First All Grain Brew Thinking an ESB

I have never done an all grain or a partial mash for that matter of fact, but I am not intimidated by it one bit. I just converted a red 48qt igloo cooler to a MLT I am using a ss braid. I wanted to do an ESB as I have not yet and I love to drink those in the summer. I do not have a wort chiller nor do I have a pot I can do a full boil in yet, but I do have 2 five gal pots that I can use. I was looking a few recipes and wanted everyone's input as I tweak a few. that being said i am looking at this for my grain bill and hops:
Grain Bill
9# Maris Oter
0.5# Crystal 120
0.5# Flaked Maize
Hops
60min 2.0oz Williamette
15min 1.0oz Fuggles
5min 1.0oz EKG
Dry hop 1.0oz EKG

Any thoughts/suggestion that will make this easier or help. Thanks again?

I think that is damn fine. You'll get a lot of other people's opinions, but there is nothing wrong with that. Not listening to other people is the best part of brewing your own beer!

So I say go for it.

my first partial mash was an ESB with maris otter and the difference was amazing. It was one of the most astonishingly complex and rich beers i've ever brewed. Recipe looks good. Enjoy!

Do it. My first all-grain was this fantastic ESB recipe, and it turned out great despite my many stupid rookie mistakes.

Drinking one right now, as a matter of fact.

Sounds like Fullers ESB. You have excellent taste.

You'll be fine. I boil in two pots and have no chiller, just a sink and ice. I've taken to leaving it cool overnight and the beer is great. I make rookie mistakes, and idiot mistakes (can't yet distinguish between the two).

I feel your pain w/ the two types of mistakes; still make both myself. I have never had a fullers but I might tomorrow if I see it at the liquior store on my bike ride to jazz in the park (a mke thing). For chilling I was thinking about getting a big bag of ice and using my tub with cold Wisconsin water too chill quickly I would stir both pots ant the water outside to try and force convection and have turbulent flow to chill quicker.

Ok so the one question I have is if I use two pots do I just use the mean volume estimate for hops additions? ie 2 gal in one pot and 4 gal in another and split them on a weighted average? any suggestions for this would be great.

jmilton1987 said:

Ok so the one question I have is if I use two pots do I just use the mean volume estimate for hops additions? ie 2 gal in one pot and 4 gal in another and split them on a weighted average? any suggestions for this would be great.

Click to expand...

that would work fine. it's all relative. though, I wouldn't be willing to say you'll get exactly the same results as if you boiled all together.

I used to do extract partial boils, and top up with water. It worked fine, and I got close to what I wanted. So even if you put all the hops into one pot and than topped up with the other it would be ok. Your utilization would probably be worse, but not enough to ruin the beer.

jmilton 1987: "I have never had a fullers but I might tomorrow if I see it at the liquior store on my bike ride to jazz in the park (a mke thing)."

You should if you find some- by all means. This is the gold standard of ESBs. This is what I will shoot for when I get to an all-grain ESB.

jmilton1987 said:

I feel your pain w/ the two types of mistakes; still make both myself.

Click to expand...

I don't feel so much pain about mistakes anymore. In the beginning, I freaked out every time I opened the pot to stir it to aid cooling. My mind kept screaming "infection!". Despite all the silly mistakes, all my beer has turned out well, not always what I had planned, but always delicious.

do I just use the mean volume estimate for hops additions? ie 2 gal in one pot and 4 gal in another and split them on a weighted average? any suggestions for this would be great

Click to expand...

I've only done 1 split boil and it's in the primary. I'll let you know how it turns out in about 6 weeks.

I had about 15 litres in the 20 Litre pot and 10 Litres in the 15 litre pot. I wanted to mix it all up together so there's the same gravity wort in both pots, but that was too fiddly. With the hop additions, I just divided it up roughly by sight 2/3 and 1/3. My thinking was that it'll all end up in the same fermenter.

With chilling, I read an article by Jamil Zainasheff extolling the virtues of the whirlpool immersion chiller, and how it improves the hop flavour of the beer. I did the budget version of this, which is, as you are doing, stirring wildly while the pots sit in an ice bath. Because the pots were so small, they cooled down really quickly.

I just left them over night because I'm pretty tired by this time and want to be on the ball with FG readings and yeast pitching.

I have never had a fullers

Click to expand...

Well worth trying. I used to live near the brewery, so I was in their jurisdiction. Lucky me. Their whole product range is exquisite.

Ok I know it has been a while since I posted this but I am going to do this recipe on Saturday. I would just like to know what people suggest for yeast? Also if anyone has any tweaks to the recipie let me know.