The Quest for the Perfect Bitter

[pilgrimhudd]

Dunno if it'll be the perfect bitter but I'm going for a 5 points esque beer, fuggles with medium crystal, wheat and amber probably next week. Yeast will be CML Midland, which I've found to be quite nice recently.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Dunno if it'll be the perfect bitter but I'm going for a 5 points esque beer, fuggles with medium crystal, wheat and amber probably next week. Yeast will be CML Midland, which I've found to be quite nice recently.

I made some with a similar recipe but used Biscuit malt rather than Amber, all Fuggles hops and Midland. Turned out good.

 

[moto748]

Well I'm going to do it, pilgrim! I had a go at making some home-made amber malt the other day. I don't know how satisfactory it will be, but it's sat in the cupboard waiting for me! I just need to decide on hops and yeast. I may go with Verdant, which I've found to be good in bitters lately.

 

[Galena]

I'm thinking of giving this a go for my next brew. I have the grains. I will mull over the yeast!

Can I also ask what hops you used, please, Galena?

It was all Fuggles, here is the recipe if it helps, tweaked slightly since then HERE and scroll down a little.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I’ve been following this thread with great interest as I love a nice English bitter. The one thing I have never spent too much time dwelling on with any brew is the yeast. I always use dried and it’s usually CML Midland or Four for an Enflush, CML Five or Pia for a US pale etc. However, I was reading the side of the bottle of the Fullers Vintage Ale I got for Christmas and after listing the malt and hops it reads “All complimented, as ever, by the zesty marmalade character of our famous Fullers yeast”. Since Marmalade is exactly the flavour I get when I ferment a Kveik beer at 38 odd degrees, I wondered what it may be like using Kveik in an English Ale? Anyone tried it?

 

[moto748]

Thanks, Galena, that's very helpful. It looks pretty similar to the Best Bitter recipe on page 1 of your thread too, bar the yeast.

I do find it fascinating reading threads like that, watching you guys deal with pumps and valves and controllers, but increasingly, I think, it would never be for me! But each to their own, we are all different. Massive kudos for building your own kit, though!

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

I'm hijacking this thread a little, I am waiting for this years UK hop harvest to hit the market. Any of you natives got any info on this years harvest? How was the Bramling and First Gold? Did the Goldings come out allright?

 

[trueblue]

I'm hijacking this thread a little, I am waiting for this years UK hop harvest to hit the market. Any of you natives got any info on this years harvest? How was the Bramling and First Gold? Did the Goldings come out allright?

I have bought some from a small grow who is happy to sell to homebrewers

https://www.abushelofhops.co.uk/

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

I have bought some from a small grow who is happy to sell to homebrewers

https://www.abushelofhops.co.uk/

Sadly they seemed to be mostly sold out, and unsure if they ship to Sweden. How come the Bramling X was so low on alpha? Those usually are more around 6-8%.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

On a related post, I got a bitter coming up as soon as my kegerator is made, along some brown ales etc to get the pipeline going.
The (Best) bitter will be MO as base
6% homemade invert #3
4# Crisp Amber malt
3% each of Crystal 240 ebc and T. wheat

90 min boil
Challenger at 60 min for bittering and 0.5g/ liter of EKG at 15 min left
1g/L of EKG/Fuggle for an 80c/20 min hopstand
Looking to get 36 IBU or a bu/gu ratio around 0.8

1.044/1.010 OG/FG and about 4.5-4.6 % abv after conditioning.
Fermented at 19-20c with Brewly's English Ale yeast and naturally primed and conditioned in keg to 1.7 vol and served/kept at 12c for a little faux cask feel.
Also planning on a similair version, but with only MO and 12% invert #3,same gravities and hopschedule. But this will be a more historical variant to please the great saint Patt.

 

[moto748]

I had a go at the Five Points with my home-made amber and Verdant yeast, four days ago. It's sitting in a bucket now, with a nice creamy head on it, looking good.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I had a go at the Five Points with my home-made amber and Verdant yeast

As an aside, Verdant have just announced their first cask beer, a best made with Goldings and Fuggles.

I'm hijacking this thread a little, I am waiting for this years UK hop harvest to hit the market. Any of you natives got any info on this years harvest? How was the Bramling and First Gold? Did the Goldings come out allright?

Unfortunately the big green hop festival was cancelled again which is where I usually get a feel of the vintage, but the green hop beers I've had since then have been anywhere from OK to quite good, and despite reductions in acreage there's meant to be something of a surplus AIUI thanks to the effect of pubs being shut for so long.

 

[matt76]

I had a go at the Five Points with my home-made amber and Verdant yeast, four days ago. It's sitting in a bucket now, with a nice creamy head on it, looking good.

FWIW I've had a few pints now of my Mustang Ale (which I really should rename bitter since that's what it clearly is) and I'm really pleased with the results from this strain

I re-pitched the slurry into a porter which I've only just kegged, and an IPA which is still in the FV so I've not tried either yet but I also like the way it seems to ferment (i.e. it's gets in, gets on with it, then flocs off!)

 

[Brewed_Force]

Agreed, but I think it's due to relying on Tinseth's formulae and the like, whcih seem to provide less bitterness outside an industrial environment.

Is there a more accurate formula for those of us who do 30 minute boils?

 

[Sadfield]

Will one help in this scenario? More bitterness would require more hops, which in a 30 minute boil would equate to more late hops in a longer boil, potentially upsetting the flavour balance of a Bitter. Isomerised hop extract might be a better alternative, raising bitterness without changing the balance of hop flavour.

 

[.Peter.]

Is there a more accurate formula for those of us who do 30 minute boils?

Use Brewfather - then it's done for you - see David Heath on YouTube

 

[Clint]

This is my latest bitter...and best!
Maris otter 3.4kg
Carapils 200g
Amber 170g
Crystal 240 170g
Wheat 140g
Roast barley 30g
Magnum 10% 15g @ 60
Challenger 6.6% 25g @ 15
Og 1042
Fg 1010
Abv 4.1%
Ibu 33
CML MIDLAND

 

[Rodcx500z]

How many Litres is that Clint it looks good and i am brewing tomorrow, i don't have those hops but have target, ekg, and fuggles and 04 yeast

 

[Clint]

It's 23 litres. It's taken a few weeks to hit the sweet spot but it really is good! In fact I'm just about to prep for tomorrow so it's either this or the Tribute.

 

[Sadfield]

'
'This is not the greatest Bitter in the world, no. This is just a Tribute!' - Tenacious D