ESB critique, please

[misterkidd]

Hi all,

Planning to brew a nice little English Bitter (somewhere between special and extra-special technically, but I’ll call it an ESB) next brew day. I want to make something really favorful – bitter AND sweet, like life itself.

Some of these ingredients are new to me, so any little tweaks or pointers would be great. Or just a “looks fine/great/delicious” would help if you think that’s the case. I’ve gone for a higher loviband crystal than is typical because I want quite a pronounced caramel alongside the orange/apricot citrus that are the described characteristics of First Gold hops (although I’ve never tried them). Some specific questions if someone wants to expand:

1) The late hop additions. Too much? Too little? I do want it a bit “crafty” rather than pure traditional… still malt forward, though…
2) I’ve never played around with water but now could be the time to get interested. Any pointers? Gypsum? No? I’ve put my local water characteristics at the bottom, sourced from the water board website.
3) I’ve tended to mash on the lower end up ‘til now, and I figure that’s why my beers have tended to be a little thin and watery. 66C (150F) sound ok? I do want something a little chewy this time.
4) 80L crystal – good idea? Bad idea? Will it do what I want it to do?
5) Balance ok? More bittering hops?


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 20.22 l
Post Boil Volume: 18.72 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 16.00 l
Bottling Volume: 14.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

3.00 kg (81.1 %) Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
0.50 kg (13.5 %) Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
0.20 kg (5.4 %) Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM)

20.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min - 22.2 IBUs
20.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min - 11.0 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min - 6.0 IBUs
20.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min
20.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min

Irish Moss

Burton Union Yeast (Mangrove Jack's #M79 Yeast

Mash at 66C (150F) for 75 mins
Mash out at 75C (167F)

-----

Bristol, UK water profile

PH: 7.50
Calcium: 72.00
Magnesium: 8.10
Sodium: 32.00
Sulfate: 68.00
Chloride: 31.50
Bicarbonate: 189.00

As ever, thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[MrFeltimo]

Nice recipe,
Personally i would have less late additions, concentrate on bitterness, maybe compensate by adjusting your bittering hops to First wort.
Maybe get rid of the torrified wheat too. possibly mash a little higher (153/4).
However this is your beer so have at it, and adjust for the second batch, and maybe only do a 5 gallon batch if your not sure.

 

[JKaranka]

I quite like terrified wheat but I'd add less than 5% of it. I'd go for less crystal malt too, more around 300-400g. As above, I'd use a tiny bit less late hops, a tiny bit more bittering hops. Depending on how much hop character you want you can add some dry hops (the traditional British approach is no hopstand but dry hopping, so you could switch those 40g of hops into a dry hop). I quite like the look of your Bristol water, it's a bit more like the London profile. My Cardiff water is a tad too bland so I need some sulphates in it when going pale. You might want to add half a gram of lactic acid to the mash to compensate for the slightly basic water.

 

[misterkidd]

Big thanks, chaps. I've pulled back on both the crystal and the "terrified" wheat (thanks, JKaranka ). I've also slightly reduced the flameout hops and put these up to 60min bittering. Increased planned mash temp from 66C to 67C. Not gonna dry-hop on this occasion as I think I want hop flavour as well as aroma. So it's quite a high IBU (47) for this style and quite high bitterness ratio (0.9) as well (0.9), although in the broader context of the recipe I think it's probably ok, since we have a bit of a malt hammer on our hands.

Boil Size: 19.18 l
Post Boil Volume: 17.68 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 15.00 l
Bottling Volume: 13.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 11.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 46.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.3 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
16.00 l Bristol Water 1 -
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 84.5 %
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3 11.3 %
0.15 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 4 4.2 %
25.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 29.1 IBUs
20.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.6 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.3 IBUs
15.00 g First Gold [8.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
15.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Burton Union Yeast (Mangrove Jack's #M79 Yeast 10 -

Thank you very much for the tips! Will post a picture once it's done ^_^

 

[JKaranka]

Looks good to me!