Coniston Blue Bitter critique

[user 246304]

OK. Some folks from another site got me thinking of this beer, which is insanely simple, yet insanely complex, just damn good. I'm on a bitter bender and working on 3 strengths. PLaying lots with Challenger regardless and as Bluebird is entirely Challenger, yeah!

13 gallons
OG: 1.036
FG: 1.008
ABV: 3.67%
Color: (SRM): 9.7
IBU: 39

Malt:
16 pounds Fawcett MO (94.1%)
1 pound Hugh Baird Crystal 135-165 (I avg., 150): 5.9%

Hops:

90 Min. 1.5 oz 5.4% Challenger
20 Min. 2.5 oz. Challenger
5 min., 30 Min. WP, 30 Min post-wp stand: 2 oz
Dry Hop: 1.5 oz Challenger

Mash at 152 x 60 min. Mashout 170. Sparge 170. Water with chloride strength, and sulphate support (working on this idea, for northern bitters, per a suggestion)

Color seems weird. THey describe 10-11 SRM, and a "touch of crystal". For this beer, 4%, maybe, crystal 80 makes better sense than 6% Crystal 150. But that makes for a truly pale beer. This recipe as I have it puts me closer, at 9.6 srm (I know color's weird, and online calculators are not very accurate).

This is described as a late hop bitter. "Resinous." And a lot of other descriptors emphasizing not only the bitterness (brewer states 36-38, I'm shooting just a touch higher).

Mash at 1 qt./pound, a thick mash. That, the temp of 152, and the 6% crystal should give this low abv ale some body. Question is where will we end up. I hope it's sub-1.010, and not 1.012 or so.

Anyway, yeah,

 

[thehaze]

Which yeast are you going to use?

Although I enjoy light amber/amber bitters, I like a Bitter that's a bit lighter, like 7-8 SRM, which puts it in " pale " territory. But this is a mere colour/aspect thing for me.

I like your chosen grainbill: it's simple and strainghtforward. I also like dark English crystal malts. Just love them. At 6% that 150L Crystal will impart some colour and lots of flavour. It will turn pretty toasty and dry-ish ( that's how I perceive it ).

I for one, like to mix a 40-60-70L Crystal with a bit of 120-160L in bitters. I love the subtle toasty ( for me, in the final beer, it smells and tastes very english-y ), so I don't think you will disappointed.

You can definitely dry it out under 1.010 with the right yeast and mash temperature. Maybe a bit of sugar?

Anyway, it looks good as it is. I found a description here: https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/coniston-bluebird-bitter-bottle/5493/ - One thing drew my attention: " Ingredients: Maris Otter and crystal malt; Challenger hops - mainly at the end of the boil. " Hops at the end of boil, so that would explain the resinous, more assertive hop presence in this particular one.

Cheers!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The Coniston yeast is pretty clean, supposedly it's Ward's (available from Brewlab). I'd guess a British homebrewer would use Nottingham, but maybe WLP029 Kolsch or even a Chico would capture the spirit of it.

 

[user 246304]

Which yeast are you going to use?

Although I enjoy light amber/amber bitters, I like a Bitter that's a bit lighter, like 7-8 SRM, which puts it in " pale " territory. But this is a mere colour/aspect thing for me.

I like your chosen grainbill: it's simple and strainghtforward. I also like dark English crystal malts. Just love them. At 6% that 150L Crystal will impart some colour and lots of flavour. It will turn pretty toasty and dry-ish ( that's how I perceive it ).

I for one, like to mix a 40-60-70L Crystal with a bit of 120-160L in bitters. I love the subtle toasty ( for me, in the final beer, it smells and tastes very english-y ), so I don't think you will disappointed.

You can definitely dry it out under 1.010 with the right yeast and mash temperature. Maybe a bit of sugar?

Anyway, it looks good as it is. I found a description here: https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/coniston-bluebird-bitter-bottle/5493/ - One thing drew my attention: " Ingredients: Maris Otter and crystal malt; Challenger hops - mainly at the end of the boil. " Hops at the end of boil, so that would explain the resinous, more assertive hop presence in this particular one.

Cheers!

Thanks Haze, lot of good thoughts. On the yeast to be honest before reading northern's post above, I have several English yeasts and was going to choose from among them but as I mentioned to him, I'd never have thought of using such a clean strain in an English bitter - esp. an ordinary bitter, which I always presume needs some help in mouthfeel, flavor, aroma, and that includes yeast character. But I think I understand why he's advising this and I'm intrigued. A Chico strain, man.....!

Yeah, it was very hard for me to stick within what I knew of their materials....I wanted to add in some black, perhaps even some darker invert, etc. But that was what blew me away the first time - 3.6%, 2 malts and a single hop, as I noted on another site. That absolutely blows my mind given how blown away by the beer I was when we had it. So in terms of the ingredients, I'll see this through as I've absolutely never gone simple - and think I have a lesson to learn there.

Thanks on punching up the late hop note. Including yours, I've seen resinous descriptors across several sites and unfortunately it's just been too long since I had it to recall that particularly. So yes, thank you, I tweaked it a bit and will be late-loading more. (right now it's about 60:40 late:bittering, and I may go further. I made a few all WP-hopped beers long ago, found them too much, but this will be interesting to maybe keep pushing and see, as its own trial).

Cheers!

 

[user 246304]

The Coniston yeast is pretty clean, supposedly it's Ward's (available from Brewlab). I'd guess a British homebrewer would use Nottingham, but maybe WLP029 Kolsch or even a Chico would capture the spirit of it.

As mentioned here and elsewhere northern, that would never have occurred to me. But I can see that with so much else that's very subtle, outside the Challenger contribution, perhaps, you don't want yeast character charging in.