Tag Archives: bitter

Inveralmond

Finally back in the brewing saddle again. Can’t quite remember where I got the inspiration for this recipe that I wrote back in July but looking up Inveralmond its a place in Scotland with a a few breweries so maybe I was inspired by one of those beers. I’m guessing you could say this is in the realm of a standard bitter. Pale ale malt and some Munich for color and some body. Kept hopping pretty low but was generous with the flavor hops. EKGs are around 5% and Styrian Goldings are coming in at a measly 2.7% these days so IBUs should be in lower range which I find you kind of have to do with these weaker beers since I really dislike most “session IPAs” as being astringent. I found a few times I was over hopping some of my bitters like a session IPA.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.039
Estimated FG: 1.008
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.1%

Grain
8 lbs Viking Pale Ale Malt (3.5 SRM) 80%
2 lb Wyermann Munich (10 SRM) 20%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00g East Kent Goldings [5%] –  60 min 16.8 IBUs
28.00g Styrian Goldings [2.7%] – 15 min 4.5 IBUs
28.00g Styrian Goldings [2.7%] –  Dry hop 2 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
100% filtered tap water
2g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Mash in 4 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 5.25 gallons cold

Yeast
Safale S-04 English Ale Dry Yeast

Fermentation
Ferment at 64F 5 days
Dry hop as yeast begins to slow (usually day 2-3 on weaker beers)
Rack to keg and add 1/2 teaspoon gelatin to fine
Force carbonate

Bitter No. 1

I’ve been on a brewing hiatus for almost 6 months due to circumstances out of my control. I won’t bore you with the issues we have had with our rental after returning from vacation to a flooded house but needless to say I haven’t had the room in the garage until recently after a huge reorganization. Anyhow, focusing on my passion for English bitters I have been trying to narrow down how to best achieve them with my equipment, processes, and local water.

Mouthfeel is really important in a bitter and a beer that is really dry detracts from that in a bitter. I’ll reiterate a few things I’ve posted before about beer dryness and a few more observations on dryness I’ve gleaned going back through my older recipes and notes:

  1. Unless using 100% RO water it’s a waste of time cutting tap with RO.
  2. Unless you’re good at discerning when to stop a fermentation a mash temperature below 154F will give you a pretty dry beer with sugar in the grist.
  3. If using sugar, invert leaves a silkier mouthfeel but is a hassle to make.
  4. If your beers are still becoming too dry with a high mash temp and using sugar in the grist skip the sugar and use more malt.
  5. Still having dryness issues? Try 100% RO. It’s either an added expense or a hassle though.
  6. Still having dryness issues? Substitute a pound of wheat for barely.
  7. Scale back the bittering hops and add them as late additions.
  8. Keep carbonation medium to low.

This one is all malt. The recipe is based more on a pale ale that I have had success with but with a scaled back gravity and 100% EKGs.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.047
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 6.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.6%

Grain
10 lbs Pale Ale Malt (3.5 SRM) 83.3%
1 lb Crystal 20 (20 SRM) 8.3%
1 lb White Wheat (3.2 SRM) 8.3%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
14.00g EKG [6%] –  60 min 9.5 IBUs
14.00g EKG [6%] – 30  min 7.3 IBUs
28.00g EKG [6%] – 15 min 9.4 IBUs
56.00g EKG [6%] – Steep 10 min 6.9 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
100% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
3g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2ml lactic acid added to mash water
3g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
2ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 4.75 gallons water 162F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.75 gallons cold

Yeast
Safale S-04 English Ale Dry Yeast

Fermentation
Ferment until done 65F
Cold crash one day
Add gelatin and rack to keg and carbonate using your preferred method

Grove Bitter

This beer is kind of a culmination of me trying to nail down the creation of a well balanced highly drinkable bitter. There’s a couple of take aways I’ve noticed over the years:

  1. Unless using 100% RO water it’s a waste of time cutting tap with RO.
  2. Dry yeast is just as good as liquid if your willing to have less choice.
  3. When dry hopping in a airlock sealed fermenter you need to use A LOT of hops to have a noticeable effect.
  4. Unless your good at discerning when to stop a fermentation a mash temperature below 154F will give you a pretty dry beer with sugar in the grist.
  5. Aurora, Bobek, Celia, Stryian Goldings, and East Kent Goldings are all really great underappreciated hops. You can use each interchangeably for aroma but for taste I still think EKGs are the best –  that beautiful marmalade flavor is unique.

For this beer I’m starting with Magnum which is clean and high alpha so trying to reduce the hop trub. After smelling this batch of Magnum I thought I’d split it up in the schedule to capture more of its flavor and aroma. Late additions are all Styrian Goldings. I moved an ounce to 15 minutes to try to capture more flavor than aroma. I’ve been doing 2 ounces at flame out and it seems to add wonderful aroma but with a lot of that aroma getting scrubbed out during fermentation unfortunately. 20 – 10 minutes seems to be the sweet spot for flavor and aroma being captured for me. I have no idea why and it’s purely anecdotal. Also I tried mashing a bit higher to get a tad more mouthfeel. Only lost 1 gravity point by mashing higher. I will be interested to see how all these subtle tweaks will work out!

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048
Estimated FG: 1.011
Estimated Color: 5.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.9%

Grain
10 lbs Maris Otter (3 SRM) 90.9%
1 lb Turbinado sugar (20 SRM) 9.1%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
7.00g Magnum [12%] –  60 min 9.4 IBUs
7.00g Magnum [12%] –  45 min 8.6 IBUs
14.00g Magnum [12%] –  30 min 14.4 IBUs
28.00g Styrian Goldings [3.3%] – 15 min 5.1 IBUs
28.00g Styrian Goldings [3.3%] – Whirlpool 10 min 1.9 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
100% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
3g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
4ml lactic acid added to mash water
3g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
3ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 4.25 gallons water 166F and let stabilize to 156F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 5 gallons cold

Yeast
Safale S-04 English Ale Dry Yeast

Fermentation
Ferment until done 65F
Cold crash one day
Add gelatin and rack to keg and carbonate using your preferred method