Tips on brewing ESB

[Velnerj]

For English beers, use English maltsters, especially for crystal.

If you're looking for dry yeast, I like Lallemand London. It's a monster.

I ended up using marris otter and Simpsons crystal t50 and lallemand london yeast. You were not joking that was one of the fiercest fermentation I've ever had. Started at 1.054 Saturday night by Monday morning it was at 1.017 and completed today at 1.015.

I'll still wait it out for at least another week but it was acting like a kveik strain! Too bad it's being discontinued. I guess I still need to taste it before I jump to any conclusions.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Attenuation at 71% is low leave it and see if the FG moves lower.

 

[Broken Crow]

I ended up using marris otter and Simpsons crystal t50 and lallemand london yeast. You were not joking that was one of the fiercest fermentation I've ever had. Started at 1.054 Saturday night by Monday morning it was at 1.017 and completed today at 1.015.

I'll still wait it out for at least another week but it was acting like a kveik strain! Too bad it's being discontinued. I guess I still need to taste it before I jump to any conclusions.

My ESB ferments with Lallemand London have been pretty explosive too, but as to the "at least another week"; Trust me: Give it another 2 or 3 weeks.... Your taste buds will reward you for patience.

 

[Velnerj]

My ESB ferments with Lallemand London have been pretty explosive too, but as to the "at least another week"; Trust me: Give it another 2 or 3 weeks.... Your taste buds will reward you for patience.

I've tried short vs long ferments and haven't really noticed any differences when fermented for two weeks VS 3 weeks VS 4 weeks. What am I missing here? Is it yeast dependent? What's going on in there once fermentation is over?

Also you should know I have no homebrew on hand so... Is it really worth the extra wait?

 

[Velnerj]

Attenuation at 71% is low leave it and see if the FG moves lower.

I believe the expected attenuation is 65-72% as per data from lallemand.

 

[DBhomebrew]

I've tried short vs long ferments and haven't really noticed any differences when fermented for two weeks VS 3 weeks VS 4 weeks. What am I missing here? Is it yeast dependent? What's going on in there once fermentation is over?

Also you should know I have no homebrew on hand so... Is it really worth the extra wait?

There's having finished cooking dinner and then there's having cooked and eaten with the dishes in the washer.

Fermentation converts sugar into alcohol and CO2. Some other other compounds get thrown around too. The yeast will take care of some. Some will off-gas. Yeast will continue to flocc and drop. That's all conditioning. In the primary vessel, secondary vessel, keg, bottle. All conditioning. More conditioning in a previous vessel means clearer beer and less gunk in a subsequent vessel.

Worth it? Up to you.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I usually keg my beers(1.035-45 brews) within a 10-14 day period. Decently clear by then.
But I pitch relatively large and use highly mineralised liquor rich in calcium.
So 2 week-ish primary ferment, 2-3 weeks after priming the keg to carbonate and about a week in the fridge to cool condition or "cellarring"/settling.
Most beers are pretty clear by then, not German lager crystal clear but you can definitely see through them.

Most brews attenuate in the mid 70's except for bitters that end at low 80's AA% wise. I use sugar in everything British.

 

[bwible]

ESB was really only ever one beer brewed by one company. The BJCP removed ESB from the style guidelnes a few years ago. Its now lumped in under strong bitter as a general category with all of what we used to call English Pale Ales.

 

[HighlandTap]

I always wondered how much of a fuss Fuller’s made over ESB being thought of as a style. But I think they realized just how much promotion it gave the beer and took it as a win. I’ve brewed a couple clones of it with good success. One of the most forgiving recipes I’ve come across.

 

[bwible]

I always wondered how much of a fuss Fuller’s made over ESB being thought of as a style. But I think they realized just how much promotion it gave the beer and took it as a win. I’ve brewed a couple clones of it with good success. One of the most forgiving recipes I’ve come across.

That would be interesting to read their take. Homebrewers and commercial brewers have different guidelines. Commercial brewers don’t work off BJCP guides. I’m not sure if ESB is still recognized in commercial guides. I’d think it was originally marketing - everybody has a special bitter, ours is extra special. Its probably just the same as the name of any other beer.

I know Fullers does everything as a parti-gyle. One giant mash they run 3 or 4 times and the resulting worts from each run are kept seperate and blended in different proportions to make everything from their barleywine to London Pride to ESB, etc. There have been quite a few articles about how they do it. How different does that make theirs from what we make at a home with a single mash? From what I read they do it because its a very efficient process that gets every bit of sugar out of their grain.