Hi folks -
Appreciate some feedback on a Fullers ESB-inspired bitter I made recently, which was my first after taking many years off from brewing. The beer is solid, has the appropriate amount of alcohol and hop character, but has some overall flavor issues holding it back I think. It's a little "malty" to me compared to my target brew and just has a "homebrew" taste that I can't describe easily. I love the clean, bright, toasty commercial beer taste that I'm missing. I generally don't like malt forward/roasted malt beers and I think I may be tasting the roasted crystal malt and 20% was just too much for the recipe. I also didn't adjust minerals.
2 gallon BIAB batch made with:
Maris Otter (80%) and Crystal malt 50-60L (20%)
Challenger for my bittering hop and EKG for aroma
Wyeast ESB 1968.
Water was fridge filtered tap water in the metro Washington DC area (a little hard, but mostly neutral in terms of minerals present) and I added no minerals - which might have been a mistake.
Had active fermentation and attenuation (1.060 og/1.020 fg), fermented at fall basement temps (68F/20C) for 17 days and bottled.
I'm planning to brew this again in 2024 and will use less (if any) of the 60L crystal malt and will add minerals to get closer to Burton-on-Trent levels. Appreciate any other feedback or suggestions or refinements to clean up the taste. Thanks in advance!
Appreciate some feedback on a Fullers ESB-inspired bitter I made recently, which was my first after taking many years off from brewing. The beer is solid, has the appropriate amount of alcohol and hop character, but has some overall flavor issues holding it back I think. It's a little "malty" to me compared to my target brew and just has a "homebrew" taste that I can't describe easily. I love the clean, bright, toasty commercial beer taste that I'm missing. I generally don't like malt forward/roasted malt beers and I think I may be tasting the roasted crystal malt and 20% was just too much for the recipe. I also didn't adjust minerals.
2 gallon BIAB batch made with:
Maris Otter (80%) and Crystal malt 50-60L (20%)
Challenger for my bittering hop and EKG for aroma
Wyeast ESB 1968.
Water was fridge filtered tap water in the metro Washington DC area (a little hard, but mostly neutral in terms of minerals present) and I added no minerals - which might have been a mistake.
Had active fermentation and attenuation (1.060 og/1.020 fg), fermented at fall basement temps (68F/20C) for 17 days and bottled.
I'm planning to brew this again in 2024 and will use less (if any) of the 60L crystal malt and will add minerals to get closer to Burton-on-Trent levels. Appreciate any other feedback or suggestions or refinements to clean up the taste. Thanks in advance!