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ESB: smooth but I prefer special


YannickB

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Hello guys, newbie here (and french canadian, so excuse my english), just started a english bitter recipe (1.2 kg of dextrose + 250g for bottling). So far, before bottlening it, I found that it taste a bit like Boddington beer, wich is great.

 

Am shure there's a topic about it somewhere but I just can't find it. So here it goes. I just love ESB (extra special bitter) like Fullers ESB and even Fullers London Pride. How can I make the english bitter to taste like it? Or should I use the dark Ale to do so? Or else?

 

I don't want it to be smoother (extra smooth bitter) like all the molasse recipe I see in the threads. I want to give it a kick!!

 

So... any made receipe/suggestions?

 

From a first time brewer,[cool]

 

Yannick

 

 

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Hi Yannick,

 

PB2 from Coopers once suggested that this recipe should get you close to an ESB.

 

1.7kg English Bitter

1kg Amber DME

250g Dextrose/Sugar

20g Goldings for 15mins

30g Goldings dry hopped

Make it to 20 litres

Ferment as close to 21C as you can - the kit yeast will perform okay but you may like to add an English Ale yeast as well.

 

I've made similar recipe with fuggles instead of goldings and it turned out great too [biggrin]

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Err... is 250g dextrose for bottling not a bit high...??

 

You're right Paddy - I didn't notice that [pinched]

 

Yannick for bottling you'd be looking at around 160g (or less) for an English bitter. I'd be (carefeully) checking if your bottles are over carbonated Yannick as you may need to release some pressure so you don't get bombs.

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Is it just because it's an english bitter (and they are usualy a little bit more flat)? Coz about the bomb thing, the guy who sold me the Coopers can told me it's what every customers at his business use. They even make pre-weighed bags of 250g of dextrose for the bottling step.

 

I evidently don't want bombs... I don't mind a english bitter not as pepped as another kind of beer but I don't want a "flatty flat flat" either. If you guys tell me that 160g is enough, I'll trust you. My batch is about 22 liters.

 

Thanks,

 

Yannick

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Another thing, they make pre-weighed bags of 1.2 kg of dextrose for fermentation and 250g for bottling... and they sell that to everyone... for every can of Coopers. After reading all the topics about DME, LDME, dry hopping etc, I'll shure use dry malt extract next time I do a receipe. I thrusted what he told me coz it's my first batch. Will know better next time. But nonetheless, this one is not so bad anyway with just dextrose in it. At least, it won't be lost.

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Yannick. J\u2019ai achet\xe9 mon ami une cannette de la bi\xe8re l\xe9gr\xe8ment am\xe8re pour No\xebl. Je l\u2019ai go\xfbt\xe9 la semaine derni\xe8re. Elle a go\xfbt\xe9e similaire \xe0 que vous trouvez au pub anglais. La recette est compos\xe9 de:

 

1.7kg Coopers English Bitter

1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 1

12g Fuggles Finishing Hops

 

Deux gouttes de carbonation par la bouteille 740ml.

 

D\u2019abord vous pouvez essayer cette recette facile et voyez.

 

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Warren - A rough translation would be:

 

Yannick. I bought my friend a can of beer bitter for Christmas. I tasted it last week. It tasted similar to that you find to the English pub. The recipe is composed from:

 

1,7 kg Coopers English To Understand 1KG Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 12G Fuggles Finishing Hops

 

Two drops of carbonation by the bottle 740ML.

 

First you can try this easy recipe and see.

 

Yannick - 160g grams would be good for an English Bitter. Strictly speaking it would probably have a slightly higher carbonation than the style requires.

 

The fact that the home brew shop would pack 250 gram bags for bulk priming is crazy. If anything 180g would be more of a standard amount for a regular batch of beer.

 

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I'm a big fan of the English bitter! I think it's best with 1kg of Light Dry Malt and 200g of dextrose (your pre packaged 250g priming bombs would work well too) My most recent batch of English bitter is a little different... I used 500g of LDM, 300g of Dextrose, and 375g of organic honey.

 

As far as the 250g of Dex for priming goes I think that you'll find it way too carbonated or you'll get bottle bombs. For English style ales and Stout I use 160g or less (140 is the least I've used) This achieves a nice amount of carbonation. For pale ales and such I generally go with a maximum of 180g of dex and that provides plenty of carbonation. I'd say the guy at your homebrew store is out to lunch on 250g [sideways]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all the info guys!! As I said, I've put the 1.2 kg. of dex into the FV in the begining, and when I bottled it, put about 200g. of extra dex (to go between your advice and my seller advice).

I bottled the 10 of march and put them on for another week at 21 degree celsius. After that week, if was still pretty flat but another week later (at room temperature), it's getting a pretty good carbonation.

 

So, unless it blows up in a couple of weeks, I'm thinking that a 23 liters batch can handle 200-210g. of dex without being a "bomb".

 

By the way, the "english bitter".... WOW!!! Just loved it and a friend of mine who tasted it told me that he would pay me to brew him that beer!!!

 

Imagine if I would have used LDME or DME. My second batch is a IPA with LDME... the bad part is... that I have no comparison for with or without.

 

I guess time will tell... but dextrose does a pretty good job so far!!

 

Prosit!!!

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  • 1 month later...

update here...

 

After my "cheap" dextrose english bitter kit, I made 4-5 more (real Ale, dark ale, european Lager, IPA, wheat). Am getting to know the LDME addition, the yeast substitution, info is being recorded like crazy!!

 

Then I got back to that London Pride clone................. WOW!!!

2 weeks bottled, still green, and already a big ressemblance!!

 

Seriously, am a beginner in homebrewing but not in beer tasting and it imitate the taste pretty well!! Only thing I changed... I boiled the goldings for 30 mins instead of 15 coz am a huge fan of ESB (english special bitter). Sooo, get in there alpha acids!!

 

The taste between the Fullers London Pride and the Fullers ESB is not THAT different. It's all in the bitterness and the degre of alcool in it. So, to adjust the receipe, you know what to do!!

 

Seriously... CHEERS!! Coz am gona enjoy every drop of that batch!!

 

Yannick

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H\xe9h\xe9!! I wrote that yesterday and was starting to be pretty tipsy. Some precisions:

 

- TC english bitter 1.7 kg.

- I used Amber dry malt extract, not light (500 g.);

- 400 g. dextrose;

- kit yeast;

- I had about 30 grams of goldings so splitted those half and half. Boiled about 15 grams for 30 minutes and dry hopped the other 15 grams in secondary fermentation.

 

Will do that receipe again for shure with maybe some adjustments. I though of trying it with a english yeast (any suggestions for this precise style of beer?). And I could use only DME. Right now, I know I am cheating it a little but it's mainly a question of costs, dex is cheaper than malt extract.

 

Have a great weekend you guys!

 

Yannick

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  • 1 month later...

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