Fuggle duck: my house bitter

[foxbat]

After a lot of attempts to get this right I think I've finally settled on my house bitter. It's amber in colour, low in ABV, medium bodied and nicely balanced between the First Gold & Fuggle hops and the malts. Perfect for quaffing on Friday night after work.

Drink young to get the most of the tangy orange-marmalade flavours of the first gold hops or leave to mature a few more weeks for a more even balance with the malts and earthy fuggle flavours.

I tried mashing high with this one (69C) to try to get a full body and it does seem to have worked. I ended up with OG/FG of 1.046/1.013 for an ABV of 4.3% and the residual sweetness is in balance with the hop flavour and bitterness. I do like a dry beer though, so maybe 67C next time.

Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l 
Bottling Volume: 21.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 21.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 37.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 87.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU       
30.34 l               Ashbeck (bitter)                         Water         1        -           
4.14 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -           
3.11 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -           
3.11 g                Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins)      Water Agent   4        -           

3.02 kg               Crisp Clear Choice Ale Malt (5.5 EBC)    Grain         5        71.5 %     
0.84 kg               Munich Malt (20.0 EBC)                   Grain         6        20.0 %     
0.17 kg               Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) (3.9 EBC Grain         7        4.0 %       
0.17 kg               Crystal Medium - 240 EBC (Crisp) (236.4  Grain         8        4.0 %       
0.03 kg               Chocolate Wheat Malt (1200.0 EBC)        Grain         9        0.7 %  (optional: colouring)

10.00 g               Magnum [11.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           10       12.4 IBUs   
11.00 g               First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min      Hop           11       5.5 IBUs   
11.00 g               Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min          Hop           12       3.2 IBUs   
16.00 g               First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min      Hop           13       5.9 IBUs   
16.00 g               Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min          Hop           14       3.4 IBUs   
23.00 g               First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min       Hop           16       4.6 IBUs   
23.00 g               Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min           Hop           17       2.7 IBUs   
1.0 pkg               Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [124.21 Yeast         18       -           

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.22 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time   
Mash In           Add 25.34 l of water at 72.1 C          69.0 C        60 min

Here's a photograph of a pint from the keg.

 

[Ajhutch]

Looks great, and must be a nice feeling to have it nailed :hat:

 

[Zephyr259]

That looks awesome, my recent bitter also features first gold although not a heavily as yours, hope I get some of the orange/marmalade flavour. Mine is still carbonating but I was thinking of trying it with a dose of munich when I re-brew. I might try your recipe as it sounds really good.

I'm actually rather surprised that you managed to restrain the Wyeast 1728 yeast, it has a tendency to attenuate really highly, my 1.043 pale ale finished at 1.006 for 86% attenuation mashed at 66c, maybe its very sensitive to mash temperature? Other's have had similar experiences as me.

Nice work.

 

[Smileyr8]

Wow, I can't believe how close we are, I have been aiming for a house/quaffing bitter for quite a while, here is where I am at, I am still tinkering with the hops as I am not quite where I want to be.

Fuggly Best - Standard/Ordinary Bitter
Tap water
Gypsum 1tsp pre mash
Batch Size 20.820 L Boil Size 23.659 L
Boil Time 1.000 hr Efficiency 90%
OG 1.040 sg FG 1.010 sg
ABV 3.8% IBU 30.4 (Tinseth)
Color 12.8 srm (Morey) Estimated calories (per 33 cl) 121

Fermentables
Total grain: 3.295 kg

Minch Hook Head Pale Ale Malt Grain 2.4kg 5.0 ebc
Dark Munich 25 EBC Grain 350g 25.0 ebc
Barley, Flaked Grain 300g 3.9 ebc
Minch Crystal 145–175 EBC Grain 165g 160.0 ebc
Chocolate Malt (UK) Grain 80g (steeped 15 mins) 885.8 ebc

Hops

Magnum 13.5% 15g Boil 30 min Pellet 19.7
Fuggles 4.1% 15g Boil 15 min Pellet 3.9
Kent Goldings 6.0% 10g Boil 15 min Pellet 3.8
Fuggles 4.1% 15g Boil 5 min Pellet 1.6
Kent Goldings 6.0% 10g Boil 5 min Pellet 1.5
Kent Goldings 6.0% 10g Boil 0 min Pellet 0.0

Misc

Whirlfloc Fining Boil last 10 mins

Yeast

WLP037 - Yorkshire Square Ale Yeast (now house yeast recovered from top crop 12 months+ consecutive brews)

 

[foxbat]

That looks awesome, my recent bitter also features first gold although not a heavily as yours, hope I get some of the orange/marmalade flavour. Mine is still carbonating but I was thinking of trying it with a dose of munich when I re-brew. I might try your recipe as it sounds really good.

