Strong Bitter Common Room ESB

wayfaringstranger said:

Brewed this recipe over the winter as my first foray into all-grain brewing. Fantastic. Thanks for sharing it.

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That's awesome! I'm glad you like it.

Just transferred to secondary last night. That stuff was crystal clear after only 7 days in the primary. Great, simple, quffable beer. It's been said before and I'll say it again, simplicity often produces great things.

McSwiggin' said:

Just transferred to secondary last night. That stuff was crystal clear after only 7 days in the primary. Great, simple, quffable beer. It's been said before and I'll say it again, simplicity often produces great things.

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Cheers to that! Now just try not to drink it all at once!:cross:

How much sugar do you use when bottling? It seems that you might use less because this style doesn't seem to be as carbonated as some.

Brewenstein said:

How much sugar do you use when bottling? It seems that you might use less because this style doesn't seem to be as carbonated as some.

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Yeah, you don't want a whole lot of carbonation in an ESB. I usually carb to about 1.5 volumes. For a 5.5 gallon batch, that comes out to about 2 oz. of corn sugar.

Thanks. I will be brewing this tomorrow. It will be my first AG batch . Wish me luck!

Brewenstein said:

Thanks. I will be brewing this tomorrow. It will be my first AG batch . Wish me luck!

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It will be awesome. Have fun!

I just finished brewing this - went great. I did a write up in the AG section for anyone who is interested.

I am brewing your beer as a PM and this is what I converted it to. Any suggestions on improvement.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Common room ESB
Brewer: Bart
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 11.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 53.33 %
2.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 33.33 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.8 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (20 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (0 min) (AroHops -
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 3.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 4.38 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F

Bartman said:

I am brewing your beer as a PM and this is what I converted it to. Any suggestions on improvement.

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Nope, that looks great.

For some reason I have it in my mind that I want to brew a red pale ale. I can blame the Pale Ale Book for putting this image in my head. You know the book just on Pale Ale with the really red looking ale on it?

Any tweaks you can think of to make the recipe redder?

JMass said:

For some reason I have it in my mind that I want to brew a red pale ale. I can blame the Pale Ale Book for putting this image in my head. You know the book just on Pale Ale with the really red looking ale on it?

Any tweaks you can think of to make the recipe redder?

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An ounce or two of roasted barley should do the trick.

KingBrianI said:

An ounce or two of roasted barley should do the trick.

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Substitute that for
0.25 lb UK Dark Crystal 135-165L (150.0 SRM) Grain 2.27 %

or just add the roasted barley to your recipe?

Just add it in addition to everything else. The small amount won't throw the gravity off much if any.

So I brewed last Friday. The OG was high ~ 1.062 as I recall. However, I didn't notice that the recipe was for 5.5 gallons and I may have boiled for > 60 minutes. Also I think my supplier may have forgotten the roasted barley. The only other glitch is that I like to ferment in plastic and needed my bucket for a hefeweizen I brewed yesterday and had to rack after only 2 days. I don't think that'll make a difference. The weird thing is I got no trub when I did this. I guess it is all in suspension at this point in time.

I usually also speiss my beer and forgot to do that for this one, so saved some weizen wort for speissing this one. I'm not sure if that will change the character at all, but it should help in head retention.

Well, I managed to mess this one up. It is totally cloudy.

Good news is that it tastes great. I added some more yeast to get it fermenting again, but that didn't work.

[I didn't keep the speiss at a cold temp and that went into it's own fermentation so I dumped it. It probably would've added a good zing to the hefewwiezen, but I wasn't ready to experiment.]

The FSG on the ESB was a bit high - 1.020 or so. It tastes like a hint of chocolate and maybe graham cracker (not sure if I'm imagining the graham cracker). Anyway, it is different enough from my standard Ameican Cascade Pale Ale, that I like it. I brewed EdWort's Hefewiezen at the same time and my brother-in-law seemed to like this one better. Don't tell Edwort.

Is ir bottled/kegged yet? If so, a few weeks in the fridge should clear it right up. If it's still in secondary, you could rack to a tertiary and fine with some gelatin or isinglass. Aside from aesthetics though, cloudiness won't hurt anything. Glad you like it! Let me know what you think when it's had another month or so of aging!

I am brewing this beer on Thursday - only changing the yeast to a Whitbread 1099. I have tried brewing an ESB of my own recipe before and it never really turned out like I expected. So I figured I'd brew one that is tried and true for a start. I do love a good ESB, as does my wife.

I'm pretty sure 1099 is the same strain as s-04 so it should work really well. Hope you like it!

