Ordinary Bitter "Pretty Ordinary" - an Australian/English Bitter

apologies up front for having metric calculations (from australia). my ingredients are english malts and australian malts but substituting american equivalents would give a very similar tasty beer.

english ales are notoriously low carbonated, and australian bitters (now mainly lagers) are often highly carbonated. i prefer the higher carbonation and a very slight carbonic bite.

ingredients:
3.45kg joe white pale ale malt (american 2-row would substitute well)
220gm joe white wheat malt
200gm simpsons medium crystal (crystal 60)
48gm pride of ringwood (pellets, 5.6 aa%, 60 mins)
1 pack danstar windsor british ale yeast, hydrated
1 tablet whirlfloc or irish moss etc
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient

process
* my brewhouse efficiency is 70%
* single infusion mash for 90 minutes at 149F (65C)
* boil for 90 minutes
* ferment for 10-14 days at 61-62F (slightly higher if you REALLY like the english esters)
* cold crash in primary for 4-5 days
* no secondary required, will clear in keg/bottle
* i bottle condition for about 4 weeks with 2 coopers carbonation drops
* if kegging, or bulk priming, get to about 2.7 for higher carbonation

extract version
substitute the pale ale malt with light DME and the wheat with dried wheat malt. steep the crystal as normal

notes
this was named the "pretty ordinary bitter" as i didn't expect much from it. in all my brewing experience my friends have never loved any beer so much as this one. isn't it always the way? it showcases typical australian pride of ringwood bitterness with higher carbonation (bitey), against a lovely and gentle, almost nutty, english ester from the yeast. they both compliment each other perfectly.

if your windsor finishes on you early as it is known to do, simply rehydrate a pack of US-05 and pop it into the fermenter. it will finish off the fermentation cleanly with no additional tastes, while still keeping the english esters, and allow it to get to the desired FG. my first one finished at 1.014 and it was still very nice. anywhere from 1.014 to 1.008 would be in style and taste amazing. try to keep it at about 4.5-4.8% abv.

more info
http://sexyfuntimebrewing.weebly.com/pretty-ordinary-bitter.html



terrible picture (thanks to my phone but i'll post a clearer one when i have it)

Looks pretty good.

Sounds good. I'm not familiar with those hops. What kind of flavor do you get. Is it piney?

b-boy said:

Sounds good. I'm not familiar with those hops. What kind of flavor do you get. Is it piney?

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never tried pride of ringwood? they're signature aussie hops. you'd be able to taste it in a coopers pale ale or sparkling ale if you can find one

"The aroma of Pride of Ringwood can be described as having a spicy kick with essence of citrus and fruit-like tones. The aroma is strong yet delectable, and will be very noticeable in late additions. " from http://beerlegends.com/pride-of-ringwood-hops

i'm terrible with trying to put words to flavours but yes, i'd consider it piney, but noticeably different from an american piney flavour. ever ever ever so slightly peppery perhaps.

Haven't used too many Australian or NZ hops yet. I need to expand my horizons a little.

I looked at this recipe because I've been interested in changing things up. I've been making too many Imperial hop bombs. I need something < 8%ABV and I like bitters. I think I'll give this a try. Thanks for the recipe.

Have you done this with any liquid yeasts?

b-boy said:

Haven't used too many Australian or NZ hops yet. I need to expand my horizons a little.

I looked at this recipe because I've been interested in changing things up. I've been making too many Imperial hop bombs. I need something < 8%ABV and I like bitters. I think I'll give this a try. Thanks for the recipe.

Have you done this with any liquid yeasts?

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pleasure mate.

i haven't as yet, but i plan on doing so with wy1469 which gives similar nutty characters. only reason i used the windsor as i had it lying around.

also, try and grab a coopers pale ale if you can, so you can get a feel for the pride of ringwood flavour

I think I can get some of that around here. I'll try to pick some up tomorrow for the weekend.

I'm looking forward to doing a bitters. Haven't done one in a few years.

b-boy said:

I think I can get some of that around here. I'll try to pick some up tomorrow for the weekend.

I'm looking forward to doing a bitters. Haven't done one in a few years.

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sweet. would love your feedback if you go ahead with it as it's definitely more australian than english. yeah this bitter is about 10 IBUish on top of what a coopers pale ale is for comparison's sake. very simple, just the one 60 minute addition.

hope you like it!

