First AG Recipe Help for ESB

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lhommedieu

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Am I on track here?

I'm aiming to create a session beer for my first AG brew. As per the advice in another thread, I'm trying to understand the parameters of grains and hops within the English Special Bitter style - rather than simply use a recipe, e.g. for a Fuller's ESB clone. The following uses Palmer's guidelines for an ESB, tweaked here and there by BrewSmith 2.0. for a 5 gallon batch.

As I understand the style, up to 20% of the grain bill can be taken by the Crystal Malt; my recipe calls for @ 13% or so (I think). Are there advantages to using other specialty grains?

BrewSmith puts my SRM and IBU values in the middle of the "green"; OG and ABV values are in the "yellow" - but as I said, I want to make a session beer.

"English Special Bitter"

7 lbs, 11 oz. Maris Otter Pale Malt
1 lbs, 1 oz. Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
0.85 oz. Goldings, East Kent (5%) 90 minutes
0.42 oz. Fuggles (4.5%) 90 minutes
0.42 oz. Goldings, East Kent (5%) 45 minutes
0.42 oz. Goldings, East Kent (5%) 15 minutes
1 tsp. Irish Moss 10 minutes
1 package Whitbread Ale yeast (Wyeast Labs #1099) - added to starter.

Est. OG: 1.048; Est. FG: 1.013; Est. ABV: 4.5%, SRM: 10.6; 39 IBU's

Single Infusion Mash for 90 minutes at 152 degrees; Fly sparge at 168 degrees for @ 1 hour.
Primary Fermentation for @ 10 days at 67 degrees; rack to Korny Keg and continue for 4 weeks at 65 degrees.
 
Sounds good. I would use all Fuggles for the early hop addition and move all the Goldings to late hop additions, but that's just my tastes.

My brew weekend was shot having to replace the radiator in my wife's vehicle. So...keep me posted...I have to brew vicariously this weekend and this recipe sounds good...
 
Thanks for the feedback. This beer is two weeks away from its start as I'll be away next weekend, and I still have to build my lauter tub and fly sparge device. Everything else is in place, but it gives me a little time to listen to advice on the forum.
 
Love, love , love the flexibility in an ESB. I plugged your grain bill into BS and it came in a little lower than yours. Never the less.

I also love Styrians...but bitter with Target (less required).

My most quickest drank ESB to grace my kegs included a little roasted barley and some rye.

74% MO
13% rye
12% C60
1% 500L Roasted Barley.

Target at 60
Styrians at 15

it comes it right at the max for the class in color and kept it about 38 IBU. It is regular around here now... So many different ways to skin this proverbial cat. Cheers!
 
Love, love , love the flexibility in an ESB. I plugged your grain bill into BS and it came in a little lower than yours. Never the less.

I also love Styrians...but bitter with Target (less required).

My most quickest drank ESB to grace my kegs included a little roasted barley and some rye.

74% MO
13% rye
12% C60
1% 500L Roasted Barley.

Target at 60
Styrians at 15

it comes it right at the max for the class in color and kept it about 38 IBU. It is regular around here now... So many different ways to skin this proverbial cat. Cheers!

Thanks! I rounded down the grain bill a little for the post. I can see (I think) how the rye can be added to the basic profile (MO/Crystal/Goldings) to produce a drier, crisper beer. Is this also the rationale behind adding flaked wheat - as I have seen in a couple of recipes?

Target is listed on several recipes I've looked at for ESB; from my limited perspective on ESB's it would seem that hops contribute greatly to the character of ESB's just so long as they float on the surface of the malt flavor without overwhelming it.

As long as I haven't made any major mistakes I"m going to go ahead and make my ESB as a baseline, and then start playing around the edges.
 
First, a little nit pick. The "E" in ESB stands for extra, not English. I believe that you are going for a Special Bitter which is not quite as strong as an Extra Special Bitter. The recipe you posted could fit either category.

The only thing I don't like about your recipe is the amount of crystal malt. For an ESB, I like to keep it down to 5%, for a Special Bitter, I relax this a little bit, and go up to about 7.5% I think that 14% is too much.
If you can get British Crystal as opposed to American, then it is well worth it.

Your hop schedule is a bit different to what I use. I like to add about 0.5 oz EKG at flame out, but that is just personal preference.

