Nice Fruity Bitter Advice

[shepp]

I made the Bitter below which turned out a nice pint but to improve on it I would like it to taste a little more fruity, raisiny maybe.
Happy for it to be a little stronger, maybe up to 5.5%
Would I need to get the fruitiness from a different yeast, if so what should I go for? I am making up a stir plate so harvesting yeast is an option.
I will have the AG kit made up by Malt Miller so I can alter any of the ingredients.
Many thanks.

Gem Clone
Method: All Grain
Style: Ordinary Bitter
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 12 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 19.5 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.028 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Bath Ales

Original Gravity: 1.046 Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV (standard): 4.6% IBU (tinseth): 28.06 SRM (morey): 8.89
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
2086.96 g United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 90.3%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Crystal 45L 34 45 4.5%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Wheat 37 2 4.5%
15.65 g United Kingdom - Chocolate 34 425 0.7%
2.31 kg Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5 Boil 90 min 24.44
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5 Boil 5 min 3.62
Hops Summary
Amount Variety Type AA
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5
Yeast
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Attenuation (avg):
77%
Flocculation:
High
Optimum Temp:
13.9 - 21.1 °C
Starter:
No
Fermentation Temp:
20 °C
Pitch Rate:
-
This recipe is not shared.
Last Updated: 2016-12-14 23:53 GMT

 

[DoctorMick]

I love wyeast London Ale, you get a nice fruity undertone from it.

 

[MyQul]

Ive used the fullers strain (WLP002/WY1968) which is very estery/fruity

 

[shepp]

Ive used the fullers strain (WLP002/WY1968) which is very estery/fruity

Do any of the bottle conditioned Fullers beers have this yeast that I can harvest?

 

[serum]

Do any of the bottle conditioned Fullers beers have this yeast that I can harvest?

Bengal lancer and 1845 do.

Autocorrect tried to change that to bungalow lancer. I don't know why but that tickled me!

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[shepp]

Strangely relevant as bungalow is an word of Indian origin.

 

[MyQul]

What serum said (apart from the bungalow bit). I got it out of a bottle of 1845

 

[Simonh82]

You could try adding some Special B to the grain bill. It's a dark crystal from Belgium and it gives a dark fruit, raisiny flavour.

But otherwise I would agree that a fruity English yeast would help.

 

[Tanzanite]

I made the Bitter below which turned out a nice pint but to improve on it I would like it to taste a little more fruity, raisiny maybe.
Happy for it to be a little stronger, maybe up to 5.5%
Would I need to get the fruitiness from a different yeast, if so what should I go for? I am making up a stir plate so harvesting yeast is an option.
I will have the AG kit made up by Malt Miller so I can alter any of the ingredients.
Many thanks.

Gem Clone
Method: All Grain
Style: Ordinary Bitter
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 12 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 19.5 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.028 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Bath Ales

Original Gravity: 1.046 Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV (standard): 4.6% IBU (tinseth): 28.06 SRM (morey): 8.89
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
2086.96 g United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 90.3%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Crystal 45L 34 45 4.5%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Wheat 37 2 4.5%
15.65 g United Kingdom - Chocolate 34 425 0.7%
2.31 kg Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5 Boil 90 min 24.44
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5 Boil 5 min 3.62
Hops Summary
Amount Variety Type AA
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5
Yeast
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Attenuation (avg):
77%
Flocculation:
High
Optimum Temp:
13.9 - 21.1 °C
Starter:
No
Fermentation Temp:
20 °C
Pitch Rate:
-
This recipe is not shared.
Last Updated: 2016-12-14 23:53 GMT

Look at simpsons DRC double roasted crystal malt do a steep with 2oog :thumb:

 

[Grizzly299]

I made the Bitter below which turned out a nice pint but to improve on it I would like it to taste a little more fruity, raisiny maybe.
Happy for it to be a little stronger, maybe up to 5.5%
Would I need to get the fruitiness from a different yeast, if so what should I go for? I am making up a stir plate so harvesting yeast is an option.
I will have the AG kit made up by Malt Miller so I can alter any of the ingredients.
Many thanks.

