mini minor esb
brewed: 06/06/13
pitched: 12/06/13
bottled: 26/06/13
subsequent batch info: will be superseded by the circle line esb
ingredients:
2.0kg simpsons maris otter
200gm joe white medium crystal 60
15gm fuggles (pellets, 5.7 aa%, 60 mins)
10gm fuggles (pellets, 5.7 aa%, 5 mins)
5gm fuggles (pellets, 5.7 aa%, 0 mins)
5gm fuggles (pellets, 5.7 aa%, dry hop after day 6 for 7 days)
5.0gm safale yeast - s-04 english ale yeast
0.5 tablet whirlfloc
process:
10L batch, single infusion, no sparge, mash in 65C for 60 mins, no-chill, 16.5C fermentation.
OG: 1.043
FG: 1.017
%AbV: 4.0 (bottled)
ibu: 36
brewing notes:
just put this down tonight. long awaited beer because i haven't had the chance to brew in FOREVER. decided i was going to make it a night brew. my only problem now seems to be my volumes. apart from that, everything is on target. hit my target post boil but my boil off got rid of more than i'd hoped which meant my efficiency was slightly under what i'd hoped. i didn't want this to be a strong beer, but more a standard bitter around the 4.7ish abv, and even with my inefficiency, it looks to be on par for that so i'm pretty happy.
18/06/13 - added the dry hops today. 5gms. raised temperature to 20C after the gravity and taste test.
19/06/13 - tested gravity again and it seems stuck at 1.017. perhaps it was the smaller amount of yeast i used, as well as never having used this one before. should have dumped all the packet in there like i normally do, but i'm trying to be more cost effective and seeing the results. i think i'm going to slightly overpitch my beers now, just to be safe. one more day of checking at 20C before cold crashing.
tasting notes:
18/06/13 - took a sip and gravity check today and noticed quite a sweet taste. i believe this is due to the 10% crystal malt i used. i was undecided on the dry hopping for this one, but considering it still tastes sweet, i'd like to try and balance it out a bit with some hop character. it still has time to drop lower, so i'm hoping it continues to ferment to about 1.010 (currently 1.017).
19/06/13 - took a taste and it's very similar to how it was before. my problem is that i don't really know any english special bitters to compare to. it doesn't taste bad, just interesting. not sure if there are any faults but it seems okay to me. might leave it one more day and then cold crash.
06/06/13 - brought this around to martin's place and we had a taste test but both decided it was still very very young. slight green apple taste which is indicative of it being young. i'll be leaving it another week or so and trying it then.
13/06/13 - had a taste today and for some reason, it doesn't taste nice. not one of my favourite beers unfortunately. i can't put my finger on it, but it could be the hop flavours (fuggles), and the fact it didn't finish as it was supposed to. i'll try some again but i'm not getting hopeful about it sadly.
07/08/13 - so after letting it age for a good few months in the fridge, it's tasting a LOT nicer. the stronger fuggles aroma hops (that were out of character anyway) have mellowed and given a very soft and faint earthy feel to the beer. it's starting to grow on me and there's a few left! i'll keep this in mind if i do this one again, or use the same hops.
27/08/13 - had the last of these today; so it's definitely had a long time to age and whatnot. these last ones have been in my fridge since they carbonated. tonight it tasted watery and thin with very little flavour. it was on the cold side, but all in all, this one wouldn't be my favourite. i'll have to try and change a few things up for next time. could just be that i don't like the fuggles hop flavour.
brew pics: