Bitter recipe. Very first recipe

[rockinmac]

Here's the bill:
8lb 8 oz Maris otter
8oz crystal 60L
1oz EKG 60 min
.75 fuggle 30 min
.5 fuggle 15 min

Notty yeast

Mash at 155 60 mins

Never had a bitter. Just want a very drinkable beer with English ingredients. If it can be improved upon I'm all ears. I have never used crystal neither. Would it be better without it? I've got 2 all grains batches under my belt. They went very well. Batch sparging got around 75 on the first and 78 on the second. Cream of three crops were both batches. It was awesome so much fresher tasting than extract. I couldn't believe i was drinking my beer that's how well it turned out. I just want to explore different styles. Thanks in advance!

 

[SteveHeff]

Those are all fairly mild hops when it comes to alpha acids. Meaning that they don't impact a huge amount of bittering. But it should make for a nice bitterish beer without being a hop bomb, that's for sure.

 

[BigEd]

I like the grist bill. Medium crystal at 5% makes a very nice bitter. My only suggestion here would be to consider a traditional English boil of 90 minutes and two rather than three hop additions. Do the bittering hops for the full boil and make what is now your second addition at 20 minutes. Dry hop with the remaining .5 oz if you like.

 

[rockinmac]

Those are all fairly mild hops when it comes to alpha acids. Meaning that they don't impact a huge amount of bittering to a beer. I used Brewer's Friend and inputted your recipe and it calls for around 27 ibu. That is not an overly hoppy beer. Are you sure that the flavors you are tasting are bitterness and not somethings else? How was your fermentation temp control? Nottingham can be a bit, well, overwhelming at higher temps.

*I'm going to make a minor correction, here. Considering your OG was around 1.046 (I'm estimating) and ibu around 27, that does put this into the "slightly more hoppy" column. My mistake. I wasn't even thinking original gravity when I wrote that first paragraph. I would consider just doing a single hop addition at 60 minutes, or even 45, to help ease the bitterness next time.

Thanks! I should have put the og. My software says og at like 1.039 at 75% efficiency. Thanks for the advice!

 

[rockinmac]

I like the grist bill. Medium crystal at 5% makes a very nice bitter. My only suggestion here would be to consider a traditional English boil of 90 minutes and two rather than three hop additions. Do the bittering hops for the full boil and make what is now your second addition at 20 minutes. Dry hop with the remaining .5 oz if you like.

So put the EKG in at 90 mins right? Thanks for the info. Because i know nothing about traditional English brewing techniques.

 

[mongoose33]

ESB is one of my go-to beers. I think you're a little light on the MO, but it should be a good beer regardless. I think the hop bill is fine.

I do this:

8 # MO
3 # 2-Row
1 # Crystal 60L

1 oz Northern Brewer 60 Min
1 oz Styrian Celeia 5 Min

S-04 yeast rehydrated

Mash temp 153-154.

 

[theheroguy]

Recipe looks perfect to me I would just make sure you're hitting at least 25 ibus.

 

[rockinmac]

Brewed it last night overshot gravity. Got 87 percent efficiency. Came in at 1.042 pitched notty in one and Windsor in the other fermenter. Done 10 gallons. 2 ounces of EKG at 60 and 2 ounces of fuggles at 20. Clocked in at 27 something IBU. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[rockinmac]

I think I'm crushing to fine? I'm just double batch sparging. Nothing fancy. Any advice?

 

[mongoose33]

I don't know what to tell you. My recipe has 8# MO, 3# 2-row, and 1# Crystal 60L.

I get an OG of 1.062 on about 5.25 gallons. I've got 33 percent more grain than you--seems like your OG should be higher.

 

[rockinmac]

My final volume was just over 11 gallons with 14.4# Mo 1# crystal

 

[rockinmac]

I was shooting for a abv around 3.5 with the notty yeast but It will be a little higher than that.

 

[mongoose33]

My final volume was just over 11 gallons with 14.4# Mo 1# crystal

That makes more sense--I must have misread it earlier.

 

[rockinmac]

You didn't I mistyped it. And changed my recipe from the original.