Feedback on ESB

First time I've put a recipe out here.
Just looking for some feedback, to see if I'm on the right track.


Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 8.00 gal
Boil Size: 10.26 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (15 Gal) and Igloo/Gott Cooler (10 Gal)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.44 %
2.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.50 lb Victory Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 10.4 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnang [6.50 %] (45 min) Hops 11.3 IBU
0.75 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
0.75 oz Tettnang [6.50 %] (15 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
1.60 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)
2.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.60 %
Bitterness: 32.3 IBU
Est Color: 13.2 SRM


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 18.00 lb
Sparge Water: 7.64 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
Mashing @ 154.0 F
60 min Mash In Add 5.58 gal of water at 170.2 F

Way more complexity in the grain bill than necessary and there's over 20% crystal malts to boot. That's far too much IMO. The hop additions could stand some simplification as well. I would also strongly suggest using UK pale malt in this beer rather than domestic. If you can only get domestic malt or have already purchased it then try adding a dose of Munich, Biscuit or some other malty flavored product to take up some of the slack. The beer could also benefit from some additional hop bitterness. The ROT for bitters & ESB would be an IBU number of about 75% of the OG so I would bump it up to the mid 40s. My choice would also be to drop the mash temp by a few degrees.

16# Pale
1# Crystal 60L
1/2# CaraPils
1/2# Victory

60 minutes: 2 oz Willamette + 1 oz Tett
20 minutes: 3/4-1 oz of each

Thanks for the feed back, appreciate that.
By UK pale, referring to Maris Otter ? Easy enough to bump up the IBU's.

boomr said:

Thanks for the feed back, appreciate that.
By UK pale, referring to Maris Otter ?

Click to expand...

Maris Otter would be fine but any UK pale malt would be more than acceptable. The UK malts have the richness and depth of flavor you want for this style.