I'm brewing this recipe on Sunday. I'm still hesitating between using the WLP002 English yeast from white labs, or the London ESB strain from Wyeast. Which one would you recommend?

mithion said:

I'm brewing this recipe on Sunday. I'm still hesitating between using the WLP002 English yeast from white labs, or the London ESB strain from Wyeast. Which one would you recommend?

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They're both the same strain (from Fullers). I've had good success with both but when I used it for this beer, attenuation was a bit lower than I wanted. If you go with either of those, try mashing at 150-152 instead of 154. Otherwise it will end up a bit sweet. Good luck!

brrman said:

I am brewing this beer on Thursday - only changing the yeast to a Whitbread 1099. I have tried brewing an ESB of my own recipe before and it never really turned out like I expected. So I figured I'd brew one that is tried and true for a start. I do love a good ESB, as does my wife.

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Actually had to postpone that brew day - but I am heating my strike water right now to brew this up!

Good luck!

whew - she's in the carboy! The color looks delicious... OG of 1.060
I used Marris Otter as the base grain and subbed 1 lb of the MO with 1 lb of Biscuit.

I hope you like the taste of biscuit!

yeah I do - I know it is a lot - close to the recommended max% for the malt. We shall see how it goes!

This is now #2 on my list and looks absolutely delicious. I'll post back once I've had the opportunity to brew it. Ordering the exact recipe from Brewmasters today.

whutever said:

This is now #2 on my list and looks absolutely delicious. I'll post back once I've had the opportunity to brew it. Ordering the exact recipe from Brewmasters today.

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Awesome! Hope you like it!

Well, this beer is finally finished. It was painful to wait since it looked so delicious while fermenting. Here's a picture for reference.

Common Room ESB

Just for reference, this version should be a tad bit paler than yours. I couldn't find some really dark crystals so I had to settle with Crystal 120L which is the darkest my LHBS had. It still has a beautiful tint to it. The flavor profile is absolutely amazing. I mashed at 154 degrees but used the London ESB yeast which gave this beer massive maltiness. However, you were right KingBrianI, the finish is a tad sweeter. I wanted to try this beer following the recipe a closely as possible, but next time I will mash at 150 as you recommended. Easily the best beer I've brewed so far. Thanks for the recipe.

PS: Sorry for the chill haze. I stopped using fining agents a few batches ago but I see now that I need to get back to it. Still, this beer is amazingly drinkable. Gotta stop myself from grabbing another one.

Looks awesome! Here is your picture:



Glad you like it. I never worry too much about chill haze. It doesn't affect the taste at all and goes away if you leave it in the fridge a few weeks. Glad you like it!

This stuff is so good, I'm not sure I can wait for the chill haze to dissipate. I think these British "pub style" ales are meant to be consumed fresh. I don't know how long it will stay good. Since you seem to brew this beer regularly, how long before it peaks?

I've never had one go "bad" for waiting too long. I'll typically brew it before I run out of the previous batch so I never run out, and that allows me to age some of the previous batch. I've had some up to probably a year after brewing, and while the hop flavor gets less and less, the flavor seems to "smooth" out more and more. Sometimes the bitterness and maltiness seem a bit "separate" while young, but when aged, they come together to become a single flavor. I wouldn't worry about letting it get some age, though I know it's hard!

Awesome. Can not wait to brew this. Gonna go with an additional 4 oz of biscuit.

I'm brewing this on saturday.

Have fun guys! Let me know how it comes out.

Just tapped the keg of the batch that I brewed on Sept 19. WOW this is fantastic! I used a full pound of biscuit and I love it. A big hit with my wife as well.

brrman said:

Just tapped the keg of the batch that I brewed on Sept 19. WOW this is fantastic! I used a full pound of biscuit and I love it. A big hit with my wife as well.

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Awesome, it should just keep getting better.

I had a stupid question. I noticed that your base malt you chose was the UK Pale Malt but with an SRM of 1.4. Is this malt the typical british pale malt similar to Maris Otter? Or is it a slightly lighter and grainier malt similar to american domestic 2-row?

Maris otter would be perfect and is what I always use. For the recipe I listed uk pale malt because it is a bit more of a generic term so people could feel free to use whatever they have handy.

KingBrianI said:

Maris otter would be perfect and is what I always use. For the recipe I listed uk pale malt because it is a bit more of a generic term so people could feel free to use whatever they have handy.

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I was gonna say this earlier, but didn't want to tread on the thread....If you use a specified malt like MO or Golden promise, then it will help if you want to produce a repeatable brew. As KingBrian said, UK Pale Malt is a generic term, therefore, you don't really know what you are getting from one order to the next if you order something labeled simply as "UK pale malt"

If consistency is not an issue, then just go for it!