Strong Bitter Captain Hooked on Bitters (Red Hook Clone & Award Winner)

[zonabb]

Need a little hops help on this. If I buy Tettnang and Willamette and the AA is lower that what is shown in this recipe, is is better to add more (weight) or boil longer to get the IBUs right?

 

[BierMuncher]

Need a little hops help on this. If I buy Tettnang and Willamette and the AA is lower that what is shown in this recipe, is is better to add more (weight) or boil longer to get the IBUs right?

Add more. Better science that way. Plus, this beer likes a bit of the hops invasion...being a "bitters" and all.

 

[St. Jon's Wort]

Can I split the grain and hop bill to do a 5.5 gallon batch? Also, do you recommend a switch out of MO for the PA and 1 lb of biscuit for the toasted malt? The redhook website says that they use a "premium western two-row barley malt" so I'm assuming that they use a good American 2-row Pale Ale malt.

Also, does the dry-hopping add the missing hop flavor/aroma from your first batch or was it unneccessary? What did you dry hop with and how much?

 

[quinnae]

I would also like to use Marris Otter in this brew. I read somewhere that if you substitute MO for 2-row you can use less. How much less should I Use?

If that is not correct I was thinking of using 15lb of MO and 5 LB 2-row toasted. Would that Work?

 

[BierMuncher]

I would also like to use Marris Otter in this brew. I read somewhere that if you substitute MO for 2-row you can use less. How much less should I Use?

If that is not correct I was thinking of using 15lb of MO and 5 LB 2-row toasted. Would that Work?

Use the same amount regardless of which base malt you choose.

15 and 5 sounds just fine.

 

[Jknapp]

Guys/Gals -
Question on this one.. Tomorrow I'm at 3 weeks in the fermenter. I took a Hydro sample today.. Its at 1.022 - high considering the recipe, but ZERO activity in the 2ndary currently. That's about 62% attenuation.

It tastes great, but I'm concerned about this FG. I aimed for 157 for the mash, but may have been a degree higher, but I don't think it was much more than that.

I didn't use a starter and I used Wyeast 1098 - attenuation supposed to be in the 70ish range. The Activator pack was very sluggish to swell and the primary fermentation seemed slow to start.

Have any advice? Call it good and bottle, or try to get it to finish out more? Once I put it in the 2ndary, I moved it to a 69-70 degree area in my house, so its in warm area if that could influence things.

Kinda not sure what to do with this one. Thanks for the help.

 

[quinnae]

BierMuncher,

I read post number 3 where you said you would condition this beer differently. I do not typically transfer to a secondary. Do you think this beer would be clear if I primary this beer for 2 weeks, transfer to kegs and let age for 2 weeks then chill and let it sit in the keezer for 2 weeks before taping?

I am looking for clarification on your fermentation process. For this beer did you ferment in the primary for 7 days then rack to a secondary for 10 days then cold crash in the secondary before you keged it?

 

[BierMuncher]

BierMuncher,

I read post number 3 where you said you would condition this beer differently. I do not typically transfer to a secondary. Do you think this beer would be clear if I primary this beer for 2 weeks, transfer to kegs and let age for 2 weeks then chill and let it sit in the keezer for 2 weeks before taping?

I am looking for clarification on your fermentation process. For this beer did you ferment in the primary for 7 days then rack to a secondary for 10 days then cold crash in the secondary before you keged it?

I don't cold crash in the secondary. Too much work lugging that carboy in and out of a chest freezer. I always rack to a keg and then cold crash. Your scenario in your first paragraph will work just fine.

 

[justflow1983]

Made mine on saturday fermenting happily in my chest freezer right now... I split the batch and instead of doing a 11 g I only did a 9g batch... I forgot to toast 3 lbs of 2 row so I adjusted my total mash grains accordingly and what not...

I split the yeasts between S-04 and Nottingham to see which version I like more with what yeast... If this beer turns out how I imagine it to turn out I will brew a Fullers Clone next time...

I am pretty fond of a good ESB

Any news on which yeast you preferred?

 

[Jknapp]

FYI, all you folks who are thinking of brewing this, this beer is my favorite beer I have brewed thus far.

My goal in homebrewing was to brew a beer that rivals commercially crafted microbrews, and I can say now that I have satisfied that acheivement with this one.

This is ONE DELICIOUS BEER! Great recipe! Thank you BM!

 

[BierMuncher]

FYI, all you folks who are thinking of brewing this, this beer is my favorite beer I have brewed thus far.

My goal in homebrewing was to brew a beer that rivals commercially crafted microbrews, and I can say now that I have satisfied that acheivement with this one.

This is ONE DELICIOUS BEER! Great recipe! Thank you BM!

It's a year-rounder at my house.

 

[WhiskeyFingers]

going to give this recipe a go this weekend. How long of a mash do you generally do? 90 minutes?

 

[BierMuncher]

going to give this recipe a go this weekend. How long of a mash do you generally do? 90 minutes?

You want a bit maltier taste with this one. No more than 60.

 

[Huey]

How does this compare directly to Redhook ESB? The hops seems a fair bit different than what they list on their website:

• 
  Alchemy (bittering blend), Willamette, Centennial, Crystal

Just curious since Redhook ESB is one of my favorites and I'm planning on brewing this next. I have some Tettnanger hops already and some Willamette hops on order so this one is a go either way!

