Northdown 90 mins 24 IBU
EKG 30 mins 10 IBU
Possibly another dose EKG 0 mins @145* for 15-20 mins
WLP 002 ferment @ 65-68
This will be my first attempt at a low gravity beer 3.4% ± and I am trying to build some body into it without it being overly cloying. I believe a healthy dose of bittering hops will balance that.
As always, constructive criticism is required.
Cheers!
I’ve been thru several iterations of Ordinary Bitter since the beginning of the year (as well as Mild and Scottish 60/- and 70/-). Out of ~six beers, I think I’ve brewed two good ones. Not great but good.
Something Denny said the other day on the subject bears repeating (paraphrasing here): there aren’t many ingredients in these beers so make each ingredient pack a punch.
I’ve seen many recipes from books such as Talley’s Session Beers, Wheeler’s British Real Ale, Ron Pattinson’s Blog, Brewing Classic Styles, etc. Most typical Ordinary Bitter grain bills I’ve seen list a very large amount of base malt (high 80 to low 90%), med crystal, a tiny bit of roast for color adjustment, and sometimes they list a sugar and other times they don’t.
This tells me Denny’s comment is key. I also think the house yeast plays a huge role in the body of these beers as does technique such as milling, mash, and fermentation.
Someone else (can’t recall who) commented that my efficiency was too high. It seems the ingredients lists when given in weight from the sources above would produce much higher ABV beers given my routine efficiency. Especially with the 90 min boil Wheeler recommends. This could indicate a point of diminishing return on a fine crush. I am not sure about that but possibly they don’t mill the grain as fine as I do therefore there’s more malt in a recipe. I’d like to taste two beers side-by-side, one with less malt crushed finer and one with more malt crushed coarser, to see if there is a perceptible difference to me.
Also, I’ve decided I am not a huge fan of some British hops. So I use this quote to my advantage: “The style nazi [wants] to define something as “English” or “British” by the use of UK malt and hops. Even though beers actually brewed in Britain over the last 150 [years] have almost always contained some non-British ingredients.” — Ron Pattinson
I hope this gives you some ideas. Let us know how it turns out.
My observations are identical to yours.
I also mash high as safely possible.
Brewing a tasty low ABV brew is very challenging, and every ingredient/step/process is much more important than for a higher ABV.
Low ABV brews is all that I do, you can’t follow the higher ABV herd.
I’m still learning.
I have had good luck with very simple English ale recipes. I will assume you are using ingredients on hand and not suggest anything other than dropping everything other than the base malt and crystal and going with something like 5% crystal, 94% MO and 1% black malt for color. Also, I am not sure of the exact makeup of the amber water profile you are calling for but I would check it against other bitter recipes for gypsum.
That may have been me. I’ve seen that speculation on British Homebrew forums. Timothy Taylor is tight-lipped on everything.
I had a dark TTL at a hotel bar in Skipton Yorkshire, not too far from the brewery. A British friend said it is just colored with brewers caramel which is super dark. They could use a small amount to color TTL, but who knows for sure.
Whose Golden Promise? They’re not all the same evening they use the same barley variety. Saying Golden Promise is as meaningless as saying Maris Otter.
I appreciate the additional input. I was just pointing out that Gordon Strong’s recipe from BYO uses only one Golden Promise malt (Simpson or Thomas Fawcett or other maltster are not distinguished in the publication) - I also don’t know for certain whether TTL is very different from that, as I have not ever had it served to me. TT is tight-lipped, indeed, so recipe and process could be way different than Gordon’s recipe and process (such as Gordon suggesting boiling hard for 70 minutes.) Invert sugar would be in line with many British brewers, for sure.
Per the BJCP style guidelines, the coloration can be quite wide ranging from 8-14 SRM, but Gordon’s recipe is set at 6 SRM, almost like a lower hopped British Golden Ale. For what it is worth.
For British Bitter water chemistry is important, it is one of those things that supports the other ingredients. I would target 150-200 ppm SO4. I have had some that are higher. Marston’s Pedigree smells like wet drywall, which is too much for my tastes.
Yeast selection and fermentation management is important. They are said to underpitch, and often open ferment to get more esters. The fruityness goes well with the malts used.
They don’t always use Maris Otter, but we homebrewers like it. Which Maris Otter? I like Crisp MO, and had used Warminster MO one time and really liked it, and now have enough for another 5 gallon batch. Warminster owns the rights to the MO variety, and Simpsons owns Golden Promise.
As for hops, EKG is a classic. Target, Northdown, and Challenger are also widely used. Harvey’s Sussex Bitter is known for Brambling Cross hops which have a current flavor.
Other ingredients like Invert Sugars and torrified wheat appear in recipies. I like what those can do in a Brittish Bitter.
Yes, it might very well be. And I mean GP grown in the states is different than GP grown elsewhere. By processing, I’m referring to malting. Even if the barley came from the same field, the malt produced by different maltsters would differ due to process.
We too often forget that malt is both a grown and processed thing - differences in the beers that are brewed can arise field by field, maltster by maltster, batch by batch, and brewer system and process by brewer system and process. Then there are other malts and ingredients that have similar differences at each level of inquiry. As homebrewers we are so blessed to be able to try things out and don’t have to stress consistency from batch to batch like the commercial guys (if we don’t want to do that).
Cheers to a decent homage, regardless of how we get there.
So my idea with adding biscuit malt (5%) is to add a bit of nuttiness and bread flavors/aromas. I could prob do w/o the caramalt. SO4 is about 105ppm so that can be def be increased. Water profile is beer smith.