Gem Clone
Method: All Grain
Style: Ordinary Bitter
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 12 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 19.5 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.028 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Bath Ales

Original Gravity: 1.046 Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV (standard): 4.6% IBU (tinseth): 28.06 SRM (morey): 8.89
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
2086.96 g United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 90.3%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Crystal 45L 34 45 4.5%
104.35 g United Kingdom - Wheat 37 2 4.5%
15.65 g United Kingdom - Chocolate 34 425 0.7%
2.31 kg Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5 Boil 90 min 24.44
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5 Boil 5 min 3.62
Hops Summary
Amount Variety Type AA
10.43 g Challenger Pellet 8.5
15.65 g Goldings Pellet 4.5
Yeast
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Attenuation (avg):
77%
Flocculation:
High
Optimum Temp:
13.9 - 21.1 °C
Starter:
No
Fermentation Temp:
20 °C
Pitch Rate:
-
This recipe is not shared.
Last Updated: 2016-12-14 23:53 GMT

I have a couple of tips that might help:

1. Nottingham is quite a clean yeast, so you may be better off trying something fruiter like Danstar London ESB yeast or many of the liquid yeasts available. Just be aware that this yeast doesn't like work on Maltotriose so your attenuation will be lower.

2. Throw in 25g or so of hops at 0mins and whirlpool them for 10 mins or so. Golding's would do nicely for this. This should give you a nice little hop note up front without being overpowering.

3. Your bitterness ratio is a little low. 28 IBUs / 46 = 0.61 ideally a bitter would be in the region of .80 and above. If you added more hops for your 5 min addition and changed it to 10 mins you should be good. Just remember that the majority of your bittering addition still needs to be at the start of the boil for a bitter.

4. At 1.046 you should be looking at an FG of around 1.012 -1.013 ish. If it's too dry the hops will have too much punch and you'll be closer to an IPA.

5.Bitters are called bitter, but they still require a good balance of flavour. Malt and hops should work together. A good bitter isn't actually overhwelmingly bitter, despite its IBU's.

6.You're going to need to adjust your mash temperature depending on the attenuation of the yeast you use. Higher mash temp if you stick with Nottingham, maybe 67-68 degrees. If you use the ESB or other low attenuating yeasts then try 65-67 degrees.

7.Carbonation! To get that smooth mouthfeel keep carbonation below 2 volumes. To achieve this properly make absolutely sure that you reach FG.

So there you go, I hope that you find those points helpful :thumb:

 

[shepp]

I have a couple of tips that might help:

1. Nottingham is quite a clean yeast, so you may be better off trying something fruiter like Danstar London ESB yeast or many of the liquid yeasts available. Just be aware that this yeast doesn't like work on Maltotriose so your attenuation will be lower.

2. Throw in 25g or so of hops at 0mins and whirlpool them for 10 mins or so. Golding's would do nicely for this. This should give you a nice little hop note up front without being overpowering.

3. Your bitterness ratio is a little low. 28 IBUs / 46 = 0.61 ideally a bitter would be in the region of .80 and above. If you added more hops for your 5 min addition and changed it to 10 mins you should be good. Just remember that the majority of your bittering addition still needs to be at the start of the boil for a bitter.

4. At 1.046 you should be looking at an FG of around 1.012 -1.013 ish. If it's too dry the hops will have too much punch and you'll be closer to an IPA.

5.Bitters are called bitter, but they still require a good balance of flavour. Malt and hops should work together. A good bitter isn't actually overhwelmingly bitter, despite its IBU's.

6.You're going to need to adjust your mash temperature depending on the attenuation of the yeast you use. Higher mash temp if you stick with Nottingham, maybe 67-68 degrees. If you use the ESB or other low attenuating yeasts then try 65-67 degrees.

7.Carbonation! To get that smooth mouthfeel keep carbonation below 2 volumes. To achieve this properly make absolutely sure that you reach FG.

So there you go, I hope that you find those points helpful :thumb:

That's fantastic information, in fact I'll print it off and add it to the bitter section of my beer file.
Thinking about it, GEM ale is probably more of an English ale than a bitter, still this I'm sure is the right direction to go :thumb: