The English Bitter Thread!

[jamiek86]

English bitter partial mash first time trying verdant IPA yeast haven't done partial for long time is it OK to leave lid on keep heat in?

[jamiek86]

@Tone boy how many litres for yours?

[Classic Brewing Co]

Looks Good Jamie, I didn't know you could use Mortein 

[Tone boy]

20 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

@Tone boy how many litres for yours?

23.5 litres for mine. Went a little bit over...so ended up with an OG of 1.049 which was slightly under the predicted 1.050

I boil with the lid off, then put the lid on for the hop steep. 

[jamiek86]

1 minute ago, Tone boy said:

23.5 litres for mine. Went a little bit over...so ended up with an OG of 1.049 which was slightly under the predicted 1.050

I boil with the lid off, then put the lid on for the hop steep. 

does mashing with lid on do any damage? to keep heat in? 

[Tone boy]

I think to get rid of DMS the lid should be off. Probably more of an issue when mashing with Pilsner grain. 
I also leave the lid off so it doesn’t boil over. Not sure if there are any other issues with leaving the lid on...

[jamiek86]

10 minutes ago, Tone boy said:

I think to get rid of DMS the lid should be off. Probably more of an issue when mashing with Pilsner grain. 
I also leave the lid off so it doesn’t boil over. Not sure if there are any other issues with leaving the lid on...

thanks had heat turned off will give it boil anyway with lid off if can get to temp on barbie side plate

[ozdevil]

if your mashing the grains   , you will want to keep lid on,  to retain the heat at the said mashing temp  for the period you are mashing for

when going for the boil leave the lid off   even during the boil when steeping your hops leave lid off  as you don't want the nasties to falling back in the brew

When your mashing you are not really boiling anything your just extracting the sugars from the grain to get ya wort

[jamiek86]

7 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

if your mashing the grains   , you will want to keep lid on,  to retain the heat at the said mashing temp  for the period you are mashing for

when going for the boil leave the lid off   even during the boil when steeping your hops leave lid off  as you don't want the nasties to falling back in the brew

When your mashing you are not really boiling anything your just extracting the sugars from the grain to get ya wort

thanks mate was but of mess with wort not draining from pillow slip fast enough and arms getting tired holding and twisting to drain lost some wort down side pot and even dribbled down arms and onto side barbie. Still sure I got some goodness out though might still add some ldm as not sure how much suger got out of it vs loss etc

[Hairy]

Yep, lid on for mash and lid off for the boil.

You can leave the lid on whilst bringing it to boil but remove it for the actual boil. And beware of the boil over if you leave the lid on whilst bringing it to boil.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Hairy

[jamiek86]

1 hour ago, Hairy said:

Yep, lid on for mash and lid off for the boil.

You can leave the lid on whilst bringing it to boil but remove it for the actual boil. And beware of the boil over if you leave the lid on whilst bringing it to boil.

boil over not really a problem with big pot I used had put lid 3/4 on a few times to get it boiling again as didn't quite have the power to keep rolling on own. Think.i punctured the pillow case squeezing grain and loosing wort too lucky it was the missus pillow case not mine  probably few bits of grain made it in will just have to CC the biatch

[Hairy]

On 5/3/2021 at 8:47 PM, jamiek86 said:

i punctured the pillow case squeezing grain and loosing wort too lucky it was the missus pillow case not mine

Yum, the subtle taste of head sweat is a key ingredient in an English Bitter 

My current English Bitter took a little while to come good on tap but it lacks body; it tastes like I mashed too low. The ABV is lower than usual (I based it on the grain I had on hand which resulted in a much lower OG) so that would have contributed to it.

[jamiek86]

3 hours ago, Hairy said:

Yum, the subtle taste of head sweat is a key ingredient in an English Bitter 

My current English Bitter took a little while to come good on tap but it lacks body; it tastes like I mashed too low. The ABV is lower than usual (I based it on the grain I had on hand which resulted in a much lower OG) so that would have contributed to it.

ill have to do a bit more of it to get my temps etc right and figure it all out

[Tone boy]

My SG has finished at 1.016 which seems a little bit higher than predicted.  I have started a CC today to clear the beer before bottling. 

Pretty happy with the colour too!

