Best Bitter Harveys Sussex Best Bitter Clone

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dyqik

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2013
Messages
1,712
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Location
Maynard, MA
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Brewlabs Sussex 1 or WLP002/1968
Yeast Starter
600 ml
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.044
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
43.5
Color
7.3 SRM (calc)
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 days at 64F, rising to 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Cask conditioning: 2-3 days at 68F, 5 days at 55F
Tasting Notes
Fairly typical hoppy English bitter with enough malt and fruity yeast to balance.
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) - 88.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) - 5.9 %
8.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) - 5.9 %

Mash at 151F for 60 minutes, mash out to 168F

Boil for 60 minutes
Bittering Hops
1.00 oz Fuggles [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min - 18.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min - 12.7 IBUs

Flavor Hops
0.50 oz Bramling Cross [6.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min - 6.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min - 6.1 IBUs

Steeped Aroma Hops
0.50 oz Fuggles [5.10 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min - 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min - 0.0 IBUs

Optional dry hop with 0.5 oz EKG in the cask or keg.

Pitch from a 600ml starter at 64F, and raise to 68F over 3-4 days, should be done fermenting in 5-7 days, when you can transfer to keg or cask with dry hops and naturally carb to 1.3 vols CO2 (~0.75 oz corn sugar, depending on your keg/cask). I guess if bottling you should dry hop for 5-7 days in primary or secondary before bottling. Condition and serve at 55F-60F.

I found this recipe on the Jims Beer Kits forum (a UK home brewing forum) and pulled it into Beersmith and adjusted for the hops available from my LHBS. I've brewed something similar 4 or 5 times now, but the last batch was first I've brewed with the Bramling Cross hops included.

Ideally you'd use Brewlabs Sussex 1 yeast, which is apparently/allegedly the Harveys' yeast, and which they will reportedly ship as a slant to the US, but I haven't done this yet. Instead I've been reusing WLP002 slurries from brewing this beer, and I'm now on the 4th generation.

This is the primary beer from the local brewery in the area where I grew up. It's a fairly typical hoppy English bitter with enough malt and fruity yeast to balance the bitterness. The Bramling Cross seems to make an important contribution to the hop flavor. The Harveys' yeast is pretty distinctive, but the WLP002 or WYeast 1968 seems to work well.
 
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