I personally don't like WLP099, but this again is a personal preference. For a low carbed draught beer, I like WLP002 or WY1968. For a higher carbed bottled beer, I like WY1028 (but not WLP013). For either draught or bottled, I also like WLP023. There's also a whole bunch of other yeasts that I have never used, or not used for a long time, and cannot remember how they turned out. Brewing identical beers with different yeasts can be a lot of fun.

Good luck.

-a.
 
I increased the Crystal just because I wanted a slightly darker color. If I decreased the Crystal, would you recommend merely increasing the MO or the addition of another special grain? Trying to keep things simple here - and happy to learn as I go.

lol - I knew that it was "extra" but just conflated it with English pale ale.
 
I increased the Crystal just because I wanted a slightly darker color.

if your worried about the color then use two different crystals. go with a lighter one between 20L and 40L some where around .50/.75 lb then use a darker one like 120 L or higher to boost the color

for example
12.0 oz Crystal Malt 2 (Thomas Facett) (68.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.8 %
4.0 oz Crystal Malt Dark 2 (Thomas Fawcett) (124.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.3 %
 
I brewed a very similar ESB for my first AG. Brewed 12/15/12, Tapped the keg, 12/31/12. Emptied it today. It was the shortest lived keg yet at my house. Very drinkable. Everyone seemed to like it, alot. Good luck with it.
GF'n
 
Here is the ESB I brewed today. It is a bit of a tweak on one I did last year that was absolutely amazing.

10# Maris Otter
12oz Crystal 60 (Thomas Faucett & Sons)
1 oz Fuggles 60 min
1 oz Fuggles 30 min
1 oz Fuggles 15 min

OG was 1.060, 35 IBU's, 9 SRM color

Pitched Safale S-04 which I rehydrated...

The MO is what makes a good ESB. The first time I brewed this I used Fuggles and EKG, but I didn't have any EKG on hand today.
 
I increased the Crystal just because I wanted a slightly darker color. If I decreased the Crystal, would you recommend merely increasing the MO or the addition of another special grain? Trying to keep things simple here - and happy to learn as I go.

lol - I knew that it was "extra" but just conflated it with English pale ale.

I wish you hadn't asked that, because it is something I tried some while ago, but had very little success. :)

If you decrease the crystal and increase the MO to compensate, you will get a lighter color - obviously.

My LHBS has a fairly limited selection of malts, and the only dark crystal they stocked was Muntons dark crystal (~150L). I tried a small addition of that in addition to my normal light crystal (~55L) addition. It was a disaster, and tasted like a cross between a dry stout and a bitter, with the emphasis on stout.

I tried using very small amounts of chocolate malt or roasted barley. Same results, the dark malts added some very unneeded flavors.

I did get some reasonable results using Briess 120L crystal, but even then it didn't taste as good as without the Briess.

Gordon Strong has said in Brewing Better Beer, that adding dark malts at the start of the sparge, rather than at the start of the mash (which I have always done) eliminates the astringent flavors caused by the roasted grains.
He may well be right, but I haven't tried it.

-a.
 
Second Round:

7 lbs, 11.8 oz. Maris Otter Pale Malt
8 oz. Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt 120L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
0.40 oz. Target (11%) 90 minutes
1.0 oz. Goldings, East Kent (5%) 15 minutes
1.0 oz Goldings, East Kent (5%) 5 minutes
1 tsp. Irish Moss 10 minutes
1 package Whitbread Ale yeast (Wyeast Labs #1099) - added to starter.

Est. OG: 1.048; Est. FG: 1.013; Est. ABV: 4.6%, SRM: 10.3; 33.7 IBU's

Single Infusion Mash for 90 minutes at 152 degrees; Fly sparge at 168 degrees for @ 1 hour.
Primary Fermentation for @ 10 days at 67 degrees; rack to Korny Keg and continue for 4 weeks at 65 degrees.

This is similar to Palmer's example of an ESB in "How to Brew." Changes include extending the boil to 90 minutes, adding 4 oz of Caramel/Crystal 120L for color and the addition of Irish Moss for fining at the end of the boil. I reduced the amount of Flaked Wheat to keep the Est. OG down and the subsequent Est. ABV came out at 4.6.


A propos your comment above, I was tempted to add a very small amount of Black (Patent) Malt to bump up the color to 13 SRM; I've been drinking Fuller's London Pride recently and love the copper color. I am not sure it is worth the risk, though...
 
Sorry - I forgot that I'd also added 8 oz. of Flaked Wheat (edited, above).

