English Ordinary Bitter Attempt

Shooting for an easy-drinking pub bitter.

I have the recipe in mind...just wondering about the hop schedule

6 lbs pale malt extract
.5 lb Crystal 10L
.5 lb Carapils
2 oz N. Brewer (bitter)
1 oz Fuggles (aroma)
1 oz Goldings (aroma)
Irish Moss
Wyeast #1275 or maybe #1968 (need to review magazine when I get home)

For the hop schedule should I do a 30 or 15 minute boil of the aroma hops? Since I will have an extra ounce of both aroma hops should I throw them in the last minute like I see in some recipes? Will that add more nose? I like hops a lot, but would like a well-balanced beer.

Thanks in advance

daveIT said:

Shooting for an easy-drinking pub bitter.

I have the recipe in mind...just wondering about the hop schedule

6 lbs pale malt extract
.5 lb Crystal 10L
.5 lb Carapils
2 oz N. Brewer (bitter)
1 oz Fuggles (aroma)
1 oz Goldings (aroma)
Irish Moss
Wyeast #1275 or maybe #1968 (need to review magazine when I get home)

For the hop schedule should I do a 30 or 15 minute boil of the aroma hops? Since I will have an extra ounce of both aroma hops should I throw them in the last minute like I see in some recipes? Will that add more nose? I like hops a lot, but would like a well-balanced beer.

Thanks in advance

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2 oz of Northern Brewer is alot for a bitter (your gravity is probably around 45 or 46). If I were you, I'd go on beer recipator and shoot for about 35 IBUs. (which will probably be closer to 1 or 1 1/4 oz NB)

Aroma hops are usually added in the last minute or two of the boil. Flavor hops are usually added with 10-20 minutes remaining.

If I understand you correctly, you have 2 ozs each of EKG and Fuggles. I'd probably add 3/4 oz of each for 15 minutes, 1/2 oz of each for two minutes, and possibly dryhop with the remaining 3/4 oz EKG.

Yeah the first thing that struck me was the bittering hops -- half that. Consider some a few ounces of unrefined brown sugar too. I'm not sure which yeasts those are but make sure you use a good English strain. Cwestons suggestions are spot on and that looks like a great beer

Also consider serving it with a very low carbonation (1.2 co2 vol?) and clearing it with isinglass.

Add some flaked barley. Flaked Barley absolutely makes a regular Bitter. And if you have the ability, pour it on a nitro tap. This is one of our favorite house beers.

Cheers

How much do you recommend?

I used the recipator to get the target IBUs.

I hope it turns out good because my dad & mom are riding the Harley from PA to AK and I told them I'd have some ready when they got here.

I'd say use a pound or so.

And I agree with the others that you want really low bitterness. It's a quaffing beer.

Cheers

My favorite beer is an AG version of what you are proposing.
I use 8# Maris Otter instead of the extract, and crystal (49-64L) and cara amber (0.5# each) or 1# crystal if I don't have the cara amber. (I think yours may come out a bit pale for a bitter, but that may be what you want.)
If you are using LME, your OG will be less than mine. If you are using DME, it should fairly close to mine (about 1.056). I think these are a bit high for an ordinary bitter, but certainly not excessive. Just call it special or extra special bitter. They are also session beers.
I've used 1275 and 1068, and definitely prefer the 1275. I've not used the 1968 yet, so I can't comment on it.
As for the hops, I use 2 oz NB (60 min) 1 oz Fuggles (30 min) and 1 oz EKG (5 min) and it tastes just right to me but I like my beers to be slightly on the hoppy side. You obviously have impeccable taste in hops. There are plenty of bitters that are more highly hopped than that, but to be fair, there are plenty of bitters that are less hoppy.

I sometimes add 0.5 - 1# flaked barley (but it does need mashing). It gives a nice grainy taste, and helps head retention. I only ever do this if it is going to be bottled.

Hope this helps,

-a.

Check my sig for Pub Ale. It is SPOT ON for a Boddington's Pub Ale, I'm not kidding. Exact same aroma and taste is right there. SwAMi and I sampled the real thing a couple of nights ago and it was pretty cool how similar they were.

Dude, I've been trying to put together an extract version of your recipe for a couple days...ever since I found out you were bigtime

Have you ever made it with extract? I'd be interested in your ideas on how to convert it, especially considering the toasted malt.

Monk said:

Dude, I've been trying to put together an extract version of your recipe for a couple days...ever since I found out you were bigtime

Have you ever made it with extract? I'd be interested in your ideas on how to convert it, especially considering the toasted malt.

Click to expand...

Pretty easily actually....steep all the adjuncts, and add 3 lbs of light DME in place of the base pale malt.

For the toasted malt, just toast regular 2 row in an oven for about 30 minutes, at 275°, stirring it once halfway through. Steep it with the rest of the adjuncts.

Cook the brown sugar with a little bit of water to a boil (just enough to dissolve all the sugar) and add it to the kettle just before flameout.

Thanks, Dude. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Dude: Just curious about the Pub ale, was that the same beer that recieved the negative marks due to diacytel from the national comp? If it is im thinking it was the brown sugar, according to Papazain some judges think the caramel notes from using invert and/or brown sugar is diacetyl (because they dont know better)
If not, can you taste the brown sugar in there? Ive got a bitter im going to make shortly using muscovado sugar which should give it the brown sugar/invert character bitters apparantly have. I dont want too much though, i figure 8 oz.

Bjorn Borg said:

Dude: Just curious about the Pub ale, was that the same beer that recieved the negative marks due to diacytel from the national comp? If it is im thinking it was the brown sugar, according to Papazain some judges think the caramel notes from using invert and/or brown sugar is diacetyl (because they dont know better)
If not, can you taste the brown sugar in there? Ive got a bitter im going to make shortly using muscovado sugar which should give it the brown sugar/invert character bitters apparantly have. I dont want too much though, i figure 8 oz.

Click to expand...

Nope...the diacetyl comments from that judge came from the Lake Walk Pale Ale.

I can definitely taste the brown sugar. It is a slight molasses taste, but very slight.