ESB Hop schedule critique

9# Maris Otter
1# Crystal 60L

1.25oz challenger(pellet)@60
.5oz us goldings(leaf)@15
.5oz willamette(leaf)@15
.25oz challenger(pellet)@5
.5oz us goldings(leaf)@5
.5oz willamette(leaf)@5

dry hop with:
.5oz willamette(leaf)
.5oz us golding(leaf)
.5oz challenger(pellet)


1.055 OG
1.017 FG

11° SRM

49.6 IBU

It's admittedly an experiment. I'm trying to do something significantly different from the first version of the recipe I made. Also trying to use all of the 2oz of challenger hops in this recipe, though that's certainly not required. I'm wondering if the dry hop will be too muddled with those three.

It looks ok. It's right on the top end of the range for strong bitters in terms of IBUs. If you like them hoppy it'll work. I usually do best bitters and they top out with a 40 IBU so I stay in the 35-40 range using Goldings and maybe Willamette. My hop schedule is not nearly as complex as what you have. Bitters to me are more malt forward than hop forward. So I use hops on a simple schedule for balance to compliment the malt. I really like to use good malts. My favorite is a Warminster Floor Malted Maris Otter. You can taste the difference over a regular Maris Otter.

Yeah, I'm definitely a hop a fiend, but part of what I love about ESB's are their balance. My previous version was very simple, same grain bill, but with 2oz of fuggles@60, 1oz ekg@15 and 1oz ekg at 5. It tasted pretty like what I think of an ESB tasting like, but I guess I want to find something that tastes like my ESB. This is something I'll probably continually brew and tweak.

Thanks for the input. I'll keep my eyes open for that maris otter.

This beer is fantastic. I've had a couple of pints, and it is so much different from the last batch I brewed. The challenger is really the top dog here. It dictates everything. It's jammy, or marmalde-like, whichever you prefer. There's a bit of caramel/toffee, but more so than the last batch, which featured the same grain bill, but only fuggle and goldings. I had a great efficiency, so it's not quite as sessionable as I wanted, but at 6.4%, it's super drinkable, and so delicious that you don't want to stop. The malt/hop interaction is unlike any other beer I've made. It's so complex. A little chewy, a little sweet, a little bitter.

I thought with the amount of hops that went in this that it would be "hoppier," but I should've known that wouldn't be the case. The malt is at the forefront, but the hops complement very specific aspects of the grain bill.