My hbsg said that one of the best ESB's brewed locally for a contest added saccharine towards the end of the boil, and there is a thread on Northernbrewer.com that suggests that adding sugar to ESB's in not uncommon.

Newbie logic being what it is, I thought I might add some brown sugar to bump the color, but thankfully read the thread on this forum that says that brown sugar can add a weird taste to some styles.

So, if the difference between the SRM that I have and the one that I (arbitrarily, idiosyncratically) want is only 2.7 SRM, and I can't seem to get what I want without increasing the OG or effecting the taste, I may just want to stand pat and go ahead and brew...
 
if you don't have "designing great beers" or "brewing classic styles" I suggest you go get them. There's a lot of great info there
 
if you don't have "designing great beers" or "brewing classic styles" I suggest you go get them. There's a lot of great info there

lol - DGB on request from my library system; BCS on my Amazon wish list...

I'd be losing weight if I wasn't drinking beer...
 
"Just one more question..."

I saw your post re. bitter water profile from a couple of years ago. I was wondering if we have a similar water profile? We probably do, hence my followup question, below.

From:
http://65.36.213.246/dwqr2012/wellFiles/Distribution Area 10.pdf

Calcium low: 9.7 high: 32.7 average: 19.3
Magnesium low: 1.23 high: 7.52 average: 3.87
Sodium low: 6.0 high: 15.5 average: 9.8
Sulfate low: ND high: 33.8 average: 5.8
Chloride low: 8.3 high: 45.1 average: 18.5
Hardness, total: low: 30.9 high: 112.7 average: 64.0

I think that alkalinity is rather low at @ 35; I did a conversion for bicarbonate on the Bru'n Water site last night, but that data is on my other computer at home, and I won't be back until Thursday. However, if my recollection serves me it was also low at @45. It is worth noting that Bru'n says my water report is slightly out of balance, which makes sense given the range for some of the mineral values - however, it's still within tolerance to make some choices.

You wrote:

"I use what is recommended by Terry Foster in "Pale Ale"

For ordinary, special, or extra special, he recommands:
Ca 50 - 100
SO4 100 - 200
Cl 20
I shoot for Ca 75, SO4 150, CL 20 and am very satisfied with the results.
However, my water report says the Ca varies between 8 and 40 ppm, SO4 varies between 5 and 33 PPM, and Cl varies between 5 and 35 PPM, so I never really know what I'm getting, but I base my water treatments on the average and don't notice any batch to batch differences."

So my newbie-to-all-grain question is whether, for my first batch, I just add gypsum and calcium choride as recommended in the brewing-water-chemistry-primer thread to bring my water up to what Terry Foster recommends, above?

FWIW, my hbsd recommended about a tsp. each of gypsum and un-iodized table salt as he considers our water "soft."

Sorry to stalk you, lol - but the above information re. Terry Foster was useful. No rush to reply - and don't feel that you have to.
 
Hope I can assist with some water chem...

Gypsum adds just short of 150ppm of Sulfate/gram/gallon. 5 grams in 5 gallons = 147 ppm addition of sulfate.
Table Salt (un-iodized) adds 104ppm Sodium/gram/gallon. 5 grams in 5 gallons = 104 ppm addition of sodium.

Here are comparisons for two English water supplies (Fullers evidently uses London Municipal). I would think BOT favors the ESB (hops), but Fullers is a benchmark and alas it is a very fine beer, and they've been at it for a while.

Name: Burton On Trent, UK
PH: 8.00
Ions:
Calcium: 295.00
Magnesium: 45.00
Sodium: 55.00
Sulfate: 725.00
Chloride: 25.00
Bicarbonate: 300.00
Additions:

Name: London, England
PH: 8.00
Ions:
Calcium: 52.00
Magnesium: 16.00
Sodium: 99.00
Sulfate: 77.00
Chloride: 60.00
Bicarbonate: 156.00

For the ionic additions to water with measurements: http://www.homebrew.com/mike_brew_corner/mike_03270101.shtml
 
I think our water profiles are very similar. (I'm in area 18)
I also work from the average figures, and it works for me.
I use about 1g gypsum per gallon and a very small amount of CaCl2. I certainly wouldn't add a tsp of table salt as that would push the chloride and sodium levels very high.

Good luck,

-a.
 
btw, Thanks for the Gordon Strong reference. I just finished the first chapter on technique in Brewing Better Beer, wherein is the discussion of adding dark grains during the lauter and also some discussion of late hopping. There is also a little tidbit, almost buried in the text, about how Fuller's makes different beers from different runnings from the same mash. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Terry Foster's Pale Ale is on the way from Amazon.

As I like this style I think that I will continue to brew it through the summer, and make small changes to my recipe above in order to explore their effects.

I've got BrewSmith but I think I'll also work through the math as explained in the first chapter of Designing Great Beers to see how my recipe works from the ground up.

Thank you again for your help.

Best,

Steve
 
I brewed my first AG about two weeks ago. The beer has been sitting in a 6.5 gallon carboy for 12 days (not counting today). I put it in a chest freezer and set the temperature regulator for 67 degrees F. Fermentation has been steady but not vigorous; I can see activity on surface and the blow-off bottle still registers about 2-3 bubbles a minute - but fermentation has definitely slowed since last week.

I ended up adding 4 oz. of 120 Caramel Malt during the sparge as per the discussion above. I'm not sure if it made a difference but the color is where I wanted it and it tastes really good. OG was 1.046 and my last two FG readings have been 1.015 and 1.014, respectively, over the past two days.

I probably rushed pitching the yeast (end of a long day) and I am wondering if I should have pitched more yeast? I used a Wyeast "London Ale" smack pack but didn't let it sit for more than half a day. Next time I'l do a starter as BeerSmith calculates that you need 2 million or so cells and the smack pack lists 1 million.

Since my estimated FG is 1.011, should I leave it in the carboy for another week (I am generally out on the Island on weekends, which keeps me from fiddling with my beer, lol)?

OR

Would be it advisable to add more yeast at this point?

Best,

Steve

Edit: I should have also mentioned: Mash temperature was 152 degrees for 1 hour; no mash out; fly sparge at 168 degrees for about an hour. Boil was 90 minutes.
 
I brewed my first AG about two weeks ago. The beer has been sitting in a 6.5 gallon carboy for 12 days (not counting today). I put it in a chest freezer and set the temperature regulator for 67 degrees F. Fermentation has been steady but not vigorous; I can see activity on surface and the blow-off bottle still registers about 2-3 bubbles a minute - but fermentation has definitely slowed since last week.

I ended up adding 4 oz. of 120 Caramel Malt during the sparge as per the discussion above. I'm not sure if it made a difference but the color is where I wanted it and it tastes really good. OG was 1.046 and my last two FG readings have been 1.015 and 1.014, respectively, over the past two days.

I probably rushed pitching the yeast (end of a long day) and I am wondering if I should have pitched more yeast? I used a Wyeast "London Ale" smack pack but didn't let it sit for more than half a day. Next time I'l do a starter as BeerSmith calculates that you need 2 million or so cells and the smack pack lists 1 million.

Since my estimated FG is 1.011, should I leave it in the carboy for another week (I am generally out on the Island on weekends, which keeps me from fiddling with my beer, lol)?

OR

Would be it advisable to add more yeast at this point?

Best,

Steve

You could try warming it up to 72-75 degrees for a couple of days then checking your gravity for 3 days in a row. If it still doesn't change after 3 days you are finished. 1.014 is an acceptable FG for ESB to be sure.
 
If the gravity has dropped one point over the past two days, I would definitely leave it in the carboy for at least one more week. As the gravity is still dropping, I don't see any point in adding more yeast.

-a.
 
Just an update: FG was 1.011.

The beer has been carbonating for about a week in the keg. I've drawn about 3 pints. First one was a little yeasty as you might expect but the next was clear and the third, a few days later, is clear and bright. I'm drinking it as I type.

The color was a bit darker than I wanted, and I think that, the next time, I'll just use one caramel malt instead of using Caramel 60 and Caramel 120. I was aiming for a copper color and what I got instead was a dark copper starting to verge on brown. I didn't use finings so the beer is a little hazy but that doesn't really matter to me as it's a house beer.

You can taste the hops but they are not nearly as strong as an IPA - there is a hop flavor under the malt, which is what I wanted. No hop aroma, really.

Flavor is excellent. This is a beer I could enjoy all night long. I had a couple of Fuller's London Pride ales earlier this evening and it compares very well. I would have to say that Fuller's strikes a clean balance between hops and malt, whereas in my beer the body is fuller and the malt predominates. I think that it will hit it's peak within a couple of weeks, at which point I'll have some friends over to celebrate.

Thanks again for your forbearance and excellent advice.

Best,

Steve
 
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