 

[johngie]

I brewed this up on March 6th and bottled it up last week.
Just tried one and holy cow, this is a great tasting beer!

It's going to be hard waiting a few weeks for them to mature

Great recipe BierMuncher!

 

[BierMuncher]

I brewed this up on March 6th and bottled it up last week.
Just tried one and holy cow, this is a great tasting beer!

It's going to be hard waiting a few weeks for them to mature

Great recipe BierMuncher!

It's a great standard pale ale for people who don't want hop-bombs.

 

[goose1873]

I'm toasting barley as i type. My question is if my tettneg is 3.2% and willamettes are spot on...should I adjust (add double tettneg) to keep ibus the same?

 

[Ichthy]

Yes, you should adjust to keep the IBUs the same.

I'm drinking this beer right now and really love it. But next time its getting a touch more bitterness.

 

[goose1873]

Here is the hop schedule I came up with: (5.5gal)

.6oz Willamette (4.8%) @ 60min - 10 ibu (BierMuncher - 9.7ibu)
1oz Tettnang (3.2%) @ 30min - 9ibu (BierMuncher - 8.8ibu)
.5oz Willamette (4.8%) @ 20min - 4.8ibu (BierMuncher - 4.9ibu)
1oz Tettnang (3.2%) @ 5min - 2ibu (BierMuncher - 2.3ibu)

I figure for the longer boils you need the ibu's to be adjusted...but should I add 1oz of tettnang at 5 min (instead of .5oz) because the AA% is half of BM's Tettnang...I would guess yes but wanted to check with everyone!

thanks!!!




this way the IBU's added at each stage are correct - is this correct?

 

[Ichthy]

Looks good to me! If you want to it come out like BM's recipe keep the proportion of IBUs the same at each addition, like you did.

 

[goose1873]

Wow this fermented out quick. I followed the recipe to a T and made 5.5gal of 1.059 wort and it fermented down to 1.014 in 3 days with S-04 @ 63F...Faster then usual...o-well tasted and it is excellent. I am aging for another week or two then kegging. This may become a staple in my keezer...

 

[johnnyc]

I know I've mixed it up a little, based on the hops and grains I have available but how does this look?

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 11.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 65 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
8.0 oz Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 5.00 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.00 %
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.70 %] (60 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 6.7 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.70 %] (20 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

 

[BierMuncher]

Wow this fermented out quick. I followed the recipe to a T and made 5.5gal of 1.059 wort and it fermented down to 1.014 in 3 days with S-04 @ 63F...Faster then usual...o-well tasted and it is excellent. I am aging for another week or two then kegging. This may become a staple in my keezer...

This is a great beer to offer people who would walk into a pub and ask for a house ale. More flavorful than the normal BMC on tap, but not as aggressive as a west coast pale ale.

 

[caspio]

Bumpity bump. I brewed a batch of this back in November. I sent it into our local competition and it was just judged a few weeks ago. It took first in the english pale ales. Not bad for 6 months old! I don't know how many entries there were in the category though Thanks for the awesome recipe

 

[BierMuncher]

Bumpity bump. I brewed a batch of this back in November. I sent it into our local competition and it was just judged a few weeks ago. It took first in the english pale ales. Not bad for 6 months old! I don't know how many entries there were in the category though Thanks for the awesome recipe

Sweetness. :rockin:

 

[jonbomb]

I had my first bottle of Red Hook ESB a few weeks ago and am absolutely hooked (get it?...hooked?).

Fantastic beer and I only hope this attempt at a clone comes close. I modified a few things but stayed true to the gravity-to-hops ratio that I derived from the Red Hook website. Fantastic site. They are open with their approach and general ingredients list and share their hops bill.

Unlike my other recipes, I think I'll dial down the ABV% only slightly. Original ESB is 5.7% and this will be about 5.1%. I'll try to offset the lower grain bill by mashing at around 157 degrees to get that malty flavor back.

Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.12 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 14.4 SRM
View attachment 1697
Estimated IBU: 25.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:------------
Amount Item
15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
5.00 lb Toasted Malt (27.0 SRM) (2-row toasted at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes)
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)

1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 9.7 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnang [6.50%] (30 min) Hops 8.8 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.60%] (20 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnang [6.50%] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU

2 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) Yeast-Ale (I'm pitching on a yeast cake from a prior brew)


Single infusion mash at 157 degrees. Boil for 75 minutes following the hops schedule. It may be necesary to reduce to a lower rolling boil to prevent excess boil off.
View attachment 1699

What would I buy if I was brewing extract/partial grains.

 

[stubbornman]

What would I buy if I was brewing extract/partial grains.

It's on page 3.

 

[k47k]

I dont have any Williamette on hand woudl any of the following work in its place?

Tettnanger
Saaz
Hallertau
Golding
Cluster
Cascade

 

[Nightbiker]

BierMuncher, you are definitely the tops! I've been looking for an RHESB clone, I'll be putting these grains into the beer machine this weekend!

 

[J-ROD]

I have a hop shortage at my house....I have willamette but no tettnanger....I have some sterling how do you think this will effect the finished product? statement retracted....went to LHBS for hops.