Best Bitter Yeoman Special Bitter

[tennesseean_87]

I'm thinking of brewing this up as a partigyle. I'll steep the dark crystal and add to the second runnings (with a little first runnings mixed in) and try to hit 1.045ish. I started a thread about it here. The first runnings will be an American IPA. Any help is appreciated.

 

[duckmanco]

Brewed this up today, no sparge (except for holding back 2 gallons of the 8 needed total as a boiling mashout/attempt infusion) and hit 88% efficiency... I realize this is probably something not to whine about, but my low gravity beers are killing me. I wanted 1.040 and got 1.046... I'm running of 7 gallons to boil down to 5.5 in an hour. Frustrating

.. Anyway, went with first gold for flavor and aroma as mentioned on the blog belonging to the OP, and they did smell like sweet oranges. Pitched a 1.5l starter of wlp006 and gave it 60 sec. of pure O2. Set ferment temp to 64. Can't wait.

 

[duckmanco]

Posting my results as I enjoy a pint of this.

After first getting it into the keg I didn't care for this beer at all. Tasted harsh, overly hoppy and tannic like. Fast forward to time in the keg and now it pours beautifully clear, brite and the first gold hops have calmed down to lend a nice orange candy marmalade like character to the beer.

Overall a very nice beer, and I might give wlp006 a shot again in the future, but so far out of my meager British ale yeast trials of wyeast 1968, wlp002 (same yeast), so4, Nottingham, and wyeast 1469 - 1469 is the hands down winner at this point. Either way, these first gold hops have some serious potential in other beers as well... I'm thinking American IPA.

 

[bierhaus15]

Glad to hear it turned out well for you in the end. Wlp006 can be a tricky yeast, as it does require some time in the keg for it to settle out and mature. It's a lot like the Marstons' yeast in that regard; tastes great one day, the next you're like "WTF happened?" and then right when you've given up all hope, the heavens part and the beer sings like no other. Wy1469 is a nice yeast too, a bit stone-fruity for my tastes but it has a lovely malt character when fermented cool.

First Gold hops are certainly one worth keeping around. Great for golden ales, bitters, and they'd probably make a nice hoppy saison or APA.

 

[brewingdan]

Just finished a 6 day primary using wyeast 1028 London Ale yeast. Taste great straight from the primary, hydrometer sample went bottoms up.

I can't wait to taste it after the 5 day dry hop and a bit of cold conditioning / carbonating.

 

[fbaillargeon]

Finishing a keg of that, it's pretty tasty, I wanted something different than the Common Room ESB as I got a pound of EKG earlier this year, it's quite a good brew.

Will brew again.

 

[MEPNew2Brew]

Working this up right now to work on my system with some tweaks.

1469, West Yorkshire Ale yeast. Evaluating whether to make this my "house" English yeast. Super easy to top crop it and keep it around.

Using Bairds Crystal 50-60 instead of Caramel 45. A bit darker, but the closest I could find easily in an English Crystal.

Using Bairds 135-165 for the C 120. Same as above.

Just toasted my MO as per original post. Would have liked to brew tomorrow. But, OP said let toasted grain sit at least a week.

I'll report back. Very much looking forward to this Special Bitter.

 

[Merkur]

I am an ex-pat home-brewing Brit in NJ and I'm always looking for a recipe for the quintessential British pint. Your Yeoman Special Bitter seems to have the qualities I look for in a beer however I brew 5 Gallon batches and have not done whole grain before.

Can I mash the grain bill in a bag at 154 for 60 mins in my 8 gallon kettle and then drain the wort out via the tap and stainless bazooka screen? Maybe sparging with another 1-2 gallons of water at around 160F for a total volume of around 6.5gallons which will boil down to 5G?

Am I way off base here or should I be looking at another recipe/technique? I have done a lot of brewing, but never ventured to all grain before.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[FlyDoctor]

I am an ex-pat home-brewing Brit in NJ and I'm always looking for a recipe for the quintessential British pint. Your Yeoman Special Bitter seems to have the qualities I look for in a beer however I brew 5 Gallon batches and have not done whole grain before.

Can I mash the grain bill in a bag at 154 for 60 mins in my 8 gallon kettle and then drain the wort out via the tap and stainless bazooka screen? Maybe sparging with another 1-2 gallons of water at around 160F for a total volume of around 6.5gallons which will boil down to 5G?

Am I way off base here or should I be looking at another recipe/technique? I have done a lot of brewing, but never ventured to all grain before.

Thanks,

Paul

You could get darn close by using the Maris otter syrup from northern brewer and substituting ? Biscuit for the toasted MO. Otherwise the crystal can be steeped.

 

[ophillium]

Brewed this in August and finally had my first bottle this week (and my second through twelfth) - absolutely delicious! Stuck to the recipe more or less, except that I started with a wee bit too much strike water that didn't boil out completely, and then later had to dry-hop with Fuggles due to availability (which I found nice and mellow).

This will definitely be in regular rotation along with my Guinness clone. I'm actually (literally) boiling the wort on a second batch right now as I type. Would have liked more of a hop kick than my first batch gave me, which is either because of the fuggles or because I live/drink on the west coast of canadia, so I'm upping the amounts to 3oz total (1 bittering, 1 at flame out, 1 in secondary).

Cheers to a great recipe bierhaus15!~