[jamiek86]

ok so my partial mash English not bitter ended up too sweet for my liking remembered why stopped using light crystal even in small amounts. So I boiled 30 grams of mosaic in litre of water for 20 mins vigorous boil. 11.3% AA then put lid on pot for almost 20 minutes off heat. Hopefully this added and swirled into keg let's me drink it later without having to think about tipping it. It boiled down to about half litre so hope mixes in ok.

Edited May 22, 2021 by jamiek86

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

ok so my partial mash English not bitter ended up too sweet for my liking remembered why stopped using light crystal even in small amounts. So I boiled 30 grams of mosaic in litre of water for 20 mins vigorous boil. 11.3% AA then put lid on pot for almost 20 minutes off heat. Hopefully this added and swirled into keg let's me drink it later without having to think about tipping it. It boiled down to about half litre so hope mixes in ok.

I am interested to hear how this goes.

[jamiek86]

56 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I am interested to hear how this goes.

no good mate out of keggerator to be tipped tomorrow I now know unless use 100 grams hops in 30 min boil or more the smallest amount of crystal is not to my taste

[Pezzza]

55 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

 the smallest amount of crystal is not to my taste

@Green Blob I think you not like Crystal Malts either do you Blobski?

[jamiek86]

5 hours ago, Graubart said:

@Green Blob I think you not like Crystal Malts either do you Blobski?

so is carapils almost the same as light crystal?

[Shamus O'Sean]

11 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

so is carapils almost the same as light crystal?

Good question.  I don't know.  So goggled it.  Seems Carapils is "Typically used in lighter beers where colour and sweetness aren't desirable".  So you might add it to a Pilsner Malt only beer to improve head retention.  But if you already have some Crystal Malt in the recipe, it will do the head retention, so Carapils is not needed.

[jamiek86]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Good question.  I don't know.  So goggled it.  Seems Carapils is "Typically used in lighter beers where colour and sweetness aren't desirable".  So you might add it to a Pilsner Malt only beer to improve head retention.  But if you already have some Crystal Malt in the recipe, it will do the head retention, so Carapils is not needed.

no worries thanks I might do a small amount with next pilsner/lager and add some more bitterness through a boil just in case

[Tone boy]

Trying my first ESB tonight. It’s only been in the bottle for two weeks, just couldn’t wait!

Its definitely drinkable. Bitterness is about right. Not too sweet. Pretty happy really. 
 

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 minute ago, Tone boy said:

Trying my first ESB tonight. It’s only been in the bottle for two weeks, just couldn’t wait!

Its definitely drinkable. Bitterness is about right. Not too sweet. Pretty happy really. 

Looking great, that's a bitter ? right, looks like the ticket for a cold night by the fire, Cheers.

[Tone boy]

32 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

Looking great, that's a bitter ? right, looks like the ticket for a cold night by the fire, Cheers.

Thanks Phil. Yep it’s bitter, or my attempt at the “Strong Bitter” style. I reckon it’s close.

The bitterness units (IBU’s) came out right in the middle of the range as did the BU/GU ratio which is the bitterness to gravity ratio. So it’s supposed to be a balance between the malt flavour and the hop bitterness as I understand it. I nailed the hop flavour with the EKG which I’m really stoked about. 
 

Anyway it tastes good to me and I’ve finished my longneck in good time so it can’t be too bad! Bit cheeky for a Tuesday evening but there you go!

And yes it’s cold and rainy tonight so nice to have the fire going. Cheers to you 

[Pezzza]

3 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Yep it’s bitter, or my attempt at the “Strong Bitter” style. I reckon it’s close.

Nice toey English Style Bitter by a warm fire on a cold wet night.... beeeeeyooooodiful @Tone boy Toner : )

I reckon too that it is only going to get better as the flavours meld with a bit of bottle conditioning!

Great stuff mate 

Had a reasonable Ale-Bitter-ish type Brew on a cold a grumbly evening recently but had no fire just a skanky old electric heater battling along... not quite the same ambience 

(Apologies prior posting 4 May but seemed relevant again this evening)

Mmmm and it makes me terribly sad to look at this picture as the keg is completely devoid of any festive fluid and as well it needs cleaning