Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

Extra Special Bitter – ESB

April 6th, 2021

I’ve brewed quite a few attempts at English bitters like those I enjoyed when I spent a few days in London. It’s just a fine beer to enjoy with the Earthy/Floral UK hops along with the estery, English caramel malt profile that just goes down smooth with echoes of nuttiness or biscuit like flavor in the profile. I’ve gotten a few hints from Fuller’s brewers concerning brands of malts, color and hops but still didn’t get quite the profile I was looking for. I’m hoping this year with a couple of tweaks, I’ll finally get that profile I’ve failed to achieve all these years….

Update 4/24/2021

I need to post an updated recipe. I had to make a number of substitutions due to not researching what was in stock. Not a big deal. Biggest was Northern Brewer for Northdown. Brands of grains were different and the crystal was kind of a guess. However the beer had an OG right on target around 1.057 and a FG around 1.017. First impression was that it was sweet, it may have just been my pallet because the next sips were very nice. Bright, flavorful ale. Need to keg it with gelatin soon so it’ll clear out and carbonate. Should be an interesting beer to have around the house.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 38.9 IBUs 8.0 SRM 1.057 1.018 5.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
English-Style Extra Special Bitter 63 B 1.046 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.016 30 - 45 8 - 14 2.2 - 2.8 4.8 - 5.8 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt, Best (Simpsons) 12.25 lbs 90.74
Crystal, Light (Simpsons) 12 oz 5.56
Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) 8 oz 3.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Northdown 1.75 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 8.5
Challenger 1.5 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 7.5
East Kent Goldings (EKG) 1.5 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 5

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 14.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 8.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
West Yorkshire Ale (1469) Wyeast Labs 69% 64°F - 72°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 154°F 75 min

Notes

The distilled water is actually 10 gallons of my Ascension parish well water. I need to add it to BeerSmith from my bayoubeer.com website.
Need a Simpson's Crystal around 40. 100 EBC. Simpsons was prescribed by the English Brewer. Said never Bairds.
The Crystal Light malt we use is closer to 100 EBC and never from Bairds- usually Simpsons.
For the hopping regime we add all aroma hops at the end of the boil before we then go on to a 30 min whirlpool rest.
Challenger and Goldings are correct but we also use the beautiful Northdown hop (6%AA)- each 33% split of the total late addition.

Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

↓