Strong Bitter Common Room ESB

SSBrew - 728
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I'm in a similar situation. I'm using Wyeast 1318 London Ale III. I wanted to use the Thames Valley but the store was out. I will be interested to see how yours comes out. I'm 9 days in the carboy and it's just starting to settle down. Hope to get it into the keg sometime next week. This is the first AG batch that I hit my numbers on so I'm pretty excited to see how it taste.
 
It's only 3 days in the primary but I'll let you know in a month or so. Fermentation was going crazy the first day and half but it's settled down a little bit.
 
I brewed this recipe last weekend in a 10 gal batch. My efficience was a bit better than I expected and the OG was 1.062. Its now done fermenting, but the FG only reached 1.020. I used the Safale 04 and with those numbers the ABV% should be about 5.5%

My question: Did the FG end up high because of the high OG? I'm thinking that the yeast reached its attenuation limit at about 5.5%. Do I need to do anything else to get the FG down to the target 1.014?

Thanks for the advice.
 
RandyAB said:
I brewed this recipe last weekend in a 10 gal batch. My efficience was a bit better than I expected and the OG was 1.062. Its now done fermenting, but the FG only reached 1.020. I used the Safale 04 and with those numbers the ABV% should be about 5.5%

My question: Did the FG end up high because of the high OG? I'm thinking that the yeast reached its attenuation limit at about 5.5%. Do I need to do anything else to get the FG down to the target 1.014?

Thanks for the advice.
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How many packets of S-04 did you use? One is enough for 5 gallons so you should have used two packets.
 
bmason1623 said:
How many packets of S-04 did you use? One is enough for 5 gallons so you should have used two packets.
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My OG was about the same as yours but used 3018, it hit a little high but not by much. Only did 5 gal though Let it sit for another week and it might come down.
 
It is pretty damn good isn’t it? Mine is just starting to mature after a week and a half in the keg. I’m sure I will just about be out of this one by the time it really comes into its own. I’m pretty bad when it comes to letting things sit. The temptation is just too great. I’m quickly becoming a fan of Safale 04. It sure does make a clean looking beer. I have a high octane pale ale fermenting with saf04 right now, 10.25 lbs Maris Otter and 1 lbs crystal 60. Looks real good but it’s taking some time getting down to the final gravity I want to see.
 
Gator1 said:
It is pretty damn good isn’t it? Mine is just starting to mature after a week and a half in the keg. I’m sure I will just about be out of this one by the time it really comes into its own. I’m pretty bad when it comes to letting things sit. The temptation is just too great. I’m quickly becoming a fan of Safale 04. It sure does make a clean looking beer. I have a high octane pale ale fermenting with saf04 right now, 10.25 lbs Maris Otter and 1 lbs crystal 60. Looks real good but it’s taking some time getting down to the final gravity I want to see.
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same here, I brewed this with the wyeast seasonal yorkshire yeast (1469) and this beer was amazing...i brewed it a second time with s-04 and it has this horrible tang on the finish that I hope will subside with a little more time in the bottle.
 
Beernewb said:
same here, I brewed this with the wyeast seasonal yorkshire yeast (1469) and this beer was amazing...i brewed it a second time with s-04 and it has this horrible tang on the finish that I hope will subside with a little more time in the bottle.
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It will get better with time. Mine had a sour taste for about 2 weeks after I got it Carbed in the keg. It went away after I got 1/2 through the keg and turned out awesome. My marris otter is in the keg now and I think I like this variant better though.
 
I brewed a 5.5 gallon batch of this recipe exactly as KingBrian listed. OG was higher than planned at 1.062 & it also finished out at 1.020 after 25 days in primary. I must say though after only 5 days in the bottle, it is absolutely an awesome beer. Glad I got 53 bottles of the stuff!

Great recipe!
 
Brewing version of this now as my first AG beer. Can't wait to try it already. It's boiling but pre boil I was at 1045 first runnings off mash tun where 1070...

I hope this turns out. Will post post boil OG soon.
 
I brewed this beer and its been in bottle for a week. I popped one open tonight. The color is definitely not as red... my mash temperature was a little high... it was around 160. It's more of a copper color... Definitely not a red. Anyone know why??
 
even though i could only get domestic caramel malts at the time, this recipe turned out great!

going to try it again with some simpsons crystal soon.

thanks for sharing!:mug:
 
Hey everyone,

Brewed this yesterday. Everything went well except my efficiency was around 60%. I think the ph of my mash water is either high or low and that I am not getting great conversion. My sparge method is shaky too. I am wondering what other peoples methods were for this batch? I batch sparged with about 3.5 gallons to end with a total of 6.5 gallons of boil vol. I ended with just under 5 gallons at 1.059.

Fermentation is taking off though. Big ol' cake of krausen. Really looking forward to this one.
 
