ESB

Today I will be making an ESB which is a beer style that I have started to drink more and more when/if I can find it around. I based the recipe off a clone of Fuller's ESB but I couldn't find the right hops so things will be close but the bittering might be a bit different. I have had the privilege as of late to have the Rouge Younger's Special Bitter and an ESB from 5 Seasons Brewing. I wanted to get more of a "English" feel to it though so I went with a Fuller's clone. Ill be mashing this in sometime this weekend.

Fall ESB

Malt:
12 lbs: Marris Otter
.5 lbs: Flaked Maze
.5 lbs: Crystal 80
.25 lbs: Pale Chocolate

Hops:
.5 oz: Warrior 15.8aa 60min
.75 oz: Challenger 20min
.5 oz: Norther Brewer 8.5aa 10min
.5 oz: EKG 4.5aa KO
.5 oz: EKG Dry Hop

Misc:
1 WhirlFloc Tablet @ 15min

Target OG: 1.055
Target FG: 1.015
IBU: ~36
Efficiency: 70%

Actual OG: 1.071
Actual FG: 1.020
Apparent Attenuation: 70.6%

ABV: 7.1%
ABW: 5.5%

Yeast:
White Labs British Ale Yeast (WLP005)

Hopville Recipe

Update 9.23.2009: So I thought I could start doing 6 Gallon brews so that I have a total of 5 gallons when things are all said and done, but it looks like I need a new kettle. My kettle holds just a tad bit over 6 gallons and with boil off I end up with 5 gallons of usable wort to ferment with. So the recipe came in a bit higher than normal that why the OG is a bit off. I should have gotten 1.055 with 6 gallons, instead I got 1.071 with 5 gallons due to the grain bill. Oh well, next one I make will be more like a true ESB. This will just be "Imperial" I guess.

Update 9.28.2009: Fermentation is done and I threw in .5oz of EKG hops for Dry Hopping. I will take a gravity later this week before racking over to a keg. I need to also bottle a few for comp, but it really doesn't fit a style. I will know more once I pull a taste of it.

Update 10.1.2009: Spent the past few days cold crashing and then racked to a keg last night. Took a final gravity of 1.020, which is high, I have no idea why I am missing my FG's but I plan on fixing it. Beer still tasted nice. Strong malt backbone with a nice hop finish. I may have over bittered the beer a bit, but it can be fixed for the next one. Apparently it attenuated right where it was supposed to according to White Labs. The ABV might have gotten too high for the beer which caused it to crap out sooner that I would have liked.

Update 10.14.2009: Oh man is this beer awesome. Next time I will cut down of the malts a bit to scale it back to ~5%abv cause I get a very nice warmness with the beer. Other than that it has an awesome white creamy head and a nice maltiness that I was looking for. I can't wait to make this again.

Update 10.21.2009: Drank this beer over the weekend right out of the keg and I have to say it's dangeriously tasty. The beer at around 7% ABV is quite drinkable and can hit you quickly unless you take it easy.... This might be one of my favorite beers I have made to date. I cant wait to do it again, soon.