American Special Bitter (ASB) -- I'm Going to Make One!

I often find myself thinking up new recipes and sometimes they even sound good! I've been thinking about doing this one for a while. The concept is an ESB, but using completely American ingredients. I've not decided about yeast yet though, will probably go with an English yeast. I thought I was smart and witty coming up with "ASB" but of course when I did a quick google search it seems that a brewery has already come up with the name. I dont care, I'm using it anyway.

So here is the basic idea:
American Pale 2-row
American Caramel 60
and Willamette hops

Gonna aim for a OG around 1.055 or so and bitter to about 40 IBU.

I'd like suggsetions on maybe another grain or two to add to the bill. Something really American. I was thinking something like some American Victory malt or a bit of American chocolate but I'm not sure. And I'm not a huge fan of American chocolate anyway. So let's have it. What really typical American grain should I add, but in keeping with the ESB style?

Flaked corn. ~1lb

My first brew back in August was 10 lbs of 2-row and 1 lb crystal 60. I used Goldings and hopped to about 45 IBU's.

It was OK, but it was missing something, and I think maybe something like Victory would be a nice addition. Chocolate would darken it a bit too much for a Special Bitter and veer towards a brown. I'd give some Victory a shot.

Hmmmm... How about just a small amount of the chocolate, say 1.5oz for a 5-gallon batch. How about using cascade for bittering hops?

Go with the Victory. Nice warm, nutty flavor contribution, and it gives a nice color, too. Don't go more than a half-pound in five gallons; hell, even that much is pushing it for a beer like this.

I don't want to p!ss in your Kool-aid, but you do realize the style you're talking about is American Amber Ale, right? Or American Pale Ale, depending on the level of crystal/caramel malt used. If you strip AAA and APA to their roots, they're English Pale Ale styles brewed with American ingredients.

Just sayin'.

Bob

No worries. I always take my kool-aid with one of those little umbrellas in it -- piss proof! I realize what you're saying, my goal was to use american ingredients to make a beer that tastes similar to an ESB from England. Most american ambers and pales use C-hops for that citrusy character. By sticking to Willamette, I was hoping for a more British character. But beer styles are always overlapping so a particular beer could technically be classified under several styles.

Awesome!
I've been working on the same plan!

But I call mine APB = American Premium Bitter.
Thinking of Whitbread Pale Ale with less caramel
and more hop flavor.
I'm shooting for about 1.050 OG and 25 IBUs,
which is well short of ESB range.

Here's one version:
9# Breiss Pale Ale Malt
8oz Gambrinus Honey Malt o well Canada is in North America ....)
4oz Briess Crystal 120L
Mashed 60 min at 149

Willamette 6.6% AA leaf hops:
0.5 oz First Wort Hop
0.5 oz 60 min
1.0 oz 15 min

I used my in-case-of-emergency packet of Nottingham
(don't ask), sprinkled directly on the wort, and fermented at 65.
The next batch is getting WLP008.

FG 1.010

Hop flavor and aroma up front.
Balanced by a mild maltiness and a hint of sweetness.
Very mellow bitterness at the finish.

I have some dialing-in to do,
but I think I'm definitely on the right track

OP recipe + 4oz of Victory would be great. Ferment with the Fuller's strain (WLP002). Or you could use the Pacific Ale (WLP041) which is the Americanized British ale yeast RedHook uses in their brews; slightly less fruity but still produces esters and diacetyl like the Fullers strain.

Victory malt is STRONG stuff. I used 8oz in a similar brew to your recipe and it was too much, even after a few months it still stuck out above everything else.

I did something similar, malt-wise, except I added some rye and carapils to the mix. I really like Willamette hops, and I think they pair great with Sterling, if you're looking to up the bittering. Your ASB project sounds like a good one. Hope to hear some great results in a month or tow.

For the yeast as an American Special Bitter my vote is on the White Labs East Coast Ale. should give it more esters and some character compared to the West Coast or Cali ale.

I was thinking along the same lines for my Black Friday Brewday:

8 lb 2-row
1lb munich
1 lb crystal 40
1/2 lb vienna

Willamette bittering
Sterling aroma

about a 5% beer with 30-40 IBU, mash @ 154
pitch over my US-04 yeastcake

WHATTAYA THINK

I think you should harvest some of the S-04 slurry and clean your equipment. Then you should consult the Mr Malty Pitching Calculator, click on the "Repitching From Slurry" tab, and calculate the correct amount of slurry to pitch based on your observed OG.



I'm trying to be funny, but really, why be lazy? Especially with S-04, which has such lovely flavors! All you need is a glass jar.

Cheers!

Bob

BobNQ3X said:

Especially with S-04, which has such lovely flavors! All you need is a glass jar.

Click to expand...

A glass jar, a spray bottle, and Star San. Like the Reverend Revvy says,

"A couple squirts and the nasties are toast!"

Pitching on yeast cakes is dangerous bid'ness. In the case of my Oktoberfast + Kolsch, the wort was too warm when I racked it in ... mistake #1.... and I racked it onto a whole, non-washed cake ... mistake #2 ... it just wasn't what I hoped for. It's got all sorts of phenols and bubble gum and solvent and blah blah.... It just wasn't what I had hoped for, and because there was SO much yeast there ...... It saw wort, it fermented wort, and it was done in a flash. Too quick. Too much.

Yeah, you are right.
The only infected beer I ever had was with a 10 gallon batch, splitting a yeast cake in two, pouring 1/2 from the carboy neck to a clean carboy and leaving the other 1/2 in the carboy. The clean carboy was infected, not the original one. There must have been some nasties on the neck.

I'll wash the yeast and pitch per Mr. Malty.

Alright gang! Here's the plan. Brewing this one up tomorrow. It finally made it through the queue without any last-minute bumping. Anyway here are the details:

American Special Bitter (ASB)

OG 1.054
IBU 35
SRM 10

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 85.71 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 9.52 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
1.00 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 17.1 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (30 min) Hops 12.0 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (5 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -

Decided to go with a whole pound of crystal and a whole half pound of victory. I like big flavors, what can I say? And I was gonna use Northwest Ale yeast, which is pretty much a British yeast being used by some brewery in the northwest, but I never did go get any. I doubt it's in stock at either of the LHBS anyway. So I'm gonna go with S-04. Not a completely american ASB but whatever. I think I'll mash at 154. Should finish around 1.015 for a nice 5% ABV chugger.

I somehow let both my propane tanks get almost empty. And I was not halfway through the boil when I realized I was in big trouble. The last 15 minutes was the saddest boil I've ever seen. Well, the last 2 weren't really a boil at all. But it's beer. I was .25 gal over volume because of the weak boil, and got less than my usual efficiency as well. So OG was a bit low, but IBU somehow ended up right where it was supposed to. Too bad the ratio is chanaged though. Anyway should be good regardless.

How does the victory taste in the final beer?

adamjab19 said:

How does the victory taste in the final beer?

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a little strong. i'm not sure if it will mellow out as the beer ages, but of the few tastes i've snuck from the keg, the victory is really standing out. it's not bad, but it's covering up some of the other flavors a bit. when i make this recipe again, i'll probably go with 4-6 oz victory instead of 8 oz. that is unless in a few weeks it tastes great, in which case i'll be sure to update this thread.

Saccharomyces said:

OP recipe + 4oz of Victory would be great. Ferment with the Fuller's strain (WLP002). Or you could use the Pacific Ale (WLP041) which is the Americanized British ale yeast RedHook uses in their brews; slightly less fruity but still produces esters and diacetyl like the Fullers strain.

Victory malt is STRONG stuff. I used 8oz in a similar brew to your recipe and it was too much, even after a few months it still stuck out above everything else.

Click to expand...

at this point i'm thinking i should have listened to you! :cross: live and learn.

Update: The victory malt flavor is quickly going from being it's own flavor, to blending with the background flavors harmoneously. This is actually becoming my go to beer on tap. It's very good. The victory malt is still sticking out just a bit, but it's not at all in a bad way. Time will tell whether it will completely balance out. Hopefully in another few weeks, I'll be able to tell whether the recipe needs less victory, or if it's good at current levels and only needs to age a bit. I do think if I brew this again, I'll throw in a little chocolate malt. I poured a pint of this on top of a tiny bit of stout in my glass and the resulting mix was excellent. The roastiness really blended well with the toasty/biscuity victory malt flavor so that the flavors all came together into one very smooth whole.

A little Victory (and biscuit, and aromatic) goes a long way.

I love a good Americanized Special Bitter. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something not quite so citrusy.

This is a house standard now.
15.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)

1.00 oz Galena [11.00%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60%] (30 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10%] (15 min)

OG - 1.045
IBU - 32.4

Tastes dead on like Schlafly Pale Ale brewed here in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to tell whether the Victory malt would have continued to mellow since I took this keg to a Superbowl party last night. Seems like everyone loved it since it kicked before halftime. I'll probably reduce the Victory to 4 oz. next time anyway and mash slightly higher fo a little more sweetness.

As an aside, the second keg I brought was my Maris Otter/Challenger SMaSH, and although many people commented on how much they liked it, it didn't seem to flow as quickly. Challenger is a hop, IMO, not really well suited to big, late additions. While the asparagus flavor had subsided for the most part, it was still quite harsh to my palate. I'm probably going to shy away from challenger unless aging turns that beer into something a bit less rough.