I haven’t made any English Bitter or ESB in a very long time. It’s over ten years that I have made one in fact. I had a period of were I made quite a few, but I think I got burned out and started focusing on other styles. Anyways, I want to make one again because I would like a low alcohol beer that still has some flavor. My thoughts were Maris Otter and some Crystal for the grains, possibly a light hand of American hops (I don’t have any EKG or anything really similar), and Wyeast London Ale III. What suggestions do the British beer gurus have here for what works well with you regarding Malts, Hops, and yeast? I’m open for your thoughts.
To me this is the
So much depends
Upon
A red wheel
Barrow
Glazed with rain
Water
Beside the white
Chickens
Of beers.
So few ingredients make such a complex and satisfying brew.
I keep getting simpler, skipping the crystal and going with 99% pale (or MO, Golden promise, etc) and 1% black malt for color. I am just getting into and loving wy1469.
That being said the beauty is you might like a little crystal or other yeasts. Wy1968 is a staple here.
I guess the one thing I highly recommend is buying some EKG for this. I like mixing it with Stygian good Golding.
Just thinking of this makes me want to draw a pint and throw some darts.
Thanks for the suggestions Pete. I have never tried WY 1469 and that sounds intriguing. I also like the idea of using no crystal malt.
Personally, I like a bit of English crystal in my bitters. I use about 5-7% and I lean to the darker side. I used Simpson’s DRC in my last ESB and I really enjoyed it.
For yeast 1469 is one of my favorites, but there are so many good yeasts that I really like in the style. 1968, WLP013 and Winsor with a copitch of Notty are all in my regular rotation.
As far as hops go, there are a lot of ways you can go. I almost always use some Goldings (EKG or Styrian), but I often spice things up with an American hop in combination. My favorites are Caliente and Meridian, since they both have a big stonefruit character that goes well with the esters of most English strains. Centennial also works pretty well in a bitter.
I am not advocating for no crystal, I plan on a lot of bitters and other English pale ales in my future, and some will certainly have crystal. I do encourage folks to try it without however, it’s amazing what a full bodied low abv beer you can make without it with English yeast strains and what I currently have on tap without crystal is my favorite so far.
Playing with American hops with this style is on my to do list although EKG will always be my go to, it’s probably my favorite hop. I even would like to try using this style as a base for a session ipa.
I have not tried the nitty/Windsor thing but plan on it. I like to keep dry yeasts around as a backup, and I think I will get some nutty and Windsor and drop s04.
Right now this is my favorite style to brew partly because it’s not something regular available commercially and partly because it is such a satisfying beer to have on tap.
The last time I was in England I was surprised by the amount of American hops mentioned on the Handpump clips. I’ve done a few Bitters using American hops. The key is to not get heavy handed with the additions. 1 oz is often enought for 5 gallons. Split it so that you meet your IBU target at 60 minutes and the rest goes in at 10 minutes. A high AA hop like Ekuanot, for example, had 3/8 oz. at 60 and 5/8 oz at 10. I liked that bitter.
Another consideration is to use kettle sugars. Invert sugar appears in many old recipes for bitter. Consider invert #1 or #2 at 5 to 10% of the fermentables. Lyle’s Golden syrup is close to #1. Invert sugars are available now from Adventures in Homebrewing. You can make your own, it is not that difficult.
For nontraditional, hops-wise I’ve liked Willamette because they have an herbal character I somewhat liken to EKG, and I’ve combined an herbal/floral/grassy hop with a bit of Amarillo because for me an orange/mandarin/marmalade plays well in a bitter if not done too heavy handed. I’ve used WLP013, described by White Labs as having an oak ester character which I definitely got - may not be something everyone loves but I enjoyed it (also liked it in a porter with Bramling Cross hops). Can’t go wrong with the Fullers WLP002 for an appropriate English ester character. I also enjoy the Wyeast London ale III Boddington’s yeast - has nice character on the not-so-strong side as English yeast go (IMO). I always go with a bit of crystal, never over 10%, and have made my own invert sugar which can add some caramel flavor as well if you darken it enough, though I really can’t say it added anything to the beer I couldn’t have gotten without it.
In regard to hops do you think American noble would work?
I can’t say one way or the other. Might have to try that.
In the Lakes District i had several pints that used German hops. There were also beer with NZ and AU hops.
Always a light hand used.
Dont sleep on US golding hops. they’re wonderful
My recipe for Ordinary Bitter includes a smidge of C120 and a smidge of brown malt. The intent is to give a bit of body and complexity to such a low ABV beer as well as some color. My hopping schedule is pretty standard 3 additions of EKG for about 30 IBU’s. Windsor yeast has a bit lower attenuation for body and a crystal clear finish. This recipe has won some medals over the years and sadly I don’t brew it often enough.
Though I switch the hops up from time to time, Golding (either US or East Kent) are indeed my much loved go-to hop for British bitters.
I think I’m going to use some American Hops because I just got several pounds. I have Cascade, Amarillo, Idaho 7, Strata, Belma, and Zappa. My plan is around 30 IBU’s. Since it’s not too uncommon like Jeff mentioned, I thought it would interesting to see how the hops play with MO and English yeast.
My next batch is going to be a bitter using mittlefruh.
That sounds good. I like the fact that Bitters nowadays aren’t just limited to English hops.
My take on that is that there are only about 1800 of hops in Britain these days.
I normally use English hops in my bitter, but I’m down to just enough ingredients for one more batch and mittlefruh is what I have left.
The right malt goes a long way too. And bitter without crystal - or at least far less than foreigners think should be used - has a long history in Northern England going back to the 19th century, with (real, not Pub) Boddington’s being the classic example.
That comes down to taste and region - Fuller’s use 7.2% light crystal in their main beers and that’s about as much as I’d ever want, personally I prefer either none (just a nice tasty base malt) or 2-3% - you can go a bit higher if you’ve got some sugar in there to balance the crystal.
Can’t argue with that!!! EKG green hop is even better though. 
Hmm - I think you’d be surprised how much a bitter can take, particularly in the whirlpool/dryhop. My standard hop-test brew is 100% Otter to 1.045 or so, with around 35IBU of bittering and then a 100g pack smeared over 10 minutes, flameout, whirlpool and dryhop.
Yes, there’s quite a lot of US hops appearing in cask ales these days, but mentally we don’t think of them as bitters as such, in the same way that one doesn’t think of WCIPA and NEIPA as the same thing as 19th century IPAs. The UK is a lot less hung up on classification than you guys but you can see distinct families, the beers with trad British hops, the ones with C-hops, and the ones that go more hazy-tropical.
Pretty much anything goes, British beer is all about personal expression. We don’t see very much of the US nobles in general - I guess the European nobles work out cheaper, and the Citras etc are more charismatic. However there are a couple around - Lees MPA uses Liberty and Mt Hood and was launched in 2013 as a modern-for-then take on the Manchester style of pale ale. It’s big enough here that you see it in supermarkets outside its Manchester homeland, so I guess there’s a chance of it making it across the pond.
By American nobles I meant what Yakima Chief produces as part of their cryo hops