Advice on esb recipe

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

pdf2015

Active Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2015
Messages
28
Reaction score
6
Hey guys/gals

Need you to look over this extract recipe. Any advice or changes are welcome. This my first test of changing a recipe.

Est color: 17L
ABV: ~6
Ibu: 39

Steeping Grains:
1Ibs ESB pale malt- Gambrinus
5.0 oz caramel/crystal malt - 120L
3.0oz chocolate malt

Fermentable's:
1Ibs Amber DME
6ibs. Gold LME
1ibs. dextrose

Hop additions:
1oz Warrior 60min
.75oz Willamette


If I'm missing something let me know. Planning on brewing this up this weekend.

Thanks
 
If you want to keep it true to ESB I would stick with British hops...EKG, Fuggles, Williamete. I just made an ESB used EKG and Williamete and it came out great! Also, what type of yeast are you using?

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the reply ill see what i can find for hops thanks, ill be using Wyeast London ESB
 
Great yeast! Just used it myself...created a 1 liter starter and saw signs of fermentation within 12 hours...I kept ferm temps around 62-64 for 10 days did a dialectical rest at 72 for 36 hours cold crashed and kegged...turned out great!
 
What is "ESB pale malt"?? If you are doing a strong bitter you just need pale malt, optional crystal malt or amber malt, and optional sugar of some sort. Chocolate malt or patent is good for colour if you don't have brewers' caramel, but most have the same colour as any other bitter (very light amber to medium copper) so it's not that necessary. I'd aim for a colour around 10-14L. A bit lower or higher is fine, but around 10L is the classic colour (about the same as SNPA... to be fair, I would try to avoid going maltier than SNPA).

Willamette is a good hop for British styles even if it's North American so use more of that if you have it. Hops give you quite a lot of range, most low alpha hops are fitting (EKG, Fuggles, Styrians... even Saaz or Cascade when blended), and medium alpha with some more care (Northdown, Nugget, Challenger, etc.). One of the best combos I've had in commercial bitters is in St Austell's Tribute: Fuggles, Celeia and Willamette. Lovely, fresh and floral.
 
Im
Not sure exactly what kind of malt it is to be honest, it was on my suppliers website so thought i would try it out. Probably just pale malt. Haha

Thanks for the hop advice i do have cascade in the fridge and about a pound of willamette.

What is the problem
With warrior hops? Is it that they are to high in alpha? I understand thats its not a true esb hop. Just curious thanks
 
They are ok for bittering, just make sure to get some character from the other hops late but not too late (I suggest 20-15m + steep but advice might vary!). Dry hopping is typical of the style as well.
 
ESB malt stands for extra special British. It's a malt that is kilned to be similar to Maris otter and in the same color/flavor range. It's quality stuff and very suitable for British beers.
 
you're probably not going to like this answer, but you're just going to have to trust some random guy on the internet, who has experience with trying to make his own recipes early on in my "brewing career:"

until you really learn about all kinds of different ingredients, stick to a proven recipe. i'm currently drinking this as i type this post.

there's a series on here called top 100 recipes. i strongly recommend brewing from there until you get experience with certain ingredients and can really start to tell what it does for you in the process. i got very confident early on about making my own recipes. but in the end i ended up batting about .500 on those. now i've switched to just brewing those proven recipes and tweaking them according to what my lhbs has, and haven't brewed an off batch since. i like to have all kinds of different styles readily available, which means a wide array of ingredients i'm working with. with each new style, i get to learn about more ingredients.
 
Thanks for clearing that up stpug, i understand what your saying joshesmusica, this is based from a kit with minor tweeks. Gotta start somewhere, and will be brewing another kit at the same time just incase
 
I don't doubt that your recipe will make a great beer, but I would cut the chocolate malt down to .5oz. at most - and maybe throw it out altogether. Roasted malt flavors aren't really welcome in an ESB. Also, I'd cut down the crystal 120 to around 2oz. and add 5 or 6oz. of a lighter crystal like 40 or 60. That way, you'll get the nice color and a hint of toffee flavor from the 120, but it will be rounded about by a nice caramel sweetness from the lighter crystal. Just my two cents, but homebrewing's all about doing what you want - good luck!
 
Thanks snow, your 2 cents were appreciated and noted. I was wondering if it would be to much chocolate malt as I'm looking for just a hint of roasted malt flavour.
 
Great yeast! Just used it myself...created a 1 liter starter and saw signs of fermentation within 12 hours...I kept ferm temps around 62-64 for 10 days did a dialectical rest at 72 for 36 hours cold crashed and kegged...turned out great!


