Comments for an ESB

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Sandy Feet

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https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1291168
Hopefully I exported the above correctly. If not, I will go back to the drawing board.
I ideally want a bready, nutty ESB. I am using BIAB, so if some of the additions look odd, I have to make up for lack of efficiency.
The OG calculated by this program and BeerSmith look high for the style, but it appears to be the only way I am going to get a mid 5% beer with a very low attenuating yeast. This is also the reason I have a little sugar in the recipe and the reason I plan to overpitch. If it ferments down an extra point or two from an FG that high, no big deal.
I have not played with Victory before, but I am only using a little, and the description sounds like what I want. I am looking for something more bready vs the cracker I would get in a Biscuit malt.
I know the wheat is going to look strange, Again, I am only using a little for head retention. Flaked Wheat, it seems, would be more appropriate, but from my experience, it does not convert well with the bag. I used 1.25 pounds of Flaked Oats in a Porter, and although the head retention was awesome, it didn't convert to alcohol, or it converted very, very little to alcohol.
I am probably going to try to brew this in the next month or two after I finish the bottles from my low alcohol Belgian. Thanks for any comments or constructