British Ordinary Bitter

Brewed this up yesterday. It's my fourth batch since I started. We'll see how it goes!

1/2 lb British Crystal malt 55L
1/2 lb CaraAmber malt (replaced for biscuit malt)
6 lbs Light DME
1 lb Extra light DME (late addition at 15 min)
1 oz Target hops at 60 min
1/2 oz Styrian Goldings at 15 min
Whitelabs English Ale Yeast

I was shooting for something English-tasting, and upped my bittering hops at the last minute for no good reason except it seemed like a good idea at the time. I also threw in some extra extract to grab a little extra ABV.

I measured the Original gravity at 1.016.

Well, the OG's not 1.016, there's something wrong - almost certainly with how it was measured. When you topped off in the fermenter, did you stir the wort afterwards? If you don't, the liquid on top (where you probably took the sample) will have a lower gravity than the liquid on the bottom. Very common problem. Nothing to worry about, the yeast will find the sugars, except be careful about that next time i fyou want to know your true OG.

While there's nothing wrong with putting in a bit more extract, at that point you don't want to call it an ordinary bitter - it might be a special bitter, or an ESB, or something like that, but when you use the term "ordinary bitter" it's describing a beer with a very low OG (usually 1.030 - 1.035ish, IIRC). It's a defining characteristic of the beer. Just a quibble.

Actually, considering that you added more bittering hops at the end, you may be closer to an ESB than anything else. Ordinary bitters aren't known to be terribly aggressively hopped.

Alright, I'll stop being an EAC now. Looks like a tasty brew!

"Bitter" is just the british way of differentiating kiddy-beer from grown up beer. Back in the day in merry old London when the water was unsafe to drink, everybody drank beer. Generally though, it wasn't a good idea to send the kiddies off to school after a pint of high-proof beer, so the kids got beers designated as "Milds" which were somewhere around 2.5% to 3.5%ABV.

Then for the adults, there were "Bitters". They weren't necessarily bitter, but they were for grown ups. My imagination tells me that they called them "Bitters" mostly to discourage the kids from wanting them. LOL. So anyway, bitters weren't terribly bitter and they still aren't. The thing that makes a bitter a bitter is the alcohol content, generally between 3.0% and 3.7%. Remember, that the world wasn't interconnected back then like it is today, so there is some overlap and regional variation in these styles, so you should expect some overlap... Anyway, if the grownups wanted a stronger drink, they would order a Best Bitter or a Special Bitter which was generally between 4.1 and 4.8% abv. Then there were the "Strong Bitters" or Extra Special Bitters which were as high as 5.8% ABV, or as low as 4.8%.

In other words, nowadays, "Extra Special Bitters" are about the strength of beer that most people expect when they crack open a cold one....

the_bird said:

Well, the OG's not 1.016, there's something wrong - almost certainly with how it was measured. When you topped off in the fermenter, did you stir the wort afterwards? If you don't, the liquid on top (where you probably took the sample) will have a lower gravity than the liquid on the bottom. Very common problem. Nothing to worry about, the yeast will find the sugars, except be careful about that next time i fyou want to know your true OG.

Click to expand...

I think I read it wrong... I went back to try to figure this durn thing out. I think I read 1.060, not 1.016.

You recipe there is very similar to the one from my first beer. Yours will be a bit darker and less hoppy, but should be quite delicious. We used the same yeast strain and pretty much the same fermentables. Your hops profile will be more mellow, which should be an improvement.

Well at 1060 it is defienetly not a ordinary bitter and with the increase hops you've probably gone away from the bitternes range for an OB.

You'll possibly have a good beer but it will not be a ordinary bitter.

orfy said:

You'll possibly have a good beer but it will not be a ordinary bitter.

Click to expand...

Well, here's hoping!

Just checked, and the airlock is bubbling away evenly. I suppose it's a good thing that each batch has been getting better than the previous one.

Looks like you've got an ESB there to me, also looks like it should be a decent beer.

A question--did you replace the amber malt with biscuit malt, or the other way around? Just curious. Either way, yeah, I agree with these guys--not an ordinary bitter, but definitely a tasty-sounding beer.

I originally wanted to use biscuit malt, but the shop was out. They had a conversion list next to the bins of grain, and the guy there recommended I use the CaraAmber as a replacement.

Aah, gotcha. Okay, cool, thanks for clarifying.

Definitely not a Ordinary Bitter as it is way to strong with too much hops, but I have a question for others reading this. What is the difference between an ESB (which several people called this recipe) and an IPA? Both are big, hoppy and bitter beer. From the descriptions it sound like there is alot of overlap. Maybe IPAs are just a little bit bigger with perhaps more emphasis on hops vs malt.
Craig

Well, I'm obviously no style guide, but to me, key factors I kept in mind when shooting for an English style bitter were:

- using an English Ale yeast
- reducing my hops selection to those traditionally used in English brews, such as Kent Goldings, Styrian Goldings, Fuggle, etc.
- I intend to throttle back on the priming sugar come bottling time, to try to keep a lighter carbonation than, say, my amber.

CBBaron said:

What is the difference between an ESB (which several people called this recipe) and an IPA? Both are big, hoppy and bitter beer. From the descriptions it sound like there is alot of overlap. Maybe IPAs are just a little bit bigger with perhaps more emphasis on hops vs malt.
Craig

Click to expand...

ESBs are not by definition "big and hoppy" although they can be bitter. They are typically a session beer and are not as aggressively hopped as an IPA. Where IPAs can have many late hop additions and tend to be dry-hopped for flavor and aroma, ESBs follow a pretty traditional hopping schedule of a bittering addition, with a mild flavor addition 45 minutes into the boil. The hops used are also very different (think Chinook vs. EK Goldings).

There is also more attention paid to the use of specialty grains for added flavor and the malt profile is a bit more interesting in an ESB.

TheJadedDog said:

ESBs are not by definition "big and hoppy" although they can be bitter. They are typically a session beer and are not as aggressively hopped as an IPA. Where IPAs can have many late hop additions and tend to be dry-hopped for flavor and aroma, ESBs follow a pretty traditional hopping schedule of a bittering addition, with a mild flavor addition 45 minutes into the boil. The hops used are also very different (think Chinook vs. EK Goldings).

There is also more attention paid to the use of specialty grains for added flavor and the malt profile is a bit more interesting in an ESB.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. I was basing the "big, hoppy" description on the OG and IBUs listed for many ESB recipes I have seen. Most seem to be around 1.060 and have IBU better than 40. But I guess numbers don't tell the whole story. I can understand that the flavor profile tends to have more malt flavor with a strong bitter balance instead of a more hop flavor on the bitterness.

I may have to try a few ESB recipes as I have found some, but not all, IPAs to be lacking in the malt flavor for my tastes.

Craig

ESB:
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category8.html#style8C


IPA:
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category14.html#style14A

Update on this batch... I cracked open the first bottle over the weekend after two weeks in the bottle to see how it's going. The alcohol isn't too "punchy", and the malt really stands out. The Styrian Goldings seem to be a pretty good flavoring hop. There is a residual sweetness that kind of surprised me, though. Took a few sips to get used to it. It was also thick with haze, but that's just a cosmetic thing.

My homebrewing buddy who tried it simply responded by saying, "damn, dude", so I'll take that as a success.

Well done. It's the end result that counts.