Does this recipe seem ok?

[h22lude]

I am brewing an english bitter today. I got this from my LHBS. His instructions are a little off. His gravity is 1.044 which isn't correct with 6lbs DME.

6 lbs light DME
.5lb crystal (doesn't say what lovibond)
.25 biscuit
1.5oz challenger 60 minutes
.5oz challenger 15 minutes

I entered this into BeerSmith. I did 3lbs DME at 60 and 3lbs DME at 15. It seems everything is a little high for the style. If I had all 6lbs DME at 60 that will bring IBUs down a little but gravity is still a little high. I could also do 1oz and 1oz to bring IBUs down a little more. I could also do 5lbs DME instead of 6.

What do you recommend? This is my first bitter so I'm not really sure where I should be.

Edit: The hop package says alpha is 9.64% which I think is high for challenger so that brought up IBU even more.

 

[DocScott]

I agree that 6lbs of DME will put your OG too high and the hop schedule puts your IBUs way too high if you want to brew it to style.

I think the recipe above would make a nice IPA though!

If you truly want a Standard Bitter, I'd drop the DME to about 4lbs. That will give you OG of 1.035 plus the little bit of fermentables you'll get out of the grain. Cut your bittering addition down to 0.75oz which will give you about 23IBU, and I'd add the late addition at 10 min with 0.75oz which will give you another 8IBU for total of 31. You can of course play around with this though, depending on what you want out of your brew.

Colorwise, it's hard to say what you'll get not knowing what Crystal you have but not much you can do to worry about that. You have a pretty wide range in the style.

Hope this helps!

 

[MrHadack]

I did 3lbs DME at 60 and 3lbs DME at 15. It seems everything is a little high for the style. If I had all 6lbs DME at 60 that will bring IBUs down a little but gravity is still a little high.

I'm not sure if this is a typo or not. DME should all be added at the start of or before the boil. Adjusting when you add the DME doesn't serve any purpose and can actually lead to problems.

 

[h22lude]

I agree that 6lbs of DME will put your OG too high and the hop schedule puts your IBUs way too high if you want to brew it to style.

I think the recipe above would make a nice IPA though!

If you truly want a Standard Bitter, I'd drop the DME to about 4lbs. That will give you OG of 1.035 plus the little bit of fermentables you'll get out of the grain. Cut your bittering addition down to 0.75oz which will give you about 23IBU, and I'd add the late addition at 10 min with 0.75oz which will give you another 8IBU for total of 31. You can of course play around with this though, depending on what you want out of your brew.

Colorwise, it's hard to say what you'll get not knowing what Crystal you have but not much you can do to worry about that. You have a pretty wide range in the style.

Hope this helps!

I always love a nice IPA but I think this time around I want to try a bitter since I've never brewed one.

I think you are right. I'm going to cut back on the DME and hops a little. I don't need it to be perfect to style but I want it close enough were I know it is a bitter. Thanks

I'm not sure if this is a typo or not. DME should all be added at the start of or before the boil. Adjusting when you add the DME doesn't serve any purpose and can actually lead to problems.

Do some research on late extract additions. It was said the late extract additions helps with hop utilization but this doesn't seem to be all that true anymore. The difference isn't really detectable by the tongue...though in low IBU beers you may notice it more. It does help with color and any type of caramelization you may get.