American ESB?

[rodwha]

Has anyone tried making something along these lines using standard 2-row and a more earthy type of hop such as Willamette or Liberty, or even Mt Hood? A hop schedule more swung towards the bitter end and with little or no aroma addition?

Hmmmm...

 

[AndytheBeave]

I have one on tap right now that I brewed with Zythos and Falconer's Flight. It got a nice earthiness from the FF and turned out absolutely delicious. The Zythos added a slight bitter citrus kick to it.
I used 2 Row, Biscuit, Crystal and chocolate malts

I used harvested Notty yeast from a previous batch of stout that I made to keep it slightly English.

 

[rodwha]

FF has an earthy tone? I thought it was very citrusy.

Mind sharing what you've done? I'm quite curious, especially with the biscuit (Belgian or Victory?). Chocolate for color?

 

[AndytheBeave]

FF has an earthy tone? I thought it was very citrusy.

Mind sharing what you've done? I'm quite curious, especially with the biscuit (Belgian or Victory?). Chocolate for color?

certainly!
I find that FF has a nice balance between citrus and earthiness although I probably leaned more on the citrus side with the zythos. Oh and I bittered with Columbus. I guess I went nuts with hop union on that batch.
Anyway, I went mainly with 2 row, added about 15% Belgian Biscuit malt, 5% Crystal 70 and 2% chocolate purely for colour. I am a massive fan of biscuit malt.
Like I said earlier, I used Nottingham that I harvested from a batch of stout and I honestly think it was key to this beer.
I did a single mash at 152 Deg F. Batch sparged at 168 Deg F. Pretty typical. I think the OG was around 1.044 and the FG was 1.012.
14 Days in primary then racked it into my keg and left at room temp for another 8 days or so. I then crashed it at around 3 Deg C for 2 days. I forced carbed it at 6 deg C for 5 days and voila.

 

[z-bob]

I brewed a kind of American-English pale ale yesterday:
American pale ale malt, 88%
Wheat flour, 10%
Roasted barley, 1.5% (for color adjustment)

Hops: Nugget 60 min, IBU: 37
Bramling Cross, 5 min, IBU: 6.5

Yeast: Nottingham

The black barley really overachieved; the beer is almost black instead of the light copper color I was going for. I might should have used crystal malt instead.

Everything smelled wonderful, especially the hops. I hope the beer turns out okay. (if the color is the only problem, I will be very happy) The yeast seems to like it.

 

[AndytheBeave]

To answer your original question though, I think that any earthy hop would do well in an ESB. I just like a slight citrus addition to it. Especially a PNW style.

 

[rodwha]

Andy: Almost embarrassed to say but I love Foster's ESB (Premium Ale) because of the strong biscuit flavor. I'm working on this in an ESB.

I've yet to try FF but dropped an oz and a 2 oz package in my cart for next time to have. I had no idea that it has an earthy taste as well. It has me quite curious!

 

[rodwha]

z-bob: Please let me know how your beer turns out! I'd not think so little roasted barley would have such a great impact. Curious how the flavor comes through.

 

[rodwha]

"Especially a PNW style."

What is this?

Do you like the Foster's Premium too?

 

[AndytheBeave]

PNW = pacific north west
I haven't had Foster's ESB before but now I'm intrigued.
The next time I go to a liquor store, I'll check it out. Not sure if we have it up here in the Great White North. It's been a while since I have bought a commercial beer for myself out side of a pub!

 

[rodwha]

Green oil can (25.something oz). I doubt it's hard to find as it's likely brewed in their Canadian brewery.

It used to be called ESB but was remonickered Premium Ale for some reason. It's considered the Bud of Australia (at least their lager is).

 

[z-bob]

z-bob: Please let me know how your beer turns out! I'd not think so little roasted barley would have such a great impact. Curious how the flavor comes through.

I think my next beer needs to just be straight pale ale malt with one or two hops, just to see what I'm starting with before adding specialty malts and adjuncts. My base malt might be a lot darker than I think.

The beer looks like chocolate milk right now. Some of the dark color might drop out with the yeast -- I've had that happen with badly-browned cider (it went from looking like dark brown mud to a clear golden yellow.