English Bitter - What beer enhancer to use

[MikeBou]

Hi all,

Not sure if this has been discussed before so forgive me if it has.

I've purchase the Coopers English Bitter. The first and second time I used Beer Enhancer 3. On the second attempt I measured the OG at 1.042. And my brews generally finish at 1.012. So that calculates to just on 4% alcohol. Is this the designed alcohol content or should it be higher?  Am I using the wrong enhancer?

I'm only using Kits and sugars. I'm not attempting mixed recipes with extra hops or malt at the moment. I am also only making a 20 litre brew because I am kegging into 18 litre kegs.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Thanks in advanced. 

[Hoppy81]

Hi Mike,

For a 20ltr brew it works out to around 4.6%. Download a copy of  IanH spreadsheet to build recipes.

 

Cheers,
Hoppy

[MikeBou]

Thanks Hoppy,

Any thoughts on the sugar or BE type I should be using? 

[Hoppy81]

BE3 is fine but I use mainly malt with my brews. You will just need to work out how malty you like your beers and that will come from experimenting with different amount of dme, dextrose, maltodextrin, grains etc. 

Cheers, Hoppy

[MikeBou]

thanks Hoppy,

[Otto Von Blotto]

1.042 - 1.012 works out at about 3.9% ABV in a keg, assuming it's being carbonated with a gas cylinder and not naturally with priming sugar. If you want it higher, then you'll have to increase the OG by adding more fermentables. Malt would probably work the best, even an extra 500g dry malt extract would do the trick and bring it up more around the 4.6% mark.

[ben 10]

Use malt.

Such a great can the English Bitter

[MikeBou]

Thanks Otto (love the username mate LOL)
 

Ben, thanks for that. Do you mean use malt as well as the BE3 or just malt by itself? And yep, I think the English Bitter is good as well. I'm trying to improve in little steps and learn as I go.

 

[ben 10]

just malt

[MikeBou]

Otto suggested 500g added to the BE3.
 

How much malt only would you recommend?

[PaddyBrew2]

what speciality grains would go with this steeped? 

hop additions or dry hop with fuggles or ekg ?

[MikeBou]

7 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said:

what speciality grains would go with this steeped? 

hop additions or dry hop with fuggles or ekg ?

? Sorry Paddy, this is way past my expertise. I'm just playing with kits and fermentable ATM.

 

[PaddyBrew2]

haha no worries mate. im only at this lark a bit over 4 months myself but dont be scared to get into some grains and hops. there isnt much to it when youre just doing kits and bits and it can make a massive difference to the end product. 

[MikeBou]

Haha, Thx Paddy.  
Good to know I'm not alone. I might give Ben's suggestion a go with malt only and not BE3. That will be my first 'step' into doing things differently.. 

[PaddyBrew2]

i did an english bitter with a kilo of dry malt and 400 grams of dextrose. it was superb.

i want to do another but this time with some steeping grains and hops

[MikeBou]

2 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said:

i did an english bitter with a kilo of dry malt and 400 grams of dextrose. it was superb.

i want to do another but this time with some steeping grains and hops

Oh that is good to know. I might give that a go. Sounds great. 

What does 'steeping grains and hops' entail?

[PaddyBrew2]

basically getting some speciality grains from your homebrew shop. putting them into a hop sock or grain bag and steeping them for 30 minutes in about 70 degree water. then you throw this into your FV. 

with the hops, you can just chuck them into your fermenting vessel and they add aroma.

pretty simple and can make quite a difference 

[MikeBou]

Oh ok, not too difficult. 
with the hops, put them in a bag and then into the FV and leave them there? Or put them straight into the fv and empty out after the brewing and bottling/kegging?

 

[PaddyBrew2]

theres a few methods .

personally , i have been just putting them in commando (no sock or bag) 

I then control my temperature and put it to 2 degrees so all the gunk and hop floaties drops to the bottom and wont come out when bottling

but a few on here put them in hop socks. Just chuck them in after 4-5 days and remove them before bottling. theres a few on here that squeeze the bejaysus out of the bag to get all that hop goodness into the wort. others think that this may affect the wort in a bad way due to unwanted matter being released into the wort but it doesnt seem to matter according to those who do

[MikeBou]

Thanks Paddy, I might give that a go after trying just using malt and dex for the next brew.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I meant use an extra 500g malt on top of either 1kg BE3 or 1kg of malt only. It's the 1kg amount that is giving you the lower ABV and because you're kegging and force carbonating(?) you're not getting the extra bit of alcohol from the fermented priming sugar. Alternatively you could go with 1kg malt and 300-400g dextrose or table/raw sugar. English bitters do often contain a portion of sugar in their fermentable make up. When I brew my all grain versions I just use 200-250g raw sugar if I go that route, otherwise they're all malt. I don't mind them between 4-4.5% ABV, the flavors are all there.

[MikeBou]

Thanks for the good info Otto. I'll try first with the BE3 and malt, then on the next one malt and dextrose. I'm still finding out what I like in a beer.
I'm force carbonating the brew so yep, the ABV will be a bit lower. I'm enjoying the brew being around 4%. I can have 2 or 3 without overdoing it. 

Thanks again mate.

[ben 10]

For me the EB can with 1 kg malt is one of the best simple brews from Coopers.

[Otto Von Blotto]

BE3 is malt and dextrose by the way, I think it's a 50/50 split between the two. I don't think the two mixtures would be all that different from one another to be truthful. On one hand you've got 500g dextrose and 1kg malt, and on the other you've got maybe a bit less dextrose and still the 1kg malt. You'll notice more difference between the beers if you do one with either of those two mixtures and one with all malt.

[Beerlust]

5 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

BE3 is malt and dextrose by the way, I think it's a 50/50 split between the two.

I'm pretty sure BE3 = 50% Malt, 25% dextrose, 25% Maltodextrin.

BE2 = Dextrose 50%, Malt 25%, Maltodextrin 25%.

Cheers,

Lusty.