I love Munich. Munich makes everything better. I've been adding it to all ales and lagers in varying degrees lately.

I'm actually rather surprised that you managed to restrain the Wyeast 1728 yeast, it has a tendency to attenuate really highly, my 1.043 pale ale finished at 1.006 for 86% attenuation mashed at 66c, maybe its very sensitive to mash temperature? Other's have had similar experiences as me.

Same here, whenever I mash in that range I always end up with a sub 1.010 finish regardless of what Beersmith predicts. Last time a friend remarked that the ale tasted great but was a little thin. To avoid that this time I mashed high and it did the trick.

Nice work.

:small

 

[foxbat]

Wow, I can't believe how close we are, I have been aiming for a house/quaffing bitter for quite a while, here is where I am at, I am still tinkering with the hops as I am not quite where I want to be.

Yours looks great too and will probably be very similar to mine but a little different on the sweetness with the lighter crystal. Ready for brewing I'd say!

 

[Zephyr259]

What temperature do you ferment the 1728 at? I used it once because my house is cold and other strains were struggling sitting at 16c, the scottish yeast didn't miss a beat. Then I got a fridge for temp control so have been using other strains since, but I hear 1728 can produce some esters at higher levels but no one's been able to give me a description of if they are good or not.

For comparison my bitter was 82% Pale Malt, 9% flaked barley, 7% crystal (155 EBC), 1% chocolate. 20 IBU of Admiral for bittering then 5 IBU First Gold at 10 mins and 1g/L First Gold at flamout (I call it a 15 min hop stand in the GF tool, it thinks 5 IBU). Mashed at 67c and fermented with Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire.
Came out as 1.038 to 1.008 for 3.9% and 30 IBUs. Looking forward to trying it when carbonated.

I'm going to try munich in the next run and maybe a darker crystal? Going to have to be careful not to change too much so I know what's responsible for any change in the beer.

 

[foxbat]

What temperature do you ferment the 1728 at? I used it once because my house is cold and other strains were struggling sitting at 16c, the scottish yeast didn't miss a beat. Then I got a fridge for temp control so have been using other strains since, but I hear 1728 can produce some esters at higher levels but no one's been able to give me a description of if they are good or not.

20 degrees for 2 weeks in the brew fridge with temperature control. That's my standard procedure for all my ales. 1728 is unusual amongst our British (see how I appropriated Scotland there ) yeasts in that the range quoted by Wyeast is 13-24 instead of the usual 18-22. The internet seems to think that 1728 is the same as WLP028 which I have also used but the specs seem too different to me for that to be the case. It's probably a really good choice for people that haven't got a brew fridge.

Did I notice esters? Not that I can attribute 100% to the yeast. It's come out really smooth, rich and cask like, and there's plenty of fruitiness going on from the hop combination so I'm not really sure how I could point at a particular nuance of the flavour and say yes, that's from the yeast. Sorry!

For comparison my bitter was 82% Pale Malt, 9% flaked barley, 7% crystal (155 EBC), 1% chocolate. 20 IBU of Admiral for bittering then 5 IBU First Gold at 10 mins and 1g/L First Gold at flamout (I call it a 15 min hop stand in the GF tool, it thinks 5 IBU). Mashed at 67c and fermented with Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire.
Came out as 1.038 to 1.008 for 3.9% and 30 IBUs. Looking forward to trying it when carbonated.

That looks tasty. First Gold is a great hop. Let us know how it tastes - there's a fair bit of crystal in there but you've got it down to 1.008 so I guess it won't be too sweet.

 

[Zephyr259]

Thanks for the feedback, I guess it would be harder to pick out yeast character with the decent hopping. I'm going to have to give the 1728 another try. My previous research of fermenting 1728 warm didn't turn up much as most people seem to keep it in the mid-teens where it's really clean.

My recipe is the Yorkshire Bitter from Greg Hughes' book, I subbed out the flaked wheat for flaked barley and switched the bittering hop from Challenger to Admiral as that's what I had. Somewhere in my scaling back to 15 L the quantity of crystal got confused, his recipe has just under 5% but for some reason I rounded 130 g to 200 g rather than 150 g.

