Which Boddingtons extract recipe to use?

[fezzman]

A quick search of this board and I found the following recipe from "Beer Captured"

Extract:
4oz British 55L Crystal Malt
1/5 oz British Black Patent
4lbs Muntons Extra Light DME
1/3lb Invert sugar
1/2oz East Kent Goldings (bittering)
1/4oz East Kent Goldings (flavor- 12min)
1/4oz Fuggles (flavor - 12min)
1tsp. Irish Moss (12min)
1/4oz Whitebread Goldings Variety (aroma- 3min)

Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast (1st choice)
Wyeast 1028 London Ale yeast (2nd choice)

But on another forum I found this recipe:

1 lbs. Muntons Dry Amber
3.5 lbs. Muntons Dry Light
.1875 lbs. Cane Sugar
1 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
0.25 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 5.7 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
0.25 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 5.7 %AA) boiled 15 minutes.
.125 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellets, 6.6 %AA) boiled 15 minutes.
1 teaspoons Irish Moss (not included in calculations)
2 teaspoons Gypsum (not included in calculations)
0.25 teaspoons Epsom Salts (not included in calculations)
Wyeast 1968

They are drastically different recipes. Also, what is Epsom salts used for in a brew? (noob question)

Thanks

 

[david_42]

They really aren't all that different, the first one uses 4oz British 55L Crystal Malt
1/5 oz British Black Patent in the bill and the second uses some amber extract for the same flavors. The second will be a little more bitter with 1.25 oz of bittering hops vs. 1/2 oz., but Fuggles is a low AA hop, so not that big a deal.

ABV's should be amost the same.

Epsom salts = magnesium sulfate It's rather odd to be adding Gypsum & Epsom salts to an extract recipe, but I bet if you checked on the brewer's site, you'd find they brew with very hard water. So people like to match the water regardless.

1968 is an ESB yeast and Boddingtons is a bitter, so I'd go with the second recipe.

 

[fezzman]

Thanks for the reply, david. Should I just skip the epsom and gypsum? I don't know what my water hardness is compared to that of Boddy.

Also, should I prime with the typical 5oz of corn sugar or do you think a lower amount would be more appropriate for this recipe?

Thanks again