DuncB
Well-Known Member
@Miraculix I'll Asterix that idea.
I was gonna brew today, but we have newborn boy at home
Great video. Thanks for posting!
I think ESB is no longer its own style or sub-category as of the most recent version of the BJCP guidelines. They lump it into the strong bitter category now. The argument being it is not a style of beer but rather really one beer being produced by one brewery.
Also very noteworthy where he says 28 or 29 winning recipes reviewed over the last couple years, but none of these was awarded best of show. This was my experience also back when I was entering competitions. I have about 11 first place ribbons for Mild Ale, 4 or 5 for English Pale Ale and I never won a best of show. These British styles tend to not do well in best of show rounds. Why exactly that is, I’m not sure. Judge’s preferences/bias? I see alot of things win best of show that are either loaded with hops or are something unusual. I’ve seen “Kellerbier” get it (a cloudy pilsener) or a maple mead.
Do you have a recipe?@schmurf
Just so you can see how the 5 points came out. No finings, magic beer.
Ed at Five points submitted the photos to their internal great lacing pictures.
Getting ready to brew the next batch to be ready in about a month.
View attachment 729308View attachment 729307
So here is the first pull of this Five Points Bitter, ended up with a whopping 5.6% instead of the expected 4.2%... but still a very nice drinkable beer. Still cloudy but I expect it to clear up a bit in the coming pulls. This one is fined with Harris Starbrite, and I have had mixed experience with it... some brews came out very clear and some not. Anyway... it's the taste that matters.Looking great @DuncB! Mine is still fermenting, but I'm missing my expected numbers a lot in this brew. I got much better mash effiency than I usually have, maybe because I switched from Crisp to Simpsons in this one... I can't explain it otherwise. And I did an overnight mash which probably made the wort much more fermentable.... I'm down at 1.006 at the moment, hopefully won't get much further. So it looks like it will be a 5.5+ beer... not what I expected and it's much difference than my other attempts.
I thought drinkable said it all anyway, it got the smoothness but is less bitter than my previous versions. The extra 1.5% doesn't really show in the taste so I'm pretty happy with it, even if I like it a bit more bitter. And on a side note, I know some people don't like Fuggles, but in a beer like this I think it's outstanding.@schmurf
Showing good progress, did a gravity test on mine last night and removed 500ml of yeast from the collection bottle. Already clearing in the fermentasaurus after 3 days from pitching. Gravity 1.011 and the hydrometer sample tasted promising. Different from the wyeast 1098 attempt.
I'm bumping the temp up a bit for 2 days of diacetyl rest. Looks like I missed the transfer to keg for final conditioning so will clear and condition in fermentasaurus and then transfer.
Any other clues on the taste? drinkable not that descriptive.
I might put some Super F finings in when I move the vessel to the cellar at 14 degrees.
Could it be that overseas or over the border maltsters still get it? This chart only for English maltsters.According to this graph, Optic has been out of the picture since 2013, but I just brewed a Surly Bitter with it! I hope it turns out alright .
View attachment 732692
According to this graph, Optic has been out of the picture since 2013, but I just brewed a Surly Bitter with it! I hope it turns out alright .
Could it be that overseas or over the border maltsters still get it? This chart only for English maltsters.
Maybe the name is licensed or it's off licence because they seem to suggest it's called spring pale barley malt now. Perhaps that's why it's not on the chart.
Looks very good for an ale though.
Fawcett Optic.
Maybe the name is licensed or it's off licence because they seem to suggest it's called spring pale barley malt now. Perhaps that's why it's not on the chart.
Looks very good for an ale though.
@nothern_brewer That is about an impressive an eye chart as I've ever seen! Is there a link as I'm curious and would like to actually read it for a few minutes. I'm curious if this goes back to Chevallier or is much more recent?
And I don't see Golden Promise on the English Malting chart. Is it such a niche/heritage volume these days it simply does not register?
I'm with you, though as an extract brewer. I fell in love with English bitters on a trip to the UK in 1988. Most of my brews are English bitters, no matter what I call them. Even my IPA isn't all that hoppy by today's standards. My basement mini fridge is set so it cools the brews to 45-50, which is about as close as the poor old thing can get to actually doing 45. I use Munton's, S33, and Nottingham most of the time. I also think I prefer some oxidation in my brews, which puts me out of step with current best practices.I like English Style Bitters and that is the reason I started home brewing. I personally like low carbonation and serving at about 45 Degrees F. 1098 British Ale and Nottingham Yeast. Low HBUs.
I'm with you, though as an extract brewer. I fell in love with English bitters on a trip to the UK in 1988. Most of my brews are English bitters, no matter what I call them. Even my IPA isn't all that hoppy by today's standards. My basement mini fridge is set so it cools the brews to 45-50, which is about as close as the poor old thing can get to actually doing 45. I use Munton's, S33, and Nottingham most of the time. I also think I prefer some oxidation in my brews, which puts me out of step with current best practices.
I'm glad someone uses S33. I've only used it a few times and have trouble with it stalling, but it makes good beer. And as a bonus, it's cheap like me . It could be that it's stalling because I'm using it in all-malt recipes instead of malt plus invert sugar.
I ferment in a plastic bucket without an airlock but with the lid snapped down tight (I sometimes have to burp it occasionally the first couple days, depending how aggressive the yeast is) When the beer reaches the target gravity but it still cloudy, I move it to a carboy with an airlock and add a tablespoon of sugar to restart it and scavenge the O2. Then when it's clear, I bottle it directly from the carboy. (I prime each bottle with sugar) I'm not sure the end result is much different than fermenting the whole time in single carboy and then transferring to a bottling bucket.I'm glad you didn't actually mention using a secondary. It brings out the O2 police.
Good memory!As far as I know, my beers don't stall, but I haven't taken a hydrometer reading since 2009, and rarely did so before that.
Not really: I looked it up not too long ago out of curiosity. I think I was amazed that my approach to brewing is so much more casual than most.Good memory!
Not tempted to nick some yeast from commercial beers? English strains like London III are pretty common these days.I'm with you, though as an extract brewer. I fell in love with English bitters on a trip to the UK in 1988. Most of my brews are English bitters, no matter what I call them. Even my IPA isn't all that hoppy by today's standards. My basement mini fridge is set so it cools the brews to 45-50, which is about as close as the poor old thing can get to actually doing 45. I use Munton's, S33, and Nottingham most of the time. I also think I prefer some oxidation in my brews, which puts me out of step with current best practices.
No, that's beyond my simple approach. I've used liquid yeast only one time. I've never made a starter. I didn't rehydrate dry yeast even back in the day when it was the best practice to do so.Not tempted to nick some yeast from commercial beers? English strains like London III are pretty common these days.
No worries. I think it's still very simple though, just add a little wort to bottle dregs, and makes for a really nice change. English ales are very yeast dependent and can be really lifted by a good fresh strain in my experience. Just my thoughts.No, that's beyond my simple approach. I've used liquid yeast only one time. I've never made a starter. I didn't rehydrate dry yeast even back in the day when it was the best practice to do so.
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