How did this yeast act for you, very active or nearly explosive, or did it just seem to do as most other yeasts with a mild level of activity? I had an Irish yeast that was so explosive that I lost about 1.5 gallons in my blow off bucket. I've now made a bertin's Union so I can recollect beer when it turns from foam back to liquid.
 
An ounce of Warrior, while it is one of my favorite American hops, is going to make this closer to an APA versus an ESB due to the hop character. Warrior is NOT a mellow hop and will have a stereotypical American hop-forward bitterness. Now, I'm all about using non-traditional ingredients in traditional styles (I use Chinhook hops in my house ESB "Bit R Done") but Warrior is a bit over the top.

I don't have enough experience with Willamette to give an opinion but my hop chart ratings make it look like it might be a better bittering hop than a flavor/aroma hop.

As for grain: love the Gambrinus. Good stuff for an AG brew but I doubt it's going to add much as a steeping grain. I also agree that the amounts of the two roasted grains you have are going to add more color than you may want.

If I were you I would drop the chocolate down to 1 or .5oz because at that concentration it will add a nice reddish hue. I would also swap the Cara/Crystal 120 for something like a Caramunich. Less color and a more malty flavor profile.

Or brew what you've got because it will probably be a delicious beer, just not what *most* would consider an ESB.
 
Est color: 17L
ABV: ~6
Ibu: 39

Steeping Grains:
1Ibs ESB pale malt- Gambrinus
5.0 oz caramel/crystal malt - 120L
3.0oz chocolate malt

Fermentable's:
1Ibs Amber DME
6ibs. Gold LME
1ibs. dextrose

Hop additions:
1oz Warrior 60min
.75oz Willamette

You're aiming for that british pale (ale) malt character that is found in those pale malts that are kilned a little darker. Since the bulk of your fermentables will come from extracts then you would serve yourself best by looking for extracts known to give you that British pale malt character. I don't know exactly what's out there in terms of options but anything labeled as maris otter extract or british pale extract would be an ideal place to start; or, just buying an pale extract from a british maker (munton and fison) as opposed to USA maker (Briess). This will be key to getting down the correct base malt characters.

Next, a couple steeped british crystal additions should land you right about where you want to be in terms of overall malt character. Half a pound of medium crystal (40-50Lish) and quarter pound of dark (~120L) is a reasonable place to start for 5 gallons.

If you're dying to fine-tune the color then 0.5-1.5 oz of a roasted malt will get you there, but is probably unnecessary for a first batch.

Dextrose if you want but I prefer without.

1968 yeast is an excellent choice for this beer.

British hops would be best but a little warrior at 60 to get the IBUs up isn't terrible. I think you can get a softer bitterness by using moderate-alpha hops (challenger, fuggles, etc) and finishing with others like willamette or east kent golding. Warrior is known to be a neutral bittering hop so I don't see anything terribly wrong with it - just not British :D.

Ferment at 67-68F (beer temp) for 7-10 days and you're set (check FG of course).

If your local homebrew shop (lhbs) has a website then post it and we might be able to help you dial in some specific ingredients. You could also brew exactly what you posted in your original post and it will make a good beer - I just don't know if I would think of it as an ESB.

Gambrinus ESB = Extra Special British (gambrinus is canadian)
ESB beer style = Extra Special Bitter
 
Wow thanks everyone for there advice. should probably change my title to just random bitter or pale ale. I guess i should be more correct with the naming of the beer. Now i know to watch my naming on this forum. I use ontariobeerkegs.com as i cant seem
To find a decent lhbs in calgary with much inventory, everyone seems to be catering more for wine. Being Originally from Wales i should probably be using only British ingredients. Oh the shame! But thanks again guys.
 
How did this yeast act for you, very active or nearly explosive, or did it just seem to do as most other yeasts with a mild level of activity? I had an Irish yeast that was so explosive that I lost about 1.5 gallons in my blow off bucket. I've now made a bertin's Union so I can recollect beer when it turns from foam back to liquid.

It was pretty vigorous in the beginning...I learned my lesson the hard way so I always start off with a blowoff tube...after about 4 or 5 days it slowed down and I switched to an airlock.

My beer hit FG in 10 days...I did a dialectical rest, cold crash and kegged.

Delicious!
 
I figure it's worth adding that 1968 is my all time favorite yeast. It brings out amazing malt flavors and complements British malts and hops perfectly. That said, if you've never used it, be sure to do a thorough diacetyl rest. You can go from grain to glass amazingly quickly with this yeast, but don't forget a day or two at around 70 degrees F before bottling/kegging. I learned that the hard way a while back and turned a beautiful ESB into liquid butter.
 
Back
Top