ESB recipe help

[SW33K]

Wanted to do an ESB for the holidays but this will be my first attempt at brewing one. How does this look for a starting point?

9.5 lbs marris otter
8 oz biscuit malt
8 oz crystal 40
4 oz crystal 120
2 oz pale chocolate

Single infusion mash at about 154*

1.5 oz EKG 60 min
1 oz EKG 20 min
1 oz EKG 5 min

Roughly bittered to be about 37 IBU

WLP007 dry English ale yeast

Og: 1.060
Fg: 1.015

Roughly translates to 5.9% abv

Never brewed and ESB before so looking for some input on this one. Thanks.

 

[BlackGoat]

I think it looks pretty good, but I'm not sure the chocolate is necessary even though its just a tiny amount. Was that just for color? I would move the aroma hops to flameout too, or dryhop. Aroma hops are key for bitters. WLP007 is amazing with for ESB. For what its worth, my favorite beer that I've ever made is just simply 80% Maris Otter, 20% toasted Maris Otter, Target and EKG hops and WLP007. Simple, dry, crispy, with loads of english hop character.

 

[corkybstewart]

Looks great, but I would also throw in an ounce of Goldings at flameout.
ESB is one of my favorite house styles and my recipe is obviously different. I use a very simple grain bill: 10 pounds Maris Otter, 12 oz's Crystal 60 and 1/2 pound Caravienne. I use Nottingham because it ferments very clean at 58-60F internal temp. I used 007 one time and really hated it but apparently I'm an exception.

 

[SW33K]

Yes the pale chocolate is mostly for color. I like to use either some roasted barley or chocolate in almost all of my recipes. I thought even a little chocolate would be too much so I opted for the pale this time. Well see.

Should I keep the 5 min addition and add a flame out or just push the 5 min addition back?

I used wlp007 in a brown ale earlier this year that I really liked so I wanted to try it here too.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[badlee]

I think it looks cool too.
I would swap the c40 for c60

 

[Brewtah]

Looks like my kind of beer. I love a little roasty flavor too. I would just go for it and skip the chocolate and use 1-2 oz roasted.

 

[SW33K]

Brewing this up tomorrow. Took out the biscuit malt out and upped the pale chocolate to 8 oz. also added an ounce of ekg at flame out. what do you guys think?