Crowd Pleaser Under 4.5%

[blawford]

I am brewing for my wedding, which is just over a month away. I am brewing 3 beers, 2 of which I have decided upon (a NEIPA and a American Pale), I am in need of a 3rd.

This one is mainly to please the traditional ale drinkers amongst our guests. I am looking for something that is distinctive enough from the other two, is under 4.5% and will sufficiently condition to a good pint in 3-4 weeks...

Any suggestions?

 

[MyQul]

English bitter ticks all those boxes

 

[Ajhutch]

English bitter ticks all those boxes

What he said!

 

[Chrissparky]

Dead pony club clone, see diy dog. Wonderful beer

 

[Simonh82]

A golden ale with lots of first gold and brewers gold hops. Both are lovely but much more in keeping with a British ale than an American hop bomb.

If you want a traditional British ale, make sure you use a British ale yeast.

 

[Clint]

Coopers stout...

 

[Saisonator]

I would go for English Bitter, much under rated, when it's done well.
Also it will be the beginning of autumn, so an amber ale may be more fitting for some tastes.

 

[foxy]

Can't enlarge anymore than what MyQul suggested, look no further.

 

[Spapro]

English Bitter with First Gold Hops (have a very subtle but lovely orangey loveliness).

Using an English Ale yeast (WLP002 is perfect) or just Gervin/Nottingham if using dry yeast.

Of all the beers I brew this is the one when I give neighbours a couple of bottles to try is the one they all come back saying they love. Perfect for those who are not so keen on hoppy pale ales etc.

Good luck with it, and congrats on your wedding.

This gives you the pint of Yorkshire Bitter in my avatar photo, you could up the grain bill a little to get to 4.5% if you like:

3.5kg Maris Otter
350g Torrified Wheat
200g Crystal
40g Chocolate

Hops
60 mins - 28g First Gold
10 mins - 20g First Gold
0 mins - 12g First Gold

23litre Brewlength
Bitterness: 31 IBU's
Colour: 15 EBC

Starting Gravity: 1040 which should give 3.9%abv - 4.0% after priming

 

[blawford]

Thanks for all the replies, I think it has to be a bitter.

I have found the following recipe on another forum (link is on the recipe, didn't want to link directly to another forum here), it seems well reviewed but is a 'Strong' at ~5% whereas I would like to tone it down to 'Best' territory of 4.6% if possible.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/536474/wedding-bitter

Would the best way to do that be to lower the grain bill while keeping the same percentages of ingredients? What about hops, tone them down in proportion or leave as they are?

Any other suggestions welcome.

 

[Spapro]

Thanks for all the replies, I think it has to be a bitter.

I have found the following recipe on another forum (link is on the recipe, didn't want to link directly to another forum here), it seems well reviewed but is a 'Strong' at ~5% whereas I would like to tone it down to 'Best' territory of 4.6% if possible.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/536474/wedding-bitter

Would the best way to do that be to lower the grain bill while keeping the same percentages of ingredients? What about hops, tone them down in proportion or leave as they are?

Any other suggestions welcome.

I would leave the hops as is if scaling back the grain bill a little, the IBU's are very sensible so if your simply rolling back to get to 4-4.5% ABV all will be great with the hops left at original amounts.

 

[Clint]

I think I will steal your recipe...any other hop suggestions for this please?
Oh..and would cml English ale yeast be good for this?

Cheers

Clint

 

[MyQul]

I think I will steal your recipe...any other hop suggestions for this please?
Oh..and would cml English ale yeast be good for this?

Cheers

Clint

CML yeast would work well. Although find it quite malty which works well in lower OG beers.

I got this stickied as I like Bitter https://www.britishhops.org.uk/varieties/

 

[blawford]

So, I am planning on brewing this tomorrow, just started setting things up and realised I don't have the Extra Dark Crystal or the S-04 the recipe calls for! Admin fail...

Not really desperate for a 50 minute round trip to the brew shop tomorrow, so how do these changes look?

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 5.1%
IBU (tinseth): 34.65
SRM (morey): 12.5

FERMENTABLES:
4.535 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (90.9%)
340 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (6.8%)
115 g - United Kingdom - Extra Dark Crystal 160L (2.3%)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.6%
IBU (tinseth): 36.11
SRM (morey): 12.63

FERMENTABLES:
4 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (91.1%)
340 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (7.7%)
50 g - United Kingdom - Chocolate (1.1%)

I have bought the ABV down here as well while trying to keep roughly the same percentages of base malt to speciality grains. I have added the chocolate to keep the colour.

Yeast was planning to change to Nottingham.

Does all of that seem reasonable? Anything I should look out for or could do better?

 

[MyQul]

Notty will normally attenuate to at least 80% so your looking at an FG of 1.009 and ABV% of 4.86