 

[MrRook]

A lovely looking pint.

 

[Zephyr259]

That looks tasty. First Gold is a great hop. Let us know how it tastes - there's a fair bit of crystal in there but you've got it down to 1.008 so I guess it won't be too sweet.

Bitter turned out great and got drank in 6 weeks so I brewed a 23l batch which got 20% Munich added and it's great, took it to the local club and got some lovely feedback.

I've just taken a sample of my dark mild such I've used Wyeast 1728 on and surprising it seems to have stopped at 68% attenuation (1.038 - 1.012). That's in line with what Wyeast say it will do based on a 68c mash but it's dropped extremely clear at just 5 days and only fermented for 3 days so I'm nervous and going to rouse it to make sure it finishes.

 

[foxbat]

just taken a sample of my dark mild such I've used Wyeast 1728 on and surprising it seems to have stopped at 68% attenuation (1.038 - 1.012). That's in line with what Wyeast say it will do based on a 68c mash but it's dropped extremely clear at just 5 days and only fermented for 3 days so I'm nervous and going to rouse it to make sure it finishes.

No harm in giving it a rousing to make completely sure it's finished but my feeling is that it's done and you won't get more than 1 or 2 points more of attenuation. I don't do milds myself but aren't they supposed to have quite a lot of crystal and therefore finish higher than a pale?

 

[Zephyr259]

No harm in giving it a rousing to make completely sure it's finished but my feeling is that it's done and you won't get more than 1 or 2 points more of attenuation. I don't do milds myself but aren't they supposed to have quite a lot of crystal and therefore finish higher than a pale?

It's my first mild, a lot of recipes do load up on the crystal but mine was very restrained and relied Munich, amber and brown malts for body, had 3% each very dark crystal and low colour chocolate to round it off. Maybe these malts have left a less fermentable wort given the higher mash temp.

I feel the same as you, and it's probably done, fine by me to have a 3.4% abv mild as that's what I was originally aiming for before I hit 84% efficiency when the recipe assumed 75%. I gave the fermenter a swirl last night and nothing much is happening, think the yeast cake is so firm that I'd have to go in with a spoon and break it up.

Thank for the thoughts.

 

[Drunkula]

Sounds amazing, Foxbat. Can you describe what Munich brings to a beer, and what were your sulphite and chloride levels from salts, please.

 

[foxbat]

Sounds amazing, Foxbat. Can you describe what Munich brings to a beer, and what were your sulphite and chloride levels from salts, please.

I'm terrible at describing a flavour but I'll give it a go. I would say Munich enhances the ''maltiness" (see, told you I was bad at this) without increasing sweetness. It's like what Maris Otter brings to a beer but "more".

I used my bitter profile here so sulphate to chloride was 125:70ppm.

 

[Honk]

Recipe looks good, just posting so I can find it again as would love to come up with a house bitter recipe that I can tinker with to my own tastes

 

[krispn]

My LHBS has Imperial malt which I used in a spiced ale recently - might add a little something over the Munich for those still experimenting on their recipe?

From Simpsons website...
"Rich and flavour-enhancing, Imperial Malt is Munich Malt’s more intense cousin. It adds warm notes to the wort that intensify depth of colour without compromising enzymic activity.
Brewers have noted its full-bodied flavour and dry-biscuit aroma, which makes it perfect for light and dark ales, as well as porter and stout."

 

[Honk]

Got my version of @foxbat s recipe just coming up to the boil now. Same ingredients but I'm not expecting as high an efficiency so adjusting the hop addition timings aiming for 31 ibu. Will be fermented with wy1469 west Yorkshire yeast.
Will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Pjam]

Lovely. I'll try and give your recipe a go :) I'm still looking for nice bitter. And I've grown First Gold!

I'm actually rather surprised that you managed to restrain the Wyeast 1728 yeast, it has a tendency to attenuate really highly, my 1.043 pale ale finished at 1.006 for 86% attenuation mashed at 66c, maybe its very sensitive to mash temperature?

Hmmm yes. Totally agree. I mash (usually ) at 66c and also get down to 1,006!

 

[Zephyr259]

Hmmm yes. Totally agree. I mash (usually ) at 66c and also get down to 1,006!

Got another batch and it fermented a mild to a more reasonable 71% when mashed at 68c. A pseudo-bock also hit 71% with a step mash at 63c for 30 mins and 72c for 30 mins. Maybe it's very sensitive to a variance in mash temp?