Watery Bitter (yet another bitter recipe)

[Drinking Sensibly]

Will be making this in the next few days so I thought I'd share. I make this a lot, with many variations on the hops used, this one is very conservative. I based it on historic recipes and it works for me, at least. I use brown sugar because I think it's an adequate substitute for brewer's invert.

Bitter.
Batch size: 21 litres; OG: 1.035; FG: 1010; IBU: 35; colour about 15EBC.
My brewery efficiency is 80%

Fermentables:
1.3Kg (44%) Maris otter
1.3Kg (44%) Golden Promise
175g (6%) Flaked maize
175g (6%) Light muscovado sugar (added to boil)

Hops:
10g Admiral, 15% AA. 60min (20 IBU)
20g EKG, 6% AA. 20min (10 IBU)
20g EKG, 6% AA. 10min (6 IBU)

Mash:
Single mash @ 69°C
Water target (ppm) Ca:50; Mg:9; Na:28; Cl:50; SO4:110 (Sodium content is in the water supply - I live on an island).

Yeast:
I'd normally have used Lallemande London but not available any more.
So I'm going to try WHC labs Low Rider, which sounds pretty similar...
https://whclab.com/product/low-rider-session-ipa-yeast-500g/?v=79cba1185463
I guess that means I lied about it being a regular recipe.

Fermentation:
Pitch at 22°C, ferment two days at 18°C, raise temperature .5° daily up to 22°C. Cold crash after about ten days. Keg with priming sugar for natural carbonation, which I think is important for the style.

 

[user 246304]

Looks great. I don't know anything about the yeasts, so will be interesting to look them up. I love both MO and GP. What are you looking for by blending them?

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

Looks great. I don't know anything about the yeasts, so will be interesting to look them up. I love both MO and GP. What are you looking for by blending them?

Just a bit more complexity than using one or the other, I always do it in beers where I use pale malt.
You see it used a lot in historic recipes for the same reason, also to help with keeping the product consistent. Brewers also used imported malt because of supply issues.

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

Apparently originally posted in the wrong forum.

OOps, sorry! I did consider carefully the one I chose. Hey! ho!

 

[Bramling Cross]

I'd be happy to have a pint of that, it looks like an ale of quality!

 

[kevin58]

Apparently originally posted in the wrong forum.

OOps, sorry! I did consider carefully the one I chose. Hey! ho!

The other forum is a recipe database of tried and tested recipes.

 

[HBT_Admin]

Apparently originally posted in the wrong forum.

OOps, sorry! I did consider carefully the one I chose. Hey! ho!

If you have any questions about where to post please contact the mods or me. We're happy to help.

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

The other forum is a recipe database of tried and tested recipes.

I knew that. I made the assessment it is a tested recipe. I understand why it isn't too.

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

 

[balrog]

Looks great, personally I'd up the Ca and Cl another 50 ppm to 100 ea, maybe more

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

Looks great, personally I'd up the Ca and Cl another 50 ppm to 100 ea, maybe more

Everything's a trade-off isn't it? I use the Bru'n water calculator and those are the figures I got in order to get the pH right. Also, I wouldn't want to change the Ca/Cl ratio.

Having said that, the Ca count does look low, now that I look at it, so perhaps there is a mistake somewhere. Too late for this beer and I don't have time right now but I will go over it again, just to check. Will report back when I do (should also say something about the yeast).

 

[balrog]

Most English styles are more highly mineralized than American styles, from what little I know, and typically have 100-150 Ca. I've never done side by side to taste the difference, or made solutions of Ca, Cl, SO4 salts to add to a glass of beer to see the difference (too much trouble).

 

[DBhomebrew]

Everything's a trade-off isn't it? I use the Bru'n water calculator and those are the figures I got in order to get the pH right.

Put the rest of the Ca salts right into the kettle. You get your desired pH and mineral levels without a trade-off.