1.059 should be just fine. You came out with under 5 gallons so you just about hit the mark. You will be pleased with the end results. I followed the batch sparge instructions to the letter but upped the 2 row to 11 pounds and got a touch over 1.061. I never get too wrapped up over efficiency. I don't do any thing special and always seem to come close. My rig is a simple Colman 48 q cooler with the stainless braid from a washing machine line. Main thing with batch sparging is hitting your temperature for the second rinse. If your water is not near boiling and you don’t stir like crazy you will not hit your number. Since you hit 1.059 it sounds like you did it perfectly.
 
I did a similar variant of this recipe and dry hopped with .5 oz of Kent Goldings and it fit my personal taste better. I also replaced the 1.5 oz of Kent for the first addition with 1 oz of Pilgrim. It gave it a slightly bitter edge that I prefer, closer to Fullers ESB. Go for it or make the one listed and use it as a baseline.
 
Just poured my first glass of this brew again. This is one of my favorites. I f' ing love this one. Nice job, KB!
 
Gator1 said:
It will get better with time. Mine had a sour taste for about 2 weeks after I got it Carbed in the keg. It went away after I got 1/2 through the keg and turned out awesome. My marris otter is in the keg now and I think I like this variant better though.
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i had the exact same experience. but after a few weeks this beer was amazing. making another batch in a couple weeks :mug:
 
I just spent 5 mins loading this into Brewbuilder at Brewmaster's Warehouse then I noticed the link at the bottom of the original post :rolleyes::D

Thanks for the recipe I am going to brew it this weekend. :mug:
 
Just brewed this up after taking a break from brewing. This is a great recipe and would recommend it to anyone looking for a well-balanced ESB. This was my first ESB (not tasting, but brewing) and I'm afraid to move away from it or modify it because it's just about perfect.

Thanks for the recipe!
 
I just bottled this, and it tastes stellar! it was my first attempt at AG brewing, and despite minor hiccups (nothing a quick panicked post to HBT couldn't fix), it tastes awesome! Thanks for the recipe KingBrianI, it will surely enter my standard rotation. :mug:
 
KB, have you tried brewing this recipe using s05 instead of s04?

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Home Brew Talk
 
KingBrianI said:
Heck no! Yeast is the most important ingredient in English style ales, and us-05 is way too clean for this beer. Stick to english yeast!
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You're right. Why mess with success.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Home Brew Talk
 
Very good recipe. I brewed it with the only change being that I fly sparged. I gave it two and a half weeks primary then to the keg. After two weeks in the keg it is awesome. On my list for a rebrew.
 
I think I know the answer but I'll ask anyway. How would this recipe turn out if I split the pale malt bill with half 2-row and half maris otter? I'm thinking it can only make it better. Anybody brew this both ways? I'd like your feedback. Thanks.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Home Brew Talk
 
Brewed this 2 1/2 weeks ago, still in primary, wondering whether I should bottle it or put it in a secondary for another week or so... Brewing again on Friday & need the carboy. Looking forward to trying this one!
 
slamback said:
Brewed this 2 1/2 weeks ago, still in primary, wondering whether I should bottle it or put it in a secondary for another week or so... Brewing again on Friday & need the carboy. Looking forward to trying this one!
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Go ahead and bottle. No reason to secondary it unless you want even less sediment in the bottles.
 
Going to give this a shot tomorrow. I have a couple of people coming over who want to try AG for the first time and I figure this will be a good one to start them off with. I am going to add just a little biscuit to it though. Looks like a great recipe.
 
Brian,
My brewpartner & I love your pumpkin [he said it was a "solid" recipe], so I am thinking we may do this ESB next.
I have a bunch of different English yeasts and we always split 10G into two fermenters for side-by-side comparisons. So awesome. I need to go through the thread to see if you already commented, but we have S-04, Notty, London Ale WLP013, WL Yorkshire seasonal, WLP022 Essex and maybe one other WL (Burton?).

UPDATE: On 10/22, we did a partigyle, mashing at 158*. First runnings went to a 10G boil kettle for this ESB. Then we capped the mash with 12oz of UK Crisp chocolate malt, to do "Orfy's Mild", waited 10-15 minutes and drained off another 6+ gallons.
We need to work on this technique, as the ESB came in at 1.071 OG (which I diluted to get it at 1.055) and the Mild came in low at 1.031 OG (even though I boiled it down to 4.7 gallons).
The ESB was split into 2 fermenters w/ WLP013 & WLP022. The Mild got the dry S-04.


Cheers, Wendy
 
Has anyone tried serving this at cask temps? from an engine? Im looking for a good recipe to try serving this way, and I have to say, im intrigued with the mental image I have from the OP's description of the fantasy common room. Id like to go there soon ;)
 
I did this today - First AG Attempt ever and followed the directions very close. Only changes were Crystal 90 as it was the darkest he had + an extra .5 oz of Fuggle in the bittering hop addition.

Also added about 1 Gallon of spring water for final volume of 5.75 Gallons

My OG = 1.052 so I had decent efficiency for my 1st try.
 

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