Suggestions for modifying LHBS Bitter recipe

Hi everyone -- I'm planning my third batch, and I've picked out a recipe from my LHBS:

Grapefruit Bitter

7lb pale malt extract
12 oz carastan malt
4 oz wheat malt
1 oz Centennial bittering hops (60 minutes)
1.5 oz Centennial finishing hops
Target gravity: 1.050

I'm going to be using some washed Wyeast 1332 for this.

I'm looking at the TG for this, and 1.050 seems a bit high to me for a bitter. I'm not so concerned with meeting style guidelines, but I would like something a bit lower alcohol. (The yeast is from my first batch, which went from 1.056 to 1.012 -- about 6.0 to 6.5% ABV, and a bit much to drink more than one pint of in an evening.)

So would there be any problem with me lowering the amount of extract I use to, say, 5 pounds? According to QBrew, that should bring TG to about 1.038...much more like a session beer. Would this cause me any problems?

I think it would be fine but I would lower your hopping rate to compensate for the reduced OG.

Blender said:

I think it would be fine but I would lower your hopping rate to compensate for the reduced OG.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion -- I hadn't thought about that. Bitter should be bitter, right? Would taking off a quarter ounce from each addition work?

Looking at the original recipe, there's nothing about it that says "Bitter" to me. Wrong hops, wrong yeast, gravity too high - well, it could be ESB, but then I don't like the malt profile.

If you've already purchased the ingredients, reduce the hops to balance at BU:GU ratio of 1:1. For example, if you want an OG of 1.038, use enough bittering hops to get you ~38 IBU. There are any number of online calculators to compute the IBU.

If you haven't yet purchased any ingredients, omit the Centennial. Get a neutral bittering variety like Northern Brewer, and finish with Fuggles or Goldings. Ordinary Bitter is supposed to be bitter and have a touch of hops flavor and aroma. Ferment with an English ale yeast like Nottingham or S-04. The yeast you choose will determine the fermentation temperature; if you choose Nottingham, ferment at 70F for some fruity esters in the finished beer so essential to the Bitter style.

It occurs to me that the above is supposed to be a clone of Redhook or some other ESB from the Pacific northwest. If so, the recipe is good as it stands. But if it's supposed to be an English-style Bitter, it's all wrong.

Cheers!

Bob

Saint Aardvark said:

Bitter should be bitter, right?

Click to expand...

Not exactly, at least not the way an American Micro pale ale would be for instance. A true bitter is a British pale ale lighter in color and with a crisper hop character than a mild or brown ale but they do not have hopping rates in the same range as North American ales. I second NQ#X's take on the situation.