Help with ESB recipe

[UncleByron]

Hi all,
Will be doing my first AG batch tomorrow. Was wondering if any more experienced brewers would like to critique an ESB recipe I came up with. I already bought all the ingredients, however there is a little room for changes because I bought a little extra of each grain. Don't want to go back to my LHBS for more hops or different yeast though if it can be avoided. I have 2 oz fuggles and 2 oz goldings. Also, most recipes I have seen for ESB don't include flavor hop additions. I really like the woody taste you get from fuggles though. Do you think my .3 oz addition at 25 would be enough to achieve that?

O.G. 1.056
F.G. 1.013
I.B.U 41.5
S.R.M. 11.2

8 lb (79.1%) Maris otter
9.1 oz (5.6%) buscuit malt
11.4 oz (7%) crystal 40
5.3 oz (3.3%) crystal 120
8 oz (4.9%) brown sugar

1.2 oz goldings @ 60
1.3 oz fuggles @ 60
0.3 oz fuggles at 25
0.4 oz fuggles at 5
0.5 oz goldings at 5

BIOB mash at 152

WLP005 yeast

 

[JonM]

Looks pretty darn good to me. I think your instinct is right on and you might want to move the 25 min addition a little later - maybe at ten or just add it to the 5 adn.

I have my first-ever ESB in a keg right now, and the recipe is really similar to yours. I can't believe I waited years to dive into ESBs! They're awesome!

 

[JKaranka]

I'd either drop the biscuit or make it barely noticeable (~2oz). What about moving the 5m addition to dry hop instead? Lots of commercial bitters are dry hopped. It's traditional for the style, much more so than late hopping.

 

[UncleByron]

The advice is much appreciated. I'm pretty new to brewing. I think I'll reduce the amount of biscuit, and push my 25 min addition back to 10 and dry hop most of what I was gonna throw in at 5. I never would have thought that within two hours of posting I'd have a guy from Wales helping me out with an ESB recipe. What a great forum!