instock ESB

[artfldodger]

For my second brew ever, I'm going for a ESB... or was hoping to at least
The origional recipie I got from somewhere was:

--
6 # pale LME
1 # crystal malt
.5 # victory
1.5 kent goldings @ 60 min
.5 kent goulding @ 20 min
1 oz fuggles @ 5 min
Wyeast#1968
--

But, It turns out my local home brew shop has a very limited selection of specialty grains, no crystal or victory. So I started taking a stab at what might be ok together and got:

6 # pale LME
2 # amber DME
1 # english 2-row

1.5 kent goldings @ 60 min
.5 kent goulding @ 20 min
1 oz fuggles @ 5 min

Wyeast#1968
---

Does is even sound good? Its not really an ESB anymore, but thats ok. Any subtractions or additions I should make? More/less hops? different yeast? The only other grains there that looked like they would fit with this style are barley & chocolate. Please let me know, I'm a compleate noob at this!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blender]

Now, remember if it was me I would use the Fuggles for bittering and the Goldings for flavor and aroma. Your addition of 2 row is not going to add any additional flavors. What grains does your local shop have? I would add 2oz. of Goldings with 20 minutes remaining and then 1 oz. with 5 minutes remaining.

 

[artfldodger]

from what I recall:

Belgian Pale Ale Malt, Munich Malt , Vienna Malt, Wheat, Chocolate Malt, Barley, Caramel, Honey, 2-row and some assorted flakes that I didnt pay too much attention to.

 

[ErikN]

I just brewed an ESB, I used 1lb of Munich, 1/2 lb Crystal 40L, and 1/4 lb Chocolate Malt. I used EKG for bittering and added some Fuggles to my secondary.

I plan on bottling tomorrow, when I racked it over to the secondary it tasted pretty good.

 

[artfldodger]

Thanks for the help so far guys, did a little bit of tweaking on it, dropped the 2-row (which will save me from mashing, not quite ready for that) and added more specialty grains, hops. Its actually starting to get close to a english strong ale recipie i saw. What do you guys think?

6 # pale LME
2 # amber DME

1 lbs vienna
.5 lbs of either Carapils or dark caramel or CaraVienne (whatever they have)
.25 lbs chocolate

1 oz fuggles @ 60 min
2 kent goldings @ 20 min
1 kent goulding @ 5 min

Wyeast#1968

 

[Blender]

Sorry for being a little late. The recipes I see and used have Munich,Honey and Crystal Malts. I really like Munich and Honey malt and crystal malts are very common in most ale recipes. I would use the Honey instead of the chocolate and go up to .5 lb. Good Luck, I love ESB's.

 

[artfldodger]

Turns out im a compleate idiot and they had some crystal malt hidden in the corner behind the boxes of empty bottles:

so the grains I have are:

1 lb crystal 60l (the only kind they had)
.5 munich (i have a whole lb of it, should i add more?)
.25 chocolate

The honey sounded good, but i guess they didnt have any, unless you ment the honey you find in a bottle. Got my starter going and should be off and running tomorrow! Thanks so much for the direction guys, its my first time not using a kit so i was a bit lost at first.

 

[texasgeorge]

I did a partial mash ESB that I just transfered to my secondary a couple days ago.

I used 6# pale malt, and mashed 2# of 2-row and 1# of 60L... Fantastic! Adding the Munich won't hurt anything IMO I don't think chocolate is used in ESBs traditionally though. I'd remove that from your bill.

And hey, however it works out, you'll still have beer! Have fun!

 

[ajf]

Another vote for dropping the chocolate. 1# of 60L crystal is perfect for an ESB and will give a beautiful copper color. (I'm admiring the color right now.)

-a.

 

[Blender]

The honey sounded good, but i guess they didnt have any, unless you ment the honey you find in a bottle. Got my starter going and should be off and running tomorrow! Thanks so much for the direction guys, its my first time not using a kit so i was a bit lost at first.

I was referring to honey malt. You sound well on your way. Let us know how it goes.

 

[artfldodger]

The process of making it went quite well, I dropped the chocolate, so the specialty grains were just 1 lb crystal/.75 lb munich. Great color so far!

The only concerning thing is at the end of it all I took the SG reading (right after i dropped the yeast in) and it was only 1.03 ( the same reading I got with with my first brew which had 1/2 the fermentables this ESB does) when promash gave me around 1.07 w/ 75% efficieny. Any idea what causes that? me, or a sketchy hydrometer?

 

[Monk]

How hot was your wort? If the temperature was very high, it will affect the gravity reading. otherwise you do have a jacked up hydro. Because the amount of malt extract (~8.5 lbs. LME) should get you into the 60's at least, I would think.

 

[artfldodger]

it was in the 70's when i took the reading so it shouldn't add that many points to the reading. I was actually thinking this morning, I took it right after i dumped in the top off water & yeast and hadn't stirred them all together; so maybe its possible that the majority of the wort was still at the bottom and I got a rather diluted sample? I started with a little under 6 gal of water, so thats my only guess why its off.


I'd double check, but I dont want to risk infecting it.

 

[artfldodger]

transfered this guy into the secondary last night and sampled the hydrometer reading (1.018) and good lord it is good!

And it gets better with age? Because seriously, 1 week old and flat its the best tasting thing i've had in awhile. I'm temped to drink it straight from the carboy...