English Bitter Recipe

[cwbrown07]

I have put down a Morgan's Bishop's Bitter 1.7kg and it appears to have completed primary fermentation.

Seeing as though it was my first go at this style, I stuck to the basics of the tin, 500g dry light malt, 250g maltodex and 250g dex, and water. Yeast was the tin yeast (15g Brewmaster Ale yeast).

It has now been in for just over a week and SG has now stabilised at 1.014 from an initial reading of 1.058.

Temperature is controlled and has been maintained between 19.5 - 21.5 for the entire process after yeast was pitched.

I am proposing to bottle it over the next few days, and have a play around with the priming so as to see what gives best results for carbonation to style. Also planning on leaving it for at least 6 weeks to allow for some bottle conditioning/ clarity.

However, at this stage my hydrometer sample tastings are reasonable disappointing - not very "bitter"-like ...

Any thoughts/ suggestions on the addition of dry hops to the primary for a couple of days. Alternatively, can/ should I do a 'hop tea' and add that?

Still learning, so slowly, slowly at this stage...

[drsmurto]

Dry hop with some goldings or fuggles - 15g for at least 5 days and then bottle. If you had the dual sided sugar measure (small for stubbies, large for tallies) i would bottle into tallies but use the stubbie measure. ESBs are much lower carbed than lagers. If you plan on bulk priming i would aim for no more than 140g per 23L. 120g would be my preference altho i have been known to bottle an ESB without adding any sugar......

As for adding bitterness, too late she cried. Well, not 100% correct but seeing as how this is your first beer i would learn from this and make adjustments to the next batch, far too many ppl make the mistake of trying to slavage already fermented beer and just make it worse, i have done so and dont do that anymore.

rwh is the english bitter kit master, i never had much luck with kit bitters but my AG ESBs rock my world. Just kegged another one yesterday.

Cheers and stinky flat english beers
DrSmurto

[rwh]

As for adding bitterness, too late she cried. Well, not 100% correct but seeing as how this is your first beer i would learn from this and make adjustments to the next batch, far too many ppl make the mistake of trying to slavage already fermented beer and just make it worse, i have done so and dont do that anymore.

As usual doc, I agree with everything you're saying. Dry hop maybe, but as for the bitterness issue, you really can't tell out of the hydrometer jar anyway. Your beer is flat and warm. Temperature and carbonic acid (from carbonation) will both change your perception of bitterness. Oh, and Special Bitters aren't necessarily overly bitter anyway...

rwh is the english bitter kit master, i never had much luck with kit bitters but my AG ESBs rock my world. Just kegged another one yesterday.

Not sure about that, but I do seem to put Goldings in everything. Just did and all extract ESB the other day, it's getting close to being kegged also.

[Trough Lolly]

G'day cwbrown07 - welcome to the forum!
A similar question was posted in BYO magazine and unfortunately there's not a hell of a lot you can do - without putting the batch at risk. Perhaps you can mark this brew down to experience and increase the malt levels next time 'round? You can easily dry hop the brew, but that won't add much bitterness but it could help mask the apparent lack of bitterness by using a low alpha hop that has a good flavouring profile - eg Goldings, Target etc that would be consistent with a UK bitter...

One other strategy would be to try and blend your brews - do another bitter and ramp up the bitterness. Then once you've fermented it out you could rack both beers into a 3rd fermenter and have a 50/50 blend. This, or course is a moot point if you've already bottled and as I hinted earlier, you risk oxidisation if you get too carried away with mixing fermented worts.

This is where kegging is really handy - half a glass of a bland batch of bitter can be brought magically back to life when you top up the glass from a fresh keg of IPA / Amber / Stout / hell, even Oktoberfest or Bock!!

Cheers,
TL

[rwh]

This is where kegging is really handy - half a glass of a bland batch of bitter can be brought magically back to life when you top up the glass from a fresh keg of IPA / Amber / Stout / hell, even Oktoberfest or Bock!!

Kegging's also nice in that you can always pop in a hop ball with some tasty goodness to pep things up!

[Trough Lolly]

You betcha!

[Ross]

Hi CWbrown'

In what way are you saying it's not "bitter" like - Body, sweetness, hoppyness, fruitiness?

looking at your starting & finishing gravitys alone, you've got a 5%+ brew, which for a start throws you right off course for a "traditional" bitter. English bitters should be in the 3.0 to 3.5% range with Best Bitters up to about 4.0% & extra special bitters (traditionally fairly sweet & referred to locally as loopy juice) up to approx 5%.
Hop additions as others have suggested will certainly change the beer & possibly improve it for you, but really depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Cheers Ross

[cwbrown07]

Dear all,

Thanks for the feed-back. There is much food for thought there.

As for high-ish alcohol level, I know. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that until after I had put it all together and started taking SG readings. Having said that, I figure that this can be the first in a few experiments towards a ultimate goal, and a good excuse to get some stock up for winter-time.

The 'not bitter'- ness is a lack of hoppy-ness, as the samples I have had are reasonably fruity, without the nice bitter (hops) flavour coming through

The colour is also somewhat pale for what I am looking for - more a golden than a amber/ brown.

Having said all of that, I think next time round I might try an addition of a dark malt (rather than light) and add some Goldings.

We live and learn (and get to drink the results...) - Not a bad life!

[Trough Lolly]

If it's drinkable, you're doing fine!!

If it's too light, you'll be amazed what 60g of Roasted Barley will do for your colour...and flavour profile.

Cheers,
TL

[cwbrown07]

After bottling this one last week, I figured it was time to test it out. A little early perhaps, but I was impatient!

Having done a 'normal' carb on most bottles (ie 1 carb drop per 375mls), I started with one of those to see how the experimental standard worked out.

Colour was great - nice deep brown, and very clear. Lowish carbonation, which was pleasant. The flavour was ok, but lacking a bit of punch - no real "bitter" after-taste (ie aroma and taste combined). However, this seemed to improve a bit after I let it warm up a touch.

Having said that, hopefully it will improve with some age, as I am looking to let it sit for a couple of months or so.

Next time round I will have to try adding some hops, both bittering and aroma to get a bit more punch and depth to the brew.