Hmm..so I won't need to keep track of 27 hop additions using 6 different hops - followed by 2 weeks of dry hopping every 5 days? Just not having to weigh all the IPA hops will cut my brew day in half.

I'm in!

b-boy said:

Hmm..so I won't need to keep track of 27 hop additions using 6 different hops - followed by 2 weeks of dry hopping every 5 days? Just not having to weigh all the IPA hops will cut my brew day in half.

I'm in!

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hahaha classic. yeah pretty much a set 'n' forget.

i've considered a flavour addition but it really doesn't need it in my opinion.

excited to hear how you go with it

I can only find 'Super Pride' locally. It looks like a stronger version of the Pride of Ringwood hops. Much higher Alpha numbers. It claims to give the same hop characteristics.

I can mail order the regular stuff, but I was hoping to brew this on Sunday. I can probably adjust my recipe and see how it goes.

Have you ever used it?

b-boy said:

I can only find 'Super Pride' locally. It looks like a stronger version of the Pride of Ringwood hops. Much higher Alpha numbers. It claims to give the same hop characteristics.

I can mail order the regular stuff, but I was hoping to brew this on Sunday. I can probably adjust my recipe and see how it goes.

Have you ever used it?

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hey mate, no i haven't unfortunately. give it a try i say, why not. let me know how it goes. just compare it when you can get some POR available. get your super pride to about 30 odd IBU. a little bit more won't hurt.

here's another picture. not the clearest looking but i can assure you it isn't as cloudy as it looks haha. not crystal clear but i attribute this to the yeast. still a lovely australian bitter. very sorry to see it almost finished. will make another and perhaps try super pride to compare. added this pic to initial post also.

I went ahead and orderd the Pride of Ringwood online. It should be here in a few days.

It was -15C here last weekend, so I didn't even think about brewing. Hopefully things warm up this weekend and I can brew.

I did get some Cooper's Pale Ale. I see what you mean about the peppery taste of the hops. It was good. I liked the flavor. A little more bitter that an English Ale, but it still has an English flavor. The only Australian beers they had on hand were Coopers and Fosters. The Coopers was 12.50USD for a sixer. A little pricey, but I'll save a few bottles for a comparison.

b-boy said:

I went ahead and orderd the Pride of Ringwood online. It should be here in a few days.

It was -15C here last weekend, so I didn't even think about brewing. Hopefully things warm up this weekend and I can brew.

I did get some Cooper's Pale Ale. I see what you mean about the peppery taste of the hops. It was good. I liked the flavor. A little more bitter that an English Ale, but it still has an English flavor. The only Australian beers they had on hand were Coopers and Fosters. The Coopers was 12.50USD for a sixer. A little pricey, but I'll save a few bottles for a comparison.

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yeah sadly our craft efforts don't seem to make it too far. fosters is pure ****. don't ever get that crap. coopers is alright, just a kind of pub / bar standard really. it's like go-to beer if you're at a pub that doesn't have any decent craft beers cos it's better than our megaswill (similar to your buds, millers and the rest).

glad you got the POR. i guarantee you'll like it mixed with a good english yeast. you using a liquid? something like wlp002 would be fantastic too, albeit a different accent on it. i liked using windsor or 1469 due to the complimentary nuttiness.

I'm going with the WY1469 like you mentioned above.

Do you have any water issues? My water is very hard here. Lighter beers can be a problem. I always use acid malt and do water additions. For this I'll probably dilute with RO water. Do you have any information on your water?

I've had many Fosters in my day. When I was in high school that was the beer to drink. Mainly because it came in a giant 55-gallon drum sized can. We always felt cool walking around with that sucker. You could drink out of it and do arm curls at the same time. It was hard to keep it cold though. Your last few sips were usually pretty nasty.

b-boy said:

I'm going with the WY1469 like you mentioned above.

Do you have any water issues? My water is very hard here. Lighter beers can be a problem. I always use acid malt and do water additions. For this I'll probably dilute with RO water. Do you have any information on your water?

I've had many Fosters in my day. When I was in high school that was the beer to drink. Mainly because it came in a giant 55-gallon drum sized can. We always felt cool walking around with that sucker. You could drink out of it and do arm curls at the same time. It was hard to keep it cold though. Your last few sips were usually pretty nasty.

