Ordinary Bitter (AG)

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ohiobrewtus

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Messages
7,762
Reaction score
75
Location
Ohio
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP007
Yeast Starter
2 qt.
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.039
Final Gravity
1.006
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
72
Color
7
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 days at 66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks at 66F
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.39 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 6.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 72.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.75 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 93.10 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.90 %
2.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 32.2 IBU
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (40 min) Hops 23.6 IBU
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 13.3 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 7.25 lb
--------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge

Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 2.27 gal of water at 170.1 F 154.0 F sparge.

Double batch sparge with 3 gallons of 170.0 F water each time.

Don't let the IBU's scare you away from brewing this. It obviously is a bit hop heavy, but it's not IPA hoppy. It comes in at under 4% abv, making it a very nice session beer in my house.

Review here: Beerswap 2007 - OhioBrewtus' brews - Home Brew Forums post #41.
 
ha ha ha - I was just about to add my Ordinary Bitter recipe, and then I noticed that yours is exactly the same as mine with respect to the grain bill, only I used less hops to the tune of about 25 IBUs...

I guess I won't bother adding the recipe now.
 
Just brewed this one. OG 1.040, but I was amazed at how dark it was. I am pretty excited to taste this. Thanks for the recipe.
 
'Brewtus, you really have a 2:1 BU:GU ratio on this beer? This seems more like a small-gravity IPA (whatever that means) than an ordinary bitter...
 
'Brewtus, you really have a 2:1 BU:GU ratio on this beer? This seems more like a small-gravity IPA (whatever that means) than an ordinary bitter...

I recalculated it and it's actually about 1.74:1, but it doesn't taste like it at all. OG was 1.039 and IBU came in at 68. I let this age in bottles for about 3 months before I drank it and the bitterness was really very smooth, resulting in a surprisingly well balanced beer (to me anyway).
 
What do you suggest as good hop substitutions? My options are Noble hops, Styrian Goldings, Northern Brewer, or weird ones (like Palisade, Bullion, Perle). Freaking hop shortage.
 
If you can't get EKG or Fuggles I think you can substitute just about any noble hop. Hallertauer and Saaz would probably both work well. You could also use Willamette.
 
I don't really have a PM recipe, but whenever I am asked I usually recommend steeping the specialty grains (.5# of Crystal 60L) and making up the base with extract. If you can get a Maris Otter/British extract of some kind that would likely be best, but any light LME/DME would work as well. I'd go with somewhere between 4.5 and 5# of extract.
 
An ordinary bitter is supposed to be between 25-35 IBUs not 72. I am sort of anal about brewing to style so if it doesn't bother you keep on brewing! :mug:

BJCP 2008 Style Guidelines - Category 08

Yup. I almost always brew to style as well. I had some Fuggles and EK that were reaching then end of their storage life so I used the up on this beer. I never expected it to turn out as well as it did with such a high BU:GU ratio.

Although I'm not sure that posting to recipes to let the OP know that they're not within style guidelines is a good idea. I don't take offense to it at all, but there are people here who are much less awesome than me. :D
 
Just brewed this up yesterday, but I did cut back the IBU's. Went with:
0.5oz Fug @ 60, 1 oz EKG @ 40, 1oz EKG @ 15, and 1.5 oz Fug @ 5
for an estimated IBU of 35. Even just sapmling the gravity measure just before pitching, it was darn hoppy! I'm using an ESB yeast which should hopefuly give it some balance. Tasted real good though before pitch.
 
'Brewtus, you really have a 2:1 BU:GU ratio on this beer? This seems more like a small-gravity IPA (whatever that means) than an ordinary bitter...

In the English styles the two are pretty close. There is a very fine line between an english bitter and an English IPA. In the commercial versions sold in England it is often difficult to tell the difference as some brewers blur the lines in their descriptions in an effort to reach the target market. This recipe looks like it is right in the middle of an English commercial bitter/IPA to me. It looks good.
 
This came out great, and was a big hit during the Super Bowl last night. As I mention above, I did scale back on the IBU's, and I think it's pretty perfect. Nice malty nose, with a light hint of caramel, and then a great hop balance in terms of bitterness that complements the malts very nicely. My friend brewed this at the same time as me and ended up dry hopping with 0.5 oz of Fuggles. Still waiting for that to condition. Good job on the recipe, though.
 
This came out great, and was a big hit during the Super Bowl last night. As I mention above, I did scale back on the IBU's, and I think it's pretty perfect. Nice malty nose, with a light hint of caramel, and then a great hop balance in terms of bitterness that complements the malts very nicely. My friend brewed this at the same time as me and ended up dry hopping with 0.5 oz of Fuggles. Still waiting for that to condition. Good job on the recipe, though.

Awesome! Glad to hear that it worked out for you.

Could you post your changes to the hop schedule?
 
Sorry for the delay, I just saw this post. Here's my hop schedule:

0.5 oz Fuggles (4.5%) 60
1 oz EKG (4%) 40
1 oz EKG (4%) 15
1.5 oz Fuggles (4.5%) 5 min

Which gave me an IBU of 36.5 and BU:GU ratio of 1:0.82. Delic!
Oh, and I also used Wyeast 1768, the Private Collection English Special Bitter strain. Stupid of me not to wash it.
EDIT: and got an OG of 1.044 and FG of 1.010.
 
Hmmm.... I usually brew my bitters with 2ounces of EKG, but I just so happen to have a stray ounce of Willamette laying around that I was considering using in my next bitter. I was worried about knocking it out of balance though.

I think that reading through this may have been enough to motivate me to go ahead and use it... now the question is; when do I add it? lol!
 
No fear using the WIllamette instead of the EKG. I made this over a year ago and used all Willamettes instead of EKG because I happened to have about a pound that needed to be used up.

I was cleaning out the fridge in the garage tonight trying to make room to squeeze another keg in there and came across a cold six pack of this beer that I'd forgotten about. Mine is exactly the same with respect to the grain, just less hops and all Willamettes. I don't have the recipe sheet around handy to look at but I think I used just about 1/2 the hops that ohoibrewtus used, just all Willamettes and nearly the same schedule.

First beer I opened wasn't carbed well, I think the cap didn't seal well or something but the next three were damn tastey. I'm going to drink one more and put the last one away for another day.

I'm pretty sure I've got a couple more six packs of this stashed away in my beer pile, unfortunately its not labeled and I've long since lost track of which beer is which - lol

This batch was the second or third batch of this beer that I made, and I think I must have fermented a little on the warm side because it has a bit of that butterscotch diacetyl mouthfeel, which was why I had put it away for so long -- I really didn't care much for that flavor. But I gotta admit after a year the butterscotch is not so upfront - its more in the back ground, actually its kind of nice. I suppose thats technically a flaw in this beer, hell I might not even like it tomorrow, I've been drinking so much tonight already there is no telling what I would think tasted good - lol

But seriously I wouldn't worry about the Willamettes at all, late 2007 early 2008 I had a couple pounds and there for a while every beer I made had Willamettes in it. This beer is a good canidadate for using up some Willamettes if you got em.
 
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