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The Finished Extra Strong Bitter I've been trying to work out an Extra Strong Bitter (ESB) recipe for about a year now. My three previous versions did not do all that well with the judges who tried them, for differing reasons. Some felt I had the right bitterness but no "malt complexity" while others felt I had too much hop bitterness. A few even commented that there seemed to be "no hops" in the beer (the same version the two other judges felt had too much hops bitterness). For this fourth version, I've removed Victory Malt from the recipe. I've also removed the Caramel 10L that I used in the previous version. I've added Special B Malt into the mix, dialing back the Caramel 40L and Caramel 65-70L a little. I added some corn to give it some sweetness against the hops. I stuck with Lallemand ESB yeast for this version because I liked the two earlier iterations of this recipe that used it, and disliked the one that didn't. I also decided to g...

I entered my ESB v1.2 at Barley's and received some decent scores (28-33), but there were comments about how it was much too bitter (and one from a third judge saying it had no hops bitterness at all).  I'm inclined to agree with the judges who found it too bitter.  This time around, I want to fix that, so I can put the modified version into competition. Ingredients 3.5 pounds Muntons Maris Otter Malt 12 ounces Caramel 40L 8 ounces Caramel 60L 6 ounces Caramel 10L 6 ounces Victory Malt 0.4 ounces Styrian Goldings @ 6.2% AA (60 min.) 0.4 ounces Styrian Goldings @ 6.2% AA (30 min.) 0.4 ounces Styrian Goldings @ 6.2% AA (10 min.) 1 packet Lallemand ESB Yeast 1/2 vial White Labs Clarity Ferm 3 gallons plus 16 ounces starting water According to the Picobrew recipe crafter, this beer should have the following characteristics: Style: 11.C Strong Bitter Original Gravity (OG):  1.057 SG Final Gravity (FG): 1.017 SG IBUs: 31 SRM: 15 ABV: 5.2% Batch ...

Looks a bit darker here than it really is My last Extra Special Bitter (ESB) used continual hopping with Styrian Goldings. This version abandons that (primarily because the Zymatic can't simulate it) in favor of four hop additions.  This version also includes an ounce of Special B to bump up the malt complexity slightly. I'll also use Wyeast Thames Valley Ale Yeast this time around because I'm already using half the package for the Manny's Pale Ale clone I'm brewing and it'll shave a little off the cost of this batch. According to Wyeast's web site, this is an appropriate ESB yeast.  I've also decided to add a few pellets of East Kent Goldings to bring a little bit of a familiar flavor to the beer without overwhelming it. Ingredients 3.5 pounds Maris Otter Malt 10 ounces Crystal 40L 7 ounces Crystal 60L 5 ounces Crystal 10L 5 ounces Victory malt 1 ounce Special B 0.30 ounces Styrian Goldings @ 6.3% AA (60 min.) 2 pellets East Kent Golding...

I like a good English beer from time to time, and am fond of the Extra Special Bitter (ESB) style.  After surveying a number of recipes out there, I decided to formulate one of my own.  I made a 1-gallon test batch a few months back and it turned out great. It disappeared quickly. One thing I didn't love about it was the flavor of the East Kent Goldings hops.  There is something in that hop variety that disagrees with my tastebuds, so I decided to shake things up a little in version 1.1.  Specifically, I am going to replace East Kent Goldings with Styrian Goldings and instead of using 60, 30, and 15 minute hop additions I will continuously hop this one.  Will it turn out like a traditional ESB or will it seem more like an "Imperial ESB" or "American ESB"... I don't know. We'll find out. Ingredients 6.25 pounds Maris Otter Malt 1.25 pounds Caramel/Crystal 40L Malt 14 ounces Caramel/Crystal 60L Malt 10 ounces Caramel/Crystal 10L Malt 10 ounce...

For Christmas, I received a book of historic beer recipes.  I ordered the ingredients for an English Bitter that looked interesting because it called for Saaz hops instead of one of the more traditional varieties like UK Goldings.  I decided to make it and ordered the necessary ingredients. When brew day came around, I learned that either I had ordered the wrong amount of Pale Malt, or the shop had shipped me less than I ordered.  I had only 8 pounds instead of the 10 required.  I decided to substitute two pounds of CaraVienne malt for the missing two pounds of Pale Malt rather than abort the brewing session.  I also overlooked the invert sugar called for in the recipe, and substituted some Brun Fonce sugar I had on-hand, which is similar. At this point, I realized that what I was making was no longer the ale from the book, but something of my own design.  That being the case, it was no longer the historic beer but something new.  Given that, I d...