Opinions on this Best Bitter Recipe

[jay29]

Opinions? Changes? Should I use gypsum?

Trying to make a complex flavorful Bitter.....

All Grain 5 gallons

7.5 lbs. Muntons Marris Otter
0.55 American Carapils
0.25 UK Crystal 60L
0.25 Belgian Buiscut
1 oz UK Chocolate

1 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha 60 minutes
1 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha 15 minutes
0.5 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha flame out

Safale S04

1.044 OG
1.011 FG
4.31% ABV
36.73 IBU
7.16 SRM

 

[thehaze]

You want some Gypsum in there, but it depends how much you like and how your initial water profile looks like.

Skip the CaraPils, as I don't think/feel it belongs there. Maybe try to Torrefied/Flaked Wheat instead? The Crystal 60L is OK, so is the Biscuit malt, but the Chcolate malt ...for me, Roasted malts are not really doing it for me in bitters. If you want colour or complexity, use some Crystal 90/120L or 160L ( both Crisp and Simpsons have it ).

My bitters usually have a flavourful base malt, like Maris Otter, Golden Promise, an English Pale Ale malt ( 3-3.5L ) or a combination of these, with 2 Crystal malts. Something like 60L and a little bit of Crystal 90/120/160L.

 

[jay29]

Thx for the advice. I have to research gypsum more. Here is my updated recipe:

All Grain 5 gallons

7.5 lbs. Muntons Marris Otter
1.00 UK Crystal 60L
0.25 Belgian Biscuit
1 oz UK Chocolate

1 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha 60 minutes
0.5 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha 15 minutes
0.5 oz UK Bramling Cross 6.5 Alpha flame out

Safale S04

1.045 OG
1.011 FG
4.40% ABV
31.26 IBU
10.77 SRM

 

[Steveruch]

Brew it without gypsum. It looks good as-is.

 

[Lefou]

If you're using soft water with very little carbonate hardness and your SRM is 10 or less, the most you should add is about 3/4 to 1tsp CaSO4 (gypsum) per 5 gal to enhance the flavor of your beer.
You really don't need gypsum - unless you want it. To have a balanced beer profile, 1/2 to 3/4 CaCl can be added to the water with the gypsum. I'd say the hopping is just fine for this style.

 

[Steveruch]

I've used admiral as a bittering hop with brambling cross as a finishing hop with good results.

 

[IslandLizard]

Depending on how fast you can chill that wort, that flameout addition may not give you all the flavor you'd expect.

If your chiller is slow and it takes 10-15' to get it to 150F you're probably OK.
If it's any faster or you want to make sure to extract all she's got, whirlpool or let it stand (with a stir every 3-5 minutes) at 150-160F for 30' or so.
Or at 170F for 20'.
Or at 180F for 10-15'.

 

[ESBrewer]

Toss a lot of gypsum in there..! Honestly, it is not so critical and depends on your taste. But almost every English brewery would add a decent amount of gypsum in this type of beer because sulphate supports the crisp and bitter nature of the beer (plus calcium controls the mash pH).

Otherwise, the updated recipe should produce an enjoyable beer. The amount of late hops is up to you, could be more or less. A little bit of dry hops is an option, too.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Should I use gypsum?

Trying to make a complex flavorful Bitter.....

What kind of "bitter" though? There are large regional variations, a Yorkshire bitter is very different to one from Oxfordshire.

US brewers tend to overcomplicate them, they are inherently pretty simple beers, typicallly just pale malt and 5-7% crystal (anything over 10% crystal is just wrong). Optionally 5-7% torrified wheat for head retention, more commonly up north where you're serving through a sparkler. Possibly a bit of adjunct, which tends to be invert sugar up north and maize down south.

The complexity comes from a) the quality of the base malt and b) yeast, not lots of fiddly additions of speciality malt.

US brewers tend to underestimate the mineral content of British beers - some of the classic brewery wells in Burton have >800ppm sulphate, but it does vary a lot. Something like 200ppm Ca, 150ppm Cl, 300ppm SO4 would be typical - so if you have soft water you could be adding over a tablespoon of gypsum to a 5gal batch.

I'd say you're a bit light on your late hops - and though I love Bramling Cross, it's even better mixed 50:50 with Goldings. As a northerner, I'd tend to a BU:GU ratio of 0.85-0.9, so for a 1.045 OG I'd be looking for mebbe 39 IBU - but it would be less for a southern bitter. Aside from the bittering charge, I'd aim for more like ~5g/l in late-copper/flameout/dry hops.

 

[snowtiger1987]

I would drop the Biscuit malt. Marris Otter has plenty of toasty/busciuty flavor on its own.

 

[kevin58]

A traditional English best bitter would typically have just pale malt... maybe some crystal... and I've found many recipes from the 1940's and '50's that had flaked maize. It is also not uncommon to find brew logs that list invert sugar.

Your OG, FG and ABV are spot on. SRM for 1950's BB on draught are often in the 20's or even 30's but there are plenty of examples of 10 SRM and lower too.