I definitely want that whole quarter pound of dark crystal. Maybe I'll draw back on the medium crystal.

I've used maris otter, golden promise, plain old english pale ale malt and probably us 2-row at some point for this beer and the color has always been very similar. Without holding beer from one batch and another side-by-side I probably couldn't tell the difference. So I'd just keep the crystal the same and not worry about the color. Hope you like it!:mug:
 
KingBrianI said:
I've used maris otter, golden promise, plain old english pale ale malt and probably us 2-row at some point for this beer and the color has always been very similar. Without holding beer from one batch and another side-by-side I probably couldn't tell the difference. So I'd just keep the crystal the same and not worry about the color. Hope you like it!:mug:

I think I will! I'll post back on how it turns out. So after brewing this several times, is there anything you would change? Or have you just stuck to this same recipe every time? Oh it's also the Scottish ale yeast I've got... I've been hooked on that stuff ever since brewing the 12.12.12
 
I think I will! I'll post back on how it turns out. So after brewing this several times, is there anything you would change? Or have you just stuck to this same recipe every time? Oh it's also the Scottish ale yeast I've got... I've been hooked on that stuff ever since brewing the 12.12.12

I've screwed around with water chemistry but that hasn't made a huge amount of difference. The biggest thing I've been doing to make this recipe better is using liquid yeasts. Using S-04 as described in the original recipe makes a good beer, but I've found it is even better with liquid yeasts. I've never tried the scottish yeast in it, though I'm sure that would be good. Wy1969 makes a really good beer when I get it to attenuate enough.

By the way, what kind of flavors does that scottish yeast produce at warmer temps? Have you even tried it warmer? I've only ever used that yeast in the upper 50s range so I'd be interested in hearing what kind of flavors it puts out when done in the mid 60s or so.
 
KingBrianI said:
By the way, what kind of flavors does that scottish yeast produce at warmer temps? Have you even tried it warmer? I've only ever used that yeast in the upper 50s range so I'd be interested in hearing what kind of flavors it puts out when done in the mid 60s or so.
That's all I've done with it too! BJCP allows medium-high levels of esters for the style, and Wyeast says up to 75 degrees so I think I'll go warmer and report back! Maybe around 70-72.
 
Pretty much textbook brew day today. OG 1.053, followed the malt bill and hopping schedule exactly and the beer was an absolutely gorgeous rich color. I had a pound of that British dark crystal but have never used it before, bought it on a whim with my last order. I love the color it provides, really unique kind of an orange reddish hue in the smaller quantity. I am definitely going to be using that grain more. Wort tasted malty and sticky sweet, the Golding hops were a brand new fresh pound I opened and I don't remember then smelling to rich and resinous before. This is going to be a real winner. Kind of wish I did 10 gallons. I'll post back when it's done.
 
Pretty much textbook brew day today. OG 1.053, followed the malt bill and hopping schedule exactly and the beer was an absolutely gorgeous rich color. I had a pound of that British dark crystal but have never used it before, bought it on a whim with my last order. I love the color it provides, really unique kind of an orange reddish hue in the smaller quantity. I am definitely going to be using that grain more. Wort tasted malty and sticky sweet, the Golding hops were a brand new fresh pound I opened and I don't remember then smelling to rich and resinous before. This is going to be a real winner. Kind of wish I did 10 gallons. I'll post back when it's done.

Glad it went so well! Please do report back. I'm very interested in hearing how that Scottish Ale is in this beer.
 
Just added 2oz of my whole hops from the backyard to the primary for some dry hopping. The color was fantastic and it tasted delicious already. Gravity was at 1.020 -- so maybe I shouldn't have dry hopped yet since the goal is to aim for 1.014? I'm not sure. I did let it sit for 2 weeks even though the recipe recommended 3 weeks. I've read so much conflicting information as to when dry hopping should start (after initial fermentation 7-10 days v. total 3-4 weeks). I just shot for inbetween those recommendations. Anyhow, we'll see what happens. I'm excited. I'll drop a line when I bottle. Cheers!
 
RoKozak said:
Just added 2oz of my whole hops from the backyard to the primary for some dry hopping. The color was fantastic and it tasted delicious already. Gravity was at 1.020 -- so maybe I shouldn't have dry hopped yet since the goal is to aim for 1.014? I'm not sure. I did let it sit for 2 weeks even though the recipe recommended 3 weeks. I've read so much conflicting information as to when dry hopping should start (after initial fermentation 7-10 days v. total 3-4 weeks). I just shot for inbetween those recommendations. Anyhow, we'll see what happens. I'm excited. I'll drop a line when I bottle. Cheers!

So you dry hopped an all British ESB with C-hops?
 
So you dry hopped an all British ESB with C-hops?

Yes...and the only reason was because I needed to use my hops from the backyard within a few weeks because I don't have any means to store them appropriately. Let's call it The American Revolutionary Ale -- British with an attack of American hops?
 
This ESB has aged wonderfully and is a perfect fall session brew. The picture is not great on this cloudy Michigan day but its crystal clear. I highly recommend this recipe!

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This ESB has aged wonderfully and is a perfect fall session brew. The picture is not great on this cloudy Michigan day but its crystal clear. I highly recommend this recipe!

Man, my mouth is watering. I'm bottling mine this weekend. Can't wait! Cheers!:mug:
 
Only after 10 days in the bottle. The taste is starting to transform but it's already good. Can't wait for a few weeks from now!

image-3237082804.jpg
 
Brewing ESB this weekend, will let you know how it goes. Have you ever used Target for FWH?
 
1.060 OG
1.019 FG
Crystal clear and smooth. I love the hop schedule on this, FWH + late additions is the best way to go. I subbed First Gold (what I had) for the EKG and love that little spicy note from it.
 
My only deviation is that I dropped 2 ounces of EKG in for DH. I'll be bottling this soon, maybe tonight.
 
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