Help with my Bitter, Please!

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TriggerDog

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Help with my Bitter, Please!

Hey I was if any one has an opinion of this receipt. I was hoping for a Bitter with a little bit of body and some colour. Not to to bitter and some hoppiness, just a little.

Thanks,

Mike

Special Bitter M1
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 01/08/2005
Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter Brewer: Michael Pacholski
Batch Size: 6.00 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 7.94 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 % Equipment: Mike's Brutus- 10 Gallon Brewing System
Actual Efficiency: 60.38 %
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.07 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 7.79 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.19 %
0.25 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.60 %
0.13 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.35 %
1.00 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 15.5 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles (US) [5.10 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Fuggles (US) [5.10 %] (45 min) Hops 15.1 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (1 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Propane (Boil 1.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Whitbread Ale -1099 (Wyeast Labs #1099) [Starter 125 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.045 SG (1.040-1.048 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.036 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.008-1.012 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Color: 14.5 SRM (5.0-16.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 30.9 IBU (25.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 9.9 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.18 % (3.80-4.60 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 3.25 %
Actual Calories: 158 cal/pint
 
If you just want color, without the roasty flavor (even thought that is a small aount of Roasted Barley) you can use debittered black malt so there is no influence on the flavor.

Dry hopping a bitter?
 
Personally, I'd lower the C120 down to about 5% of the grain bill. My experience is that the toastiness of the Victory will be lost behind the larger amount of C120.

I agree with Schnitzen - if you're going for colour only, a smaller amount of black malt (de-bittered preferably, but I'm not sure whether you can get it) will add colour without the roastedness.

Lastly, make sure that you use a yeast with character - like Wyeast 1968, for example.

My $.02
 
For a Bitter, I'd use about 0.5 to 0.75 lb English Crystal 55
If you want it a touch darker, replace up to 0.25 lbs of the Crystal 55 with Crystal 120
Drop the Victory. You don't need it with Maris Otter
Drop the Oats. They are totally out of character
Drop the Roasted Barley. It tastes terrible in a bitter (I've never tried debittered black malt though).
Make up the shortage by increasing the M.O.
For the hops, I would use about 1.5 oz at 60 mins, and 0.75 oz at 15 min and 0 min, and I would drop the dry hop.
I've never used the 1099, but the 1275 and 1968 work well for Bitters (there are probably many others that would also work).

-a.
P.S.
I'd also try mashing thick (about 1 US qt / lb grain) and at a temperature of no more than 152F. The thick mash makes a substantial difference to the character of the beer.
 
turf the victory, and I'd swap the roast barley for 1-2oz of Black Patent malt. Many commercial english pale ales use a small amount of BP for colour, and you will get a very subtle nutty roastiness out of them that I really like in a bitter.

I also think that's an awful lot of C-120; I like using some British dark crystal (about 75L) at around 5-10% of the overall grain bill.

I do like oats in pub-style ales. Maybe not too authentic, but they're flavour-neutral as long as you don't toast them, and they do add nicely to the body. Flaked wheat would be more authentic and would have a similar (but not quite as stong) effect on body.
 
Looks like everyone agrees that this recipe seems really complex.

+1 ajf! Drop all the specialties, add a little MO and enjoy!
 
Lower the crystal, victory, etc. and drop the roast. Bitters are a base malt centric beer. You are really trying to pull as much character out of the Maris Otter as you can. A lot of body, if you mean residual sugars, is not right for the style. The beer tends to be relatively dry, certainly in the finish. Shoot for the low 50's for the mash temp. A bit of up front caramel is good, and I agree, even a tad of darker malts is nice.
 
Ok, Thanks for all the great input, I have modified the receipt as suggested but have left if a few things that I wanted. I think that I have been brewing a few IPA lately have got a little carried way with this one. Also, if any one has a good ordinary or best bitter recipe they would like to share please post it here or send me a link.

Here is the up-dated version, let me know what you think. I left the oats in, but got ride of some of the special grains and uped the MO. Lower the C120 and added some C50/60 (that what I can get here). Changed the hop schedule and amounts around (no one said anything about the type so I’m guessing there good). I think the recipe is much different than before and I’m sure much better.

Thanks in advance for your input,
Mike

Special Bitter M2
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
Mash Notes
Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the
time).
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 01/08/2005
Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter Brewer: Michael Pacholski
Batch Size: 22.71 L Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 30.06 L Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 % Equipment: Mike's Brutus- 10 Gallon Brewing System
Actual Efficiency: 78.63 %
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 88.91 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 50/60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.23 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.62 %
0.25 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.62 %
0.06 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.63 %
1.50 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 23.2 IBU
0.75 oz Fuggles (US) [5.10 %] (15 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.75 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Propane (Boil 1.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Whitbread Ale -1099 (Wyeast Labs #1099)
[Starter 125 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.045 SG (1.040-1.048
SG)
Measured Original Gravity: 1.047
SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.008-1.012 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Color: 11.4 SRM (5.0-16.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 29.3 IBU (25.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 11.0 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.19 % (3.80-4.60 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 4.69 %
Actual Calories: 438 cal/l
Mash Profile
Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Mash Tun Weight: 29.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 9.56 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 28.86 L Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 9.56 L of water at 165.8 F 152.0 F 60 min
 
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