First take on a Best Bitter

[Elden]

Im going for an easy to drink ale wit low-to moderate alcohol content and widespread appeal. I guess a 'session' beer. I'm aiming for a little light on the hop bitterness, mild but fairly complex maltiness, though I am tempted to dry-hop it a bit for the aroma. I am also looking to keep it cheap, easy to brew and quick to mature. I like a good copper to red color. This is what I am thinking about, any feedback would be welcome:

5# US 2-row
2# Marris Otter
1/2# Flaked Wheat
1/4# 80L chrystal
1/4# honey malt
1/4# 20L chrystal
1/8# chocolate malt

Mash at 148 until all converted according to iodine - 60 min?

60 minute boil

3/4oz kent goldings at 60 min
1/2oz Fuggles at 60 min
1/4 oz Fuggles at 30 min
1/4 oz Fuggles at 5 min

I typically use about 1/4 teaspoon Irish moss at 15 minutes.
I read that this is the sort of beer that benefits from Burton Water Salts, not sure if I should add or not. I don't trust my tap water, so I tend to use store brand spring water, not sure whats in it to start with.

Maybe the other 1/4 oz of Kent Goldings as dry hops or at flame out.

Nottingham dry yeast

Any suggestions or feedback?

 

[Pappers_]

Looks good to me, Elden. My only reactions have to do with your mash temps, that's low, which is great if you want a light bodied beer, dry and crisp. Maybe try it at 148 and see if you like it? You could always experiment the next time you make it with a 150 or 152 and see how it compares.

 

[Elden]

I was going for lighter and drier. I just got some feedback on my first mash, I did that at 144. Sounds like that is why I was still not done after 2 hrs. I like a drier beer, but part of the goal on this is fairly quick to brew. Maybe I'll aim for that 150-152 range.

 

[ajf]

I'd replace the Nottingham with S-04.

-a.

 

[ajf]

I was going for lighter and drier. I just got some feedback on my first mash, I did that at 144. Sounds like that is why I was still not done after 2 hrs. I like a drier beer, but part of the goal on this is fairly quick to brew. Maybe I'll aim for that 150-152 range.

To convert starches, they firstly have to be gelatinized. I don't think 144 is hot enough to do that. I mash beers like yours at 150f for 90 minutes. It is usually converted earlier than that, but the extra mash time definitely improves the attenuation.

-a.

 

[ayoungrad]

I have made a couple of best bitters. Granted, being from the states, my goal has been trying to emulate beer I only drank for a few days in London, but even given my limited real-life exposure to real bitters, I still think I'd try to keep things a little more simple.

You seem to be shooting for darker beer with the inclusion of chocolate malt? Not sure what your SRM result is but I'd think your recipe would be on the dark side of things. Why not use only Marris Otter, Crystal 80 (maybe a little more than you currently have) and hops?

Just a suggestion.

 

[rexbanner]

I've currently got a best bitter on tap. It's Jamil's recipe.

9 lbs maris otter
.5 lbs c-120
.5 lbs aromatic
.25 lbs special roast

It's good, but personally, I don't think it's quite malty enough.

With your recipe, I'd use all maris otter, eliminate the honey, and use some darker crystal. I think the touch of chocolate malt is a thumbs up, just make sure you use 350 SRM kind. It should get you the color you want.

 

[BigEd]

Agree with ayoungrad, the recipe is too busy and should be simplified. Don't overthink a bitter. Stick to pale malt and a little crystal and you'll be fine. You could add a touch of adjunct (5-10%) like torrified wheat, flaked maize, sugar, etc if you want but I would lose the honey malt and flaked wheat, pick one crystal and get rid of the other one. Using a medium crystal @ 5% will give a nice amber/copper color to the beer. If the chocolate is there to darken the color cut it back to no more than one ounce.

 

[boo boo]

Looks good to me, Elden. My only reactions have to do with your mash temps, that's low, which is great if you want a light bodied beer, dry and crisp. Maybe try it at 148 and see if you like it? You could always experiment the next time you make it with a 150 or 152 and see how it compares.

Geltanization generally starts at 149f IIRC and if you are mashing low it is nice to extend your time to 90 minutes instead of 60 for the mash, depending how how much fermentability you want from your mash.

Also I agree with BigEd

 

[Elden]

First, thanks to all for the input. I probably am over doing it a bit, I tend to do that.

I would have gone with primarily Maris Otter instead of a bunch of 2-row, but its about the most expensive thing at the local shop, and that just bugs me. I guess the difference is only about $5 so its not exactly breaking the bank.

I pretty much always use half a pound of wheat in some form, I read somewhere that it helps with head retention. It seems to work, although I have usually used wheat malt. Not sure why I switched. Think it will still work?

I'm not really sure why I went with two different crystals, probably no need for that.

My thought on the honey malt was to keep some sweetness while mashing low for a crisp, dry beer. It probably makes more sense to just mash at a normal temp and skip the honey malt.

Yes, the Chocolate is there for the color, not sure what the SRM of it is, the local shop just sells it at 'US Chocolate Malt'. I've played with this on extract brews. At 1 oz I could hardly tell and at 4oz the flavor was really coming through and it was too dark, so I figured 2oz would be about right, may be too much still. Hopville puts the recipe at 11SRM, that's with 475L chocolate.

I don't think the local shop has US-04, though they do have 05 which I normally use, so maybe I just missed it. I have never used either, what difference would that make?

Well, I bought this grain last night, so the first recipe is what I have for this time around. Hopefully it turns out ok.

I did have to tweak the hops, as they ran out of Golding. I got an ounce of Nugget at 13% AA. I am thinking 1/2 ounce at 60 min, then just the two 1/4 ounce additions of Fuggles at 15 and 5 minutes. That puts the IBUs pretty similar at 26.6. and leaves me with enough left over for the next (simpler) batch.

 

[ajf]

Different yeasts produce difference flavors in the beer.

Nottingham and S-05 produce a very dry beer with very little character from the yeast. (Some say Nottingham does produce a lot of esters if fermented warm, but I have not noticed this.)

S-04 on the other hand produces a typical English bitter flavour with many more esters than either of the other two.

-a.

 

[Elden]

OK, I was uner the impression that nottingham would produce the distinctive flavors. Well, I'm planning to do a similar batch next weekend, so I'll try the US-04 in that one.

this is just my second all grain batch, and overall that batch went pretty well, better than my first all grain. 1st time with the propane burner outside, and I love it. Not planning on brewing in the kitchen ever again! I'm still getting the details on my system worked out. I'll also use quite a bit more water int the HLT, as I drastically under estimated my boil off. And I'll tighten the hose clamps on the wort chiller. But overall much smoother this time, and hppefully it comes out good!

 

[Elden]

OK, I tried this one again, this time I went with:
7# 2-row
12 oz 60L crystal
8 oz flaked wheat
3 oz Acid malt
2 oz chocolate malt
1 tspn Calcium Chloride
1 tspn Burton Water Salts

Mashed 1 hr, at 156 - was well converted by 50 min

1/2 oz Nugget pellets - 60 min
1/4 oz Fuggles pellets - 30 min
1/4 0s Fuggles pellets - 15 min
1/3 tspn Irish Moss - 15 min

pitched 1 pack of S-04

This time around was a lot smoother being the second attempt with this equipment. I was much closer on my boil off rate, ending up with 4.75 gallons. It was just a little bit lighter than I was expecting, not a big difference, maybe next time I'll try a slightly darker crystal or another oz of chocolate. It smelled and tasted good, though I am thinking next time I will use the Maris Otter instead of 2-row.

Planning to bottle the first batch next weekend.