Trying to replicate Sussex ales -Ruddles County, etc.

Hey guys,
Note: title should day Suffolk, not Sussex!

This is my first post here (tried the introductions page, but after retyping the same intro stuff three times and having it get lost I decided to come here!!) I've been brewing since 1991, mostly with extract, though I want to get in to partial mash brewing soon.

I've "perfected" a few recipes that I think are as good as the best microbrewery beers (American pale ale and a dry stout are two that I've worked on). What I am currently obsessed with is the nouth of London (Suffolk) style of pale ale. I really love the balance of awesome malt aroma and taste and the subtle, earthy hop flavor and aroma of these beers, like Ruddles County, which is the beer I use as a benchmark for this style for convenience sake.

I'm looking for advice on replicating this style of beer. This could be hops (I know that Ruddles County uses Brambling Cross, which I don't have), water (I used water from my well), malt (especially mashable malts that I could add in a partial mash), yeast, etc.

My first attempt at this style is still maturing, so the final verdict isn't in yet, but so far it seems too bitter and has some diacetyl that I don't like (this came from over hasty bottling without a diacetyl rest which this yeast kind of requires.) The ABV is too low as well. In appearance, the beer is indistinguishable from Ruddles County. Here's the recipe for 5 gallons:

Name/Style: English Bitter
Date begun: 6/17/07

Ingredients
Malt
5 lbs Munton & Fison Extra Light DME
1 lb 40 L Crystal

Hops
1 oz Target @ 10 AAU 1 hour = 10 AAU
.5 oz Whole Leaf Kent Goldings @ 5 AAU 30 min = 2.5 AAU
.5 oz Whole Leaf Kent Goldings 5 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast Liquid Special London Ale 1968

Initial Specific Gravity: 1.042
Final Specific Gravity: 1.015
Alcohol by vol.: 3.5%

Bottled on the 7th day (too early!!)

Fermentation temperature: 68-72

1/2 C corn sugar for bottling

Notes: Medium amber color, light body, slight earthy hop aroma -very smooth. Hop flavor is developing nicely, Target gives a very well-rounded bitterness.

Any suggestions? I imagine a partial mash with some British specialty grains would give a better malt character and aroma, but I don't know too much about the impact of these sorts of grains on the final character of the beer. To me the biggest flaw is diacetyl, which will be remedied in the next batch (in fact I made a beer with the yeast slurry from this batch, a brown ale/ESB type, that was given a week diacetyl rest and it's fine, I was used to the Wyeast American ale 1056 which rarely produces diacetyl).

Thanks guys!

-Aaron

You have impeccable taste even if you did change Sussex to Suffolk.

You're talking about my favorite beer.

I cannot help at all with extract brews. I made the switch to AG in the early 90's, and have never looked back, but I never had much luck brewing bitters from extract with steeping grains. If you can do it, then you are either a better brewer than I was, or today's ingredients are better. I suspect a bit of both.

If you want to go for a partial mash, or even all grain, then using a named English malt is essential. I use Maris Otter which is widely available in the US and is highly regarded.

For crystal, I use Muntons (50 - 60 L)
For a 5g brew, I use about 9 lbs M.O. and 1 lb crystal, which will come out a bit darker than yours.
If I am kegging (which is normally), I'll cut back on the M.O. by 1/2 to 1 lb, and replace it with an equivalent amount cara-pils. This seems to work well with kegged beer, but is quite overpowering if the beer is bottled.
I've tried small amounts of wheat, and various other specialty malts, but base malt and crystal (and cara-pils if kegging) gave a more authentic flavor.
I have added up to 1/2 lb brown sugar on occasions, and this has worked well.

For hops, I use Northern Brewer for bittering, Fuggles for flavoring, and EKG for aroma. EKG is typical for these bitters, but I prefer the flavor of Fuggles, and as Fuggles are also grown in Kent and Sussex, they should be OK.
Northern Brewer is not typical, but it's much cheaper for bittering.. I'll be going back to England later this year, and will see if I can get some English hops while I'm there.

For yeast, the Wyeast 1968 or White Labs WLP002 are both excellent (and noticeably better than any other liquid English style yeasts that I have tried).
For emergencies, Safale S-04 also produces very good results (but not quite as good as the liquid yeasts).

Hope this helps.

-a.

Edit>>

P.S.
To really appreciate these beers, you need to visit Southern England, and sample them in the pubs. The versions exported to the U.S. are poor imitations of the real thing.