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sydney water is quite good for brewing. i don't add any salts or water additions but here is our local report. i can't attach their PDF sadly.

the report is downloadable from here: http://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/wa...ity/typical-drinking-water-analysis/DD_044727

let me know if you can't download it from this link and i'll attach it another way.

and you know we don't even sell fosters here. it's all export. no idea why. i can't stand it. had it once when i was overseas, and it's similar to locally packaged beer under a different name. terrible haha

I finally got to brew this today. It was cold outside (-8C).

I had a hard time keeping my mash temps steady for the full mash. Ended up doing a thinner mash to compensate for the temperature drops. In retrospect, it was probably not a good idea to break in a brand new mash tun cooler in this weather.

Adjusted my water with 50% distilled water to get my water profile under control.

It's in the fermenter and ready to go. Hopefully everything turns out.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 9.27 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 7.02 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 6.50 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage

Ingredients:
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.8 %
10.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.1 %
10.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 6.1 %
2.00 oz Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 60.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg west yorkshire Ale (Wyeast Labs #1469) Yeast 5 -

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color:
Est Original Gravity: 1.041 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.0 %
Bitterness: 60.4 IBUs
Est Color: 6.4 SRM

Measured Original Gravity: 1.043 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %
Calories: 141.5 kcal/12oz

Mash Profile:
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Sparge Water: 7.00 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F

b-boy said:

I finally got to brew this today. It was cold outside (-8C).

I had a hard time keeping my mash temps steady for the full mash. Ended up doing a thinner mash to compensate for the temperature drops. In retrospect, it was probably not a good idea to break in a brand new mash tun cooler in this weather.

Adjusted my water with 50% distilled water to get my water profile under control.

It's in the fermenter and ready to go. Hopefully everything turns out.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 9.27 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 7.02 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 6.50 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage

Ingredients:
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.8 %
10.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.1 %
10.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 6.1 %
2.00 oz Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 60.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg west yorkshire Ale (Wyeast Labs #1469) Yeast 5 -

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color:
Est Original Gravity: 1.041 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.0 %
Bitterness: 60.4 IBUs
Est Color: 6.4 SRM

Measured Original Gravity: 1.043 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %
Calories: 141.5 kcal/12oz

Mash Profile:
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Sparge Water: 7.00 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F

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sorry mate, only just saw this (for some reason i didn't get a notification). looks the goods to me! nice one. let me know how it goes with the yorkshire yeast, not that you'd have mine to compare but i'd be very interested. it should be quite similar though so fingers crossed.

excited to hear how it turns out. keep me in the loop

b-boy said:

2.00 oz Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 60.4 IBUs

Bitterness: 60.4 IBUs

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mate i just noticed these two lines of your recipe. you're about 30ibu over mine :cross:

i think it might come out EXTRA bitter in this case. i'm scared that 60 ibu is going to be a little too much to palate!!! having said that, if you're a big bitter fan then that ibu might be just for you but it might be out of balance i normally save my 60+ ibu for ipas but each to their own haha

I completely missed that.

Oh well - looks like my Pride of Ringwood aa% were a lot higher than yours. Mine are listed as 10%. Must be an Americanized version. We hop the hell out of everything.

Good thing I like bitter beers.

b-boy said:

I completely missed that.

Oh well - looks like my Pride of Ringwood aa% were a lot higher than yours. Mine are listed as 10%. Must be an Americanized version. We hop the hell out of everything.

Good thing I like bitter beers.

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haha...oh well. a good experiment nonetheless. hope it's ok

i'm scared to ask how it went haha.

60 odd IBU of pride of ringwood would be...intense.

Smells good, but I haven't tried it yet. I'm kegging on Thursday. I've been waiting for keg to free up. I'll know then.

I got this kegged and it's carbing right now. I gave it a quick taste and it's pretty good. Nice breadiness and the bitterness isn't bad at all. I looked at my hops and the aa% was 9.

So far i'm pretty happy with it. Looking forward to tasting the final product in a week or so.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Home Brew mobile app

b-boy said:

I got this kegged and it's carbing right now. I gave it a quick taste and it's pretty good. Nice breadiness and the bitterness isn't bad at all. I looked at my hops and the aa% was 9.

