ESB Recipe - Thoughts?

Hi all,

Well, usually I do lagers but I do like to have a keg of ale on hand, and I've just about finished my current one - a Cascade / Amarillo pale ale. I thought I might like to have a British bitter on for a change. I adore Fullers ESB so thought I'd try for something similar.

All malts are from Thomas Fawcett's (UK). Recipe for 25L (6.6 US Gallons)

OG 1.056
IBU 41
SRM 10

Recipe
91% Pale Malt (Maris Otter)
3% Aromatic Malt
4% British Crystal (±60ºL)
2% British Dark Crystal (±120ºL)

90g - 41 IBU - Kent Goldings 5% @ 60 min (FWH)
40g - 0 IBU - Kent Goldings 5% @ 0 min

WLP002 - English Ale (Fullers)


Any comments / suggestions are welcome.

That looks like a solid recipe...It is very close to Jamil's.

Sounds just about perfect. I'd drink the hell out of that beer.

I love the simple hop bill too, I've gravitated twards a very similar schedule myself, FWH included.

Freezeblade said:

Sounds just about perfect. I'd drink the hell out of that beer.

I love the simple hop bill too, I've gravitated towards a very similar schedule myself, FWH included.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I think as homebrewers we're often tempted to throw in all but the kitchen sink in our beers.

I might even leave out the aromatic and go no-sparge instead - the british malts have such a depth of flavour to them already that I'm not sure it'll improve the recipe.

Very similar to the ESB I just made which turned out great! You are going to enjoy this i think

Bosium...how easy/hard did you find it buying beer ingredients/equipment in South Africa?

That beer sounds positively YUMMY.

Well thanks for the vote of confidence! I'll probably get it on tomorrow as I just received all the ingredients this morning
My idea for this beer is to have a firm bitterness, balanced by a rich, caramelly maltiness, but with just a touch of hop flavour so the malt really shines through. Plenty of that lovely Goldings hop aroma though. I actually live very close to Kent (just about an hour's drive) in Essex - probably why my homegrown hops seem to flourish in my garden.


Naked Eskimo - I actually didn't homebrew when I lived in SA, I picked up the hobby whilst living amongst the Englishmen. I have put out my feelers a bit to see what is available in SA as I plan to return at some stage but have no intention of packing in the hobby.

I believe there is a supplier who does the Weyermann range, but he's understandably expensive. I have found a contact at a craftbrewery in Cape Town who will sell me two-row, a crystal of some description and Southern Brewer and Outeniqua hops, which may be worth experimenting with. I have no idea what the quality or availability of the local malts is like as there is very little in the way of craft brew in South Africa, the market is pretty much dominated by SAB.

A fellow South African brewer tells me the best way to get exotic hops is to order them by the kilo from the USA, actually. They don't grow too well in SA because we're a little too close to the equator. I may have some luck in Cape town but it's really on the cusp, which is why SAB developed special strains which are tolerant of the light cycle.

I got this on yesterday as a small test batch - I had to go without the aromatic, as what I thought was aromatic was actually cara-aroma.

Fermenting now at 19ºC (66ºF), will allow it to step up a few degrees over the course of fermentation to a max of 21ºC (70ºF).