Sierra Nevada ESB

I picked up a sixer of SN's ESB tonight ,and call me crazy, maybe i just worked too hard today but does this remind anybody of Anchor Steam? Its similar in color, and after my first sip I immediately thought of Anchor Steam. Definitely twice as bitter, but they almost finish the same for me.

I don't think it tastes much like Anchor Steam although I like both these beers. I was pretty impressed w/ SN's ESB.

We had SN night at our local watering hole. They had 5 drafts, unusual to see that much SN stuff this far East- Pale Ale, Chico IPA, Ruthless Hefeweizen, ESB, and Bigfoot Barleywine. I had the Chico IPA & Bigfoot, the latter was great but the Chico IPA was pretty amazing. Oh, heck, it was so good I'll post it separately. The keg of ESB blew before I could sample any....supposedly we'll get more.

Jbrew33 said:

I don't think it tastes much like Anchor Steam although I like both these beers. I was pretty impressed w/ SN's ESB.

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you might be right, I wish I had a bottle of Anchor Steam so i could sample back and forth.

I don't find them even close. Anchor is quite different to my taste.

The ESB is a clean pale, nicely mildly hopped. Anchor lacks hop character all together.

I didn't find too similar...actually my wife and I really liked this beer when we tried on a vacation in March. I came up with a clone recipe and brewed it in late March. It's on tap right now and is fantastic.

After 3.5 weeks, it was a little citrusy, but after another week of conditioning in the keg, it has really smoothed out. One of those beers that has gotten some good raves from my "local samplers".

I'll post the recipe if anyone is interested.

I'd be interested

LooyvilleLarry said:

I'd be interested

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You got it!

At work so I don't have my Beersmith version, but here is the recipe:

11 Gallon Batch size (to fill out two kegs and account for trub):

• 7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
• 12 lbs Marris Otter
• 2.5 lbs Cara 40L

For hops:
I used Northern Brewer in place of Challenger for the first addition (I just like the profile)

• 2 ounces Northern Brewer 8.8% AA 60 minutes
• 2 ounces Challenger 6.9% AA 30 minutes
• 1 ounce Challenger 6.9% AA 20 minutes
• 1 ounce Crystal 4.0% AA 0 (Dry Hop for 5 Days)

OG: 1.054
IBU: 52
BU:GU: .96

Wyeast 1056 (I went with this yeast versus an English Ale to get a more crisp profile)

Single Infusion Mash at 152 degrees for 75 minutes. Batch sparge. Boiled for 75 minutes. Primary for 10 days, racked to secondary for 12. Dry Hop for last 5 days with leaf hops. No cold crash. Kegged.

This recipe was liked by all, especially SWMBO. On this recipe, I backed off the dry hopping a bit. The first time I made this, I made it with English Ale and dry hopped with 2 ounces of Crystal. The beer was just too fruity and sweet, more than what was needed.

This has become one of my staple beers. I have used this as a base to do some other recipes, such as adding Victory Malt or changing the hops, but this base recipe is always on tap. VERY drinkable.

Good luck! I would love to hear if you agree this is a good recipe, if you brew it.

Cheers.

Thanks for that ! It's in the queue now.
One question- is this at 75% eff? I recently got a BC and some other changes and am now consistently getting 82%, which affected one of the hop profiles ( came out a tad bit sweeter than I'd hoped).

Anyway, I just adjust accordingly.

LooyvilleLarry said:

Thanks for that ! It's in the queue now.
One question- is this at 75% eff? I recently got a BC and some other changes and am now consistently getting 82%, which affected one of the hop profiles ( came out a tad bit sweeter than I'd hoped).

Anyway, I just adjust accordingly.

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Great question....yes, that was at 75% recipe wise. I am also getting more towards the 80% - 82% range as well and have adjusted by increasing the post-boil volume.

As a note, this weekend I am brewing this, but am adding some Victory malt to give it a little more malty profile. Just 1 pound.

What Yeast are you going to use? American Ale yeast is the Sierra way. If you are trying to get the profile close to the ESB, stay with a version of American Ale. Also, you can back off the hops a bit, use Challenger (or similar AA) for the first addition versus Northern Brewer. That will lower your IBU's towards the low to mid 40's.

Good luck, please let me know what you think after you get this one drinking!

Just so happens I have some 1056 that was just washed ! I have some NB hops that have been begging to be used ( the Cascades & Centiennial have been making fun of them )