So far i'm pretty happy with it. Looking forward to tasting the final product in a week or so.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Home Brew mobile app

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glad to hear mate. hope it's a nice one for you now. hopefully those hops will mellow into the nuttiness like i got

I just tried this last night. It's really good. The hops are a little intense, but not too bad. It's very drinkable. It's crisp and I'm getting the nutty flavor as well. I think I'm a fan of the Pride of Ringwood hops. They have a unique flavor. I like the spiciness.

I like the malt bill a lot too. I may try using it with some different hops and see how that turns out.

I'll definitely make this again, but I'll make sure to turn down the IBUs a little. I think I'll shoot for 40IBUs in the next batch.

b-boy said:

I just tried this last night. It's really good. The hops are a little intense, but not too bad. It's very drinkable. It's crisp and I'm getting the nutty flavor as well. I think I'm a fan of the Pride of Ringwood hops. They have a unique flavor. I like the spiciness.

I like the malt bill a lot too. I may try using it with some different hops and see how that turns out.

I'll definitely make this again, but I'll make sure to turn down the IBUs a little. I think I'll shoot for 40IBUs in the next batch.

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good to hear! yeah i've never heard of anyone using 60 IBU of pride of ringwood haha. 35-40 would be spot on the money i'd say. glad it worked out well for you.

Brewing this again for a party in August. I usually do the Centennial Blonde, but I thought I'd do this for a change of pace. This time I will pay attention to my IBUs. I really this beer though (even at 60 IBUs). It's good to have a nice low ABV beer around.

Just ordered all the ingredients. Should be about 50 people there, so I will get you some good feedback on this recipe.

b-boy said:

Brewing this again for a party in August. I usually do the Centennial Blonde, but I thought I'd do this for a change of pace. This time I will pay attention to my IBUs. I really this beer though (even at 60 IBUs). It's good to have a nice low ABV beer around.

Just ordered all the ingredients. Should be about 50 people there, so I will get you some good feedback on this recipe.

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sounds great mate! throwing a bit of an aussie swing on the party haha. would love some more feedback on it. you have me curious as to how it might taste with 60 but yeah, halve that and you'll be smack bang on the money i reckon mate

b-boy said:

Brewing this again for a party in August. I usually do the Centennial Blonde, but I thought I'd do this for a change of pace. This time I will pay attention to my IBUs. I really this beer though (even at 60 IBUs). It's good to have a nice low ABV beer around.

Just ordered all the ingredients. Should be about 50 people there, so I will get you some good feedback on this recipe.

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how'd the beer fare at your party mate? or has the party not happened yet?

Party was tonight. I had a stout, a Hefe, a pale ale, a Kentucky Common and your beer (I called it Aussie Ale). It was a huge hit. I went through about 5 US gallons. I got the most compliments on your beer by far. The Hefe was a distant second. I had several people who don't drink craft beer who absolutely loved it. Everyone kept asking what made it Australian. I told them about the Pride of Ringwood hops. They didn't understand, so I told them I got the recipe from an Australian guy. That they understood.

b-boy said:

Party was tonight. I had a stout, a Hefe, a pale ale, a Kentucky Common and your beer (I called it Aussie Ale). It was a huge hit. I went through about 5 US gallons. I got the most compliments on your beer by far. The Hefe was a distant second. I had several people who don't drink craft beer who absolutely loved it. Everyone kept asking what made it Australian. I told them about the Pride of Ringwood hops. They didn't understand, so I told them I got the recipe from an Australian guy. That they understood.

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hahahahaha, that's a classic.

i'm stoked to hear it went down well. i might try it a bit hoppier and see how it goes for me. what was your IBU for it?

This one came in right at 30 IBUs. Good stuff. I will definitely keep a keg of this around.

happy to announce this beer received 6th place (out of 65 judged beers) in a recent competition in sydney, NSW.

really happy how it's been received!

the new recipe was:

2-row - 86%
crystal 40-60 - 7%
wheat - 5%
victory/amber - 2%
same hop addition
wlp013 at 68F

Congratulations!

Bbeerr

Looks tasty as! Have drunk plenty of beers with Pride of Ringwood and it's the proper Aussie bittering hop, hey. Must be time to get some as I haven't actually brewed with it yet.

My only dissapointment with this recipe is the apology for using metric. Don't make it too easy for 'em, mate.