Help with my first ESB

[KneeHighBrewery]

So I'm fairly new to beer recipe making. Brewed 5 kits, adding ingredients in the last two here and there to make them my own. After that I started looking through Better Beer and Norther Brewer recipes to get a flavor for different styles. Currently have two saisons in different stages (one in bottle, other in the fermenter) that are my own. I'm doing all of my recipe creation in BeerSmith.

Now I need some help with an ESB! What do you think:

Partial Grain/extract recipe - 5 gal

2 lbs Pale Malt (2-Row)
1/2 lb Caraaroma
4 lbs Amber DME
3 lbs Pilsner LME

2 oz Brewers Gold hops (60 min)
1 oz Northdown hops (15 min)
1 oz Northdown hops (5 min)

British Ale Yeast (Wyeast #1098)

Maybe it's be because 'bitter' is in the name, but I feel like I want to bring my IBUs (currently at 40) and color up a little bit.

 

[mbobhat]

Just my 2 cents, I would refrain from adding the 'bitter' to the bitter. I did that and while it was okay, just wasn't that drinkable. An ESB should be the most drinkable beer you can have.

You could add some corn grits or flaked corn for fun, it adds a smoothness to the beer.

 

[KneeHighBrewery]

Thanks for the tip. Added 1/2 lb of flaked corn to the recipe (also added 3 oz of Chocolate Rye Malt to the grain bill for some more color.) And we're still within the green. Nice.

 

[KneeHighBrewery]

Did some more ESB research. Tentative brew day set for Saturday (pending a trip to the LHBS). Updated recipe:

Volume: 5 Gal - Extract/partial grain
Estimated OG: 1.060
Estimated FG: 1.015
IBUs: 42.2
Color: 20.5 SRM
Estimated ABV: 5.9%

British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098)

5 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt UK [3.0 SRM]
6 lbs. Dark dry extract [17.5 SRM]
8 oz. Victory Malt [25 SRM]
8 oz. Crystal Malt - 60L [60 SRM]
8 oz. Caraaroma [130 SRM]
8 oz. Flaked corn [1.3 SRM]

2 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% - 60 min) - 31.3 IBU
1 oz. Northdown (8.5% - 15 min) - 7.8 IBU
1 oz. Northdown (8.5% - 5 min) - 3.1 IBU

Looking for a go/no go for launch. Cheers!

 

[KneeHighBrewery]

Went to my LHBS on Saturday to gather my ingredients for brew day, and they helped tweak my recipe. I went to Marris Otter instead of the 2-Row at the LHBS' suggestion, we also switched out my bittering hop to Admiral, and used a half pound of 120L crystal instead of all my specialty grains.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and it ended up being a much simpler recipe as a result.

What I ended up brewing:

5 Gal partial mash/extract - ESB

White Labs WLP 022 Essex Ale Yeast

5 lbs. Marris Otter
1/2 lb 120L Crystal
3 lbs. Dark DME

1 oz. Admiral (Bittering) - 60 min
2 oz. Northern Brewer (Flavoring) - 15 min

Whirlfloc - 15 min

The brew day went as well as I could have hoped, although, doing this much specialty grain made me realize I need to make the switch to all grain sooner rather than later. The OG came in a little low, but I'm not worried. Brewed Saturday afternoon and by Sunday night the krausen was starting to form and the airlock was bubbling. So, all in all, a successful beer!

 

[mbobhat]

Went to my LHBS on Saturday to gather my ingredients for brew day, and they helped tweak my recipe. I went to Marris Otter instead of the 2-Row at the LHBS' suggestion, we also switched out my bittering hop to Admiral, and used a half pound of 120L crystal instead of all my specialty grains.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and it ended up being a much simpler recipe as a result.

What I ended up brewing:

5 Gal partial mash/extract - ESB

White Labs WLP 022 Essex Ale Yeast

5 lbs. Marris Otter
1/2 lb 120L Crystal
3 lbs. Dark DME

1 oz. Admiral (Bittering) - 60 min
2 oz. Northern Brewer (Flavoring) - 15 min

Whirlfloc - 15 min

The brew day went as well as I could have hoped, although, doing this much specialty grain made me realize I need to make the switch to all grain sooner rather than later. The OG came in a little low, but I'm not worried. Brewed Saturday afternoon and by Sunday night the krausen was starting to form and the airlock was bubbling. So, all in all, a successful beer!

Thanks for sharing the recipe. Your's looks really good. I luv me some ESB! I'm sure it will be great!

 

[inthesound]

I can't comment on the yeast strain you selected, but I love the wyeast 1968 ESB strain for my ESB recipe. It's character is a little subdued, which helps the drinkability of the beer. I personally love using challenger in my esb as a dual purpose hop.

Good call on using the maris otter. That's my base malt in my ESB. Speaking of, I'm going to have to brew that up again soon. A 5 gallon keg only survived 5 days! I hope you find yours as delicious!

 

[JayDubWill]

The brew day went as well as I could have hoped, although, doing this much specialty grain made me realize I need to make the switch to all grain sooner rather than later.

With 5lbs of base grain I think you've crossed over into all grain brewing with extract added! 3 more pounds and your golden!