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Soulshine2

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i've been wanting to brew for a few months, just didnt have time. Over coffee I read up on "brewing the perfect ESB" and set out to do just that. so , with the wife off to work ,and a beautiful morning waiting on parts for my OTHER project, i set out to brew up "the perfect ESB" . i had 10 lbs Maris Otter , 1 lb flaked corn and 1 lb Breiss Victory with a 2 oz pinch of chocolate malts for a little extra color. Mashed 151.5* for 60 minutes. At the boil- East Kent Golding hops - 4 additions. 60(1oz),30(3/4oz),10 (3/4oz)and FO(1/2oz). i started at 830 am with a pot of cold water and at 130 pm just finished . 5 hours . usually its been 6 no matter what including clean up. further, the OG is 1.070 , seems like a bit bigger than a typical ESB should be. Lallemande English yeast has been pitched , since the temp of the wort is 67 , my basement temp is the same. perfect. now, i wait.
 
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ESB is my favorite beer. Have my first self made recipe batch ready to be cold crashed probably this weekend. I had a 1.060OG, but it stopped at 1.019. First time using WLP002 on this style so not sure if that has anything todo with it or not (I usually use Wyeast London ESB). I've tasted it and it's not overly sweet so I'm not super worried about it. It'll be on the lower end of ABV but I'll chalk that up as a win since I'll probably drink more than I should in a few sittings. I'll try and post my recipe here when I'm done with work.
 
ESB is my favorite beer. Have my first self made recipe batch ready to be cold crashed probably this weekend. I had a 1.060OG, but it stopped at 1.019. First time using WLP002 on this style so not sure if that has anything todo with it or not (I usually use Wyeast London ESB). I've tasted it and it's not overly sweet so I'm not super worried about it. It'll be on the lower end of ABV but I'll chalk that up as a win since I'll probably drink more than I should in a few sittings. I'll try and post my recipe here when I'm done with work.
From what Ive read, its only supposed to have an ABV of a 5.5% . If mine finishes out at 1.02 it'll be dang near a 6.5%
 
hopefully you have a blow off tube for the beer though! ;)
Its in a 8 gallon fermonster and only a 6 gallon batch so i have room , but i definitely will put a BOT on it tonight. I have had a couple batches blow right out , made a huge mess. yeast everywhere. i did a few things different today . i actually used a hop sock for each addition , so i didnt have nearly as much hop trub . I also got a hold of a square of s.s mesh from a job, did a thorough star san on it and ran my wort through it , caught a lot of fines , so the wort came to the vessel much cleaner and more aerated than it normally would. more beer, less left in the pot,happy yeasties.
 
Checked my fermentation this morning and its chugging along really well. 3/4" of kraeusen on top . I wasnt able to put a blow off tube on it last night , im not even sure where mine went. so , i'll make myself a note to get more hose.
 
Checked my fermentation this morning and its chugging along really well. 3/4" of kraeusen on top . I wasnt able to put a blow off tube on it last night , im not even sure where mine went. so , i'll make myself a note to get more hose.
I'm curious to see what kind of attenuation you get with this yeast. Isn't it the same or very similar to Wyeast 1968?
 
Update on this. I bottled yesterday , FG was 1.024 giving it a 6.04% ABV. Attenuation of 65.71 for whoever asked. Color was a little lighter than I'd hoped. meh, next time i'll add a little more dark malts, it was mostly for color and not flavor anyway. Couple weeks of conditioning and i should be popping a cap soon after.
 
FG was 1.024


in post #1 you said ESB? i'm not sure what that means now.....i thought it meant "Extra Special Bitter"? now i'm thinking does it mean "Extra Sweet Bitter"? seriously, have i been living my life wrong? like mistaken song lyrics or something? ;)


:mug: glad it's walking, soon to be talking though!
 
in post #1 you said ESB? i'm not sure what that means now.....i thought it meant "Extra Special Bitter"? now i'm thinking does it mean "Extra Sweet Bitter"? seriously, have i been living my life wrong? like mistaken song lyrics or something? ;)


:mug: glad it's walking, soon to be talking though!
I think ESB has more than one meaning.
Extra Special Bitter is one but English Strong Beer is another, like comparing a session, dubbel , tripple or quad beers .
If you read what its supposed to be its not actually bitter as in an IPAs hoppy bitterness. its a malt/hop balanced beer and not necessarily bitter as we would normally describe a taste. slightly sweet is actually a typical description.
 
I think ESB has more than one meaning.
Extra Special Bitter is one but English Strong Beer is another, like comparing a session, dubbel , tripple or quad beers .
If you read what its supposed to be its not actually bitter as in an IPAs hoppy bitterness. its a malt/hop balanced beer and not necessarily bitter as we would normally describe a taste. slightly sweet is actually a typical description.
Just bit of history I read, but it's called a bitter because back in the day BEFORE hops were regularly added to beer, most if not all beers were very malt forward. One day a small amount of hops were added to the beer and the bitter was born! So compared to the beers everyone was used to back then, it was a bitter beer, but today, after invention of IPA and todays modern IPAs, English Bitters are a more balanced, if not malt forward beer. I can't find the link to the video and or webpage I read this on unfortunately, so I will not be upset if it's wrong and someone corrects me.
 
Just bit of history I read, but it's called a bitter because back in the day BEFORE hops were regularly added to beer, most if not all beers were very malt forward. One day a small amount of hops were added to the beer and the bitter was born! So compared to the beers everyone was used to back then, it was a bitter beer, but today, after invention of IPA and todays modern IPAs, English Bitters are a more balanced, if not malt forward beer. I can't find the link to the video and or webpage I read this on unfortunately, so I will not be upset if it's wrong and someone corrects me.
you are absolutely correct. and I just discovered a new belgium beer made with gruit ( herbs and other "botanicals"? pre-hops. )
 
The perfect ESB is the Fuller's ESB as that one is the original and only ESB, it's basically just a brand's name for one of their beers. There is no British beer style called ESB. They posted the original recipe of it on Twitter, Northern brewer has shared it here in the forum. The thread title is "from the horses mouth", Google should help finding that. If you want to brew the perfect ESB,I recommend using that recipe over there.
 
Just bit of history I read, but it's called a bitter because back in the day BEFORE hops were regularly added to beer, most if not all beers were very malt forward. One day a small amount of hops were added to the beer and the bitter was born! So compared to the beers everyone was used to back then, it was a bitter beer, but today, after invention of IPA and todays modern IPAs, English Bitters are a more balanced, if not malt forward beer. I can't find the link to the video and or webpage I read this on unfortunately, so I will not be upset if it's wrong and someone corrects me.

Makes for a good story anyway, true or not.:ghostly:
 
…And it’s called bitter to differentiate it from Mild. Basically it’s called bitter because it’s not mild.
Mild means not aged but fresh. Def does not mean weak or not bitter. In the 1800s beer would be kept in barrels in the brewery yard for a year or more before going out to pubs.
 
…And it’s called bitter to differentiate it from Mild. Basically it’s called bitter because it’s not mild.
Mild means not aged but fresh. Def does not mean weak or not bitter. In the 1800s beer would be kept in barrels in the brewery yard for a year or more before going out to pubs.

Yep, yep. But any description of British beer styles needs to be placed on a time scale. A Victorian mild and a post-WW2 mild are not the same thing. Wouldn't make sense to compare a bitter to a 19th century mild.
 
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