Recipe critique. ESB with First Gold hops

[albion85]

Wondering what you think to this recipe I have knocked up. Going to brew this tomorrow but wanted to run it by here first. It's going to be my first partial mash. BIAB 65% efficiency. These are the numbers Beersmith has pumped out.

4 gallon batch.
Estimated OG 1.052
Estimated FG 1.014
Estimated IBU 35
Mash 60mins at 156F

2lb 6 oz Marris Otter Pale Malt (38%)
3lb Extra Light Dry Muntons Extract (48%) added in last 5 mins
7oz UK Simpsons medium crystal 55L (7%)
2.7oz UK Simpsons extra dark crystal 160L (2.7%)
4oz Flaked Barley (4%)

0.7oz First Gold [7.5%] at 60 mins (26 IBU)
0.7oz First Gold [7.5%] at 2 mins (2.2 IBU) Beersmith adjusts this total to 35.7IBU to account for late addition of extract.
1 pack Safale 04

I will probably ferment for 2 weeks. Then prime to about 1.7vol of co2.

What do you think?

 

[hercher]

Four gallons isn't nearly enough. You need to brew 10 gallons and ship 6 to me.

I'm only getting 21.8 IBUs from beersmith, which is a bit low for this style. Your ABV is 5.0%. With a relatively light hop bill, I'm wondering if a final OG of 1.014 might wind up a little sweet. Perhaps consider cutting back on the crystal malts slightly, or make sure your steeping temperature doesn't get too warm.

 

[albion85]

That is interesting you are getting a lower IBU than me. Beersmith is giving me 35IBUs. I wonder if that is why I have had a bit of trouble with beers being a bit too sweet in the past, something a bit iffy with my calculations. I have beersmith set to a late extract addition, and a 4.5 gallon boil to get 4 gallons in the fermenter. Set to 65% efficiency. Not sure why we would get different readings though?

 

[jjeffers09]

As I remember ESB is colored with roasted malts or invert sugars, not crystals. I think it was Brew Your Own British Real Ale that shows the little to no use of crystal malts but use chocolate and roasted barley to bring color to the beer. Also the British brewers use (invert) sugar and non-malted adjuncts like flaked corn and torrified wheat. Apparently the lack of fresh bitters on tap is the #1 reason for perceiving caramel malt in an authentic ESB among other reasons due to packaging and shipping. The Real Ale Alamanac by Roger Protz is another great reference for English styles. 1968/1469 yeasts I think are the go to strains, but I may be wrong? idk someone google it...

 

[albion85]

Oh dear! And i've just done a bit order from northern brewer for UK crystals as i cant get them over in the US and every recipe seems to use them. You are right about British beers in the US though. I'm a Brit and every single imported bottle of beer I've had tastes nothing like it did back home. An oxidized, off tasting mess. Nothing like it is on cask in England.

Well I was just about to brew this. What i did based on the advice here was up the hops a little to 0.8 oz each. On brewtoad and Brewer's friend that is 32IBUs. Beersmith gives me 40 when adjusted to a late extract addition. Checking out can you brew it's recipes on some British beers straight from the brewer's, London Pride used 5% crystal, 1845 used 10% and Riggwelter used 6%. So hopefully my crystal wouldn't be too off style. What i will do is tone it down to 5%

 

[dstockwell]

Plugged in Brewers Friend

OG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.00%
IBU: 28

 

[albion85]

Strange. Im getting 32.9IBU, after a few adjustments mind you.

EDIT: actually when adjusted to pellets im getting 36.21 now

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/365993/first-gold-test

 

[dstockwell]

Crazy... Brewers Friend has been doing work on the site, so maybe when I input before something changed, looks good now.

 

[jjeffers09]

If using brewers friend I would download the software. They have iOS and windows versions

 

[JKaranka]

I'd still up the hops slightly to ensure you end up in the 40IBU territory. In Brulosophy once and again IBU measurements throw lower numbers than what calculators suggest, so I'd err on the side of more-is-more. You need a good snappy bitterness for a bitter!

On the malts, I'd reduce the Crystal slightly. I prefer using Amber to Crystal, or blending the two. As mentioned above, invert sugar is traditional, but nowadays more and more breweries use Crystal malt (well, it's been a minor malt since... like the 1880s or something...).