ESB with invert qritique.

[Erik the Anglophile]

So, I've been cooking up a few batches of invert syrup, and have a British Strong fermenting atm with some light muscovado sugar #3 in it, and wanted to try doing an ESB with some invert in the bill aswell.

13 L post boil, counting on a bit over 12L in to the fermenter
Grain Bill:
Maris Otter 2045g 86%
Crisp Crystal 240 140g 5%
Brown Malt 90g 3%
Invert #2 170g 6%
Mash at 66c/75 min

Hops:
Challenger 18.4g 60 min
EKG 7g 15 min
EKG 35g 0 min
Mandarina Bavaria 17g 0 min
The flavour hops are about 0.5g/l and the aroma addition about 4g/L

Boil time 90 min and adding the invert at around 30 min left

Ferment with wlp005 at 19-20c and then kick it up to 21 after primary fermentation slows down and krausen drops.

Est OG 1.054
FG 1.012
IBU 34
ABV 5.6%

Will adjust my tapwater with calcium chloride, calcium sulfate and a pinch of table salt to following levels: Cloride 92 mg/L Sulfate 90 mg/L Calcium 70 mg/L and Sodium 31 mg/l

 

[kevin58]

I'd drink that. Personally however I don't like crystal malts over 120L but just that's my preference.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

The crystal is 240 ebc, not lovibond. But, yes, the really dark crystals can take over taste-wise if not used carefully.

 

[BigEd]

The only thing I'm not fully on board with is the brown malt. While I like some brown malt in porter and brown ale I prefer something like a chocolate malt in tiny amounts for color adjustment in an ESB. I am a big fan of the 90 minute boil time.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

The only thing I'm not fully on board with is the brown malt. While I like some brown malt in porter and brown ale I prefer something like a chocolate malt in tiny amounts for color adjustment in an ESB. I am a big fan of the 90 minute boil time.

I have used brown in small amounts malt in a similair ESB brewed without invert and using s04, and it actually works really well. The very light roast together with MO and bramling cross gave a little toasted bread with dark berry marmelade feel to it. Hoping to get something similair but more orangey marmeladey from the mandarina this time.

 

[Miraculix]

I don't know, but I would just look up what ESB is actually made of and then rebrew it accordingly?

Afaik, Fuller's released their brewing logs for the ESB so you can pretty much clone it as their yeast, or at least a close match, is also available from Imperial yeast, called pub.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

It isn't an ESB clone I'm after, but more a general strong bitter, maybe I should have called it that instead.
I made this recipe from one I have done before with dry yeast and no invert, but with a slightly different hop schedule, and changed the grain bill a little to fit in the invert. I looked at other recipes and a book I have on classic english/british styles, and thought it would make a fairly generic strong bitter.

 

[Miraculix]

It isn't an ESB clone I'm after, but more a general strong bitter, maybe I should have called it that instead.
I made this recipe from one I have done before with dry yeast and no invert, but with a slightly different hop schedule, and changed the grain bill a little to fit in the invert. I looked at other recipes and a book I have on classic english/british styles, and thought it would make a fairly generic strong bitter.

Aha! Ok, makes sense then.

I'd ditch the brown malt and up the invert to 10%, but otherwise this should be fine!

I do not like brown malt.... I think it's wrong here. The ten % invert however really is just an adaptation to my own taste.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Thanks for the input guys, I might brew 2 varieties with only invert and crystal and this one and see wich is best. As said I personally liked the dash of brown malt in the bill, it gave a nice toasted bread character to the ale I enjoyed.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

So I upped the invert to 8% and it turned out pretty good from what I could taste while bottling. The mandarina tasted a bit too American for my taste, but you don’t know if you don’t try.
Ended up with a bit too much wort and low OG but it seems to have turned out good anyways.