My Honey ***** ESB

Here's this weekend's brew. It'll be my 4th AG. After this, I plan to do a Scotch Ale and some other British ales and will be getting a 50 lb. bag of Marris Otter. So, I'm just cleaning out what's left of my Rahr 2-row, some leftover specialty grains, stealing from Grand Teton Brewing’s Wicked ***** ESB clone recipe in the current (8/05) issue of BYO, and adding honey.

Ran her through ProMash and I think it’s an ESB! Let 'er rip!

My Honey ***** ESB
Recipe 2005 by Mark Pannell

OG: 1.072 FG: 1.014 ABV = 8.0% IBU = 51 SRM = 13.0

Grains:
6 lbs. Rahr American 2-row pale malt (1.8-L)
3 lbs. German Pilsner malt (1.5-L)
12 oz. U.S. crystal malt, 2-row (40-L)
12 oz. German Munich malt (5.5-L)
8 oz. U.S. crystal malt, 2-row (60-L)
8 oz. 2-Row Belgian CaraPils (5.9-L)
4 oz. U.S. crystal malt, 2-row (10-L)
2 oz. torrified barley (2.2-L)
2 oz. Simpson’s chocolate malt, 2-row (425-L )

Bittering hops:
.10 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU] (45 mins.)
.10 oz. Chinook [12.5% AAU] (45 mins.)
.10 oz. Nugget [12.5% AAU] (45 mins.)

Flavoring hops:
.20 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU] (30 mins.)
.15 oz. Chinook [13.0% AAU] (30 mins.)
.15 oz. Nugget [12.5% AAU] (30 mins.)

Finishing hops:
.35 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU] (15 mins.)
.25 oz. Chinook [13.0% AAU] (15 mins.)
.25 oz. Nugget [12.5% AAU] (15 mins.)
1.0 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU] (5 mins.)
.60 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU] (0 mins.)

Misc. Flavorings:
1 lb. clover honey (5 mins.)

Dry hops:
.5 oz. Columbus [15.0% AAU]

Fining agent:
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins.)

Yeast:
White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale yeast (from starter)

Primary: 5 days at 67o F
Secondary: 14 days at 67o F
Total boil: 90 minutes

Heat 3.06 gallons of water to ~172o F. Mash grains at ~156o F for 90 minutes. Recirculate until clear, ~20 minutes.
Sparge with ~4.5 gallons of 170o F water. Add hops and Irish moss to schedule above. Cool wort to ~70o F and pitch yeast. Add dry hops at secondary. Bottle when beer falls clear. Prime with 1-1/4 cups plain light DME.

Damn stong for an ESB, and one hell of an elaborate hop bill! Not terribly bitter.... looks to me like a malty IPA.

I like the looks of that....I could make a nice, aromatic IPA outta that by modifying the hop bill a litte. Look at all those beautiful Columbus hops.

Ought to be a neat beer.....best of luck with it!

Thanks! Yeah, I thought, WTF - I'll make a 'Frankenstein' ale! Normally, I'd up the hops, but I'm sticking to the additions in BYO, only changing the hop type. Plus, 4 of the last 5 beers I've made were hoppy. I think my palate needs a break.

This looks like an extremely good recipe but is a little bit more complicated than I can understand at the moment. I notice you wack close to 4oz hops in your brews but here it seems to be more toward the end of the boil. Do you think that finishing/aroma hops is an important part of beer making? i only put 2oz in my batch the other day but you seem to require more than this.

In this case, I'm really sticking to the additions in the BYO clone recipe. I thought, "Man, this is complicated!" when I read it. For hoppy beers, which I've been doing a lot of lately, yes I think the late additions are nice, especially to bring out the aroma.

Things will be a lot different now that I'll be doing Scotch ales and the like. For example, the Scotch ale will have only have two hop additions, both .75 oz. of EKGs at 45 mins. and 35 mins. And that's all!

Hmm, I quite like the idea of IPA's. It is very satisfying for the brewer to smell the hops in the bucket but I have found that add it too early in the boil and the batch tastes vile.

That's also why I usually dry hop IPAs - really brings out the aroma. I like to smell it as it enters the bottling bucket! That smell...smells like...... victory.

Your beer smells like napalm?

I was waiting for someone to comment on that! LOL

Bottling this right now. It smells great - nice, subtle, citrusy aroma from the Columbus hops. It has a deep golden color - think SNPA. OG was 1.070, FG is 1.012 (~8% ABV). Haven't tasted it yet; I'm letting it chill and settle after taking the OG reading. Will post an update in the future!

I am sipping this right now while watching the Sox/Angels game in the 9th inning... looks like extra innings! Anyhow, this beer rocks, if I do say so myself (And I do! ) It actually is more of an IPA. It is already nicely carbonated and has a nice mouthfeel. Slight haze; not too hoppy with a subtle hop aroma.

I'd planned to let it bottle condition at ~70oF for another week, then fridge it. But I might have to throw 6 in the fridge this weekend!

Oh - no extra innings! SOX WIN!

Rhoobarb said:

I am sipping this right now while watching the Sox/Angels game in the 9th inning... looks like extra innings! Anyhow, this beer rocks, if I do say so myself (And I do! ) It actually is more of an IPA. It is already nicely carbonated and has a nice mouthfeel. Slight haze; not too hoppy with a subtle hop aroma.

I'd planned to let it bottle condition at ~70oF for another week, then fridge it. But I might have to throw 6 in the fridge this weekend!

Oh - no extra innings! SOX WIN!

Click to expand...

Thanks for bumping this. I need to get it into Promash and onto my to brew list. I'm really liking the looks lof it.

Rhoobarb said:

Oh - no extra innings! SOX WIN!

Click to expand...

You guys got LUCKY.....

I'm cheering for the sox/cards WS.....so I'm glad they (the CHISOX) tied it up....

<yelling> "We're going to start the Wagner..."
<yelling> "the WHAT, sir?"
"the WAG-NER!"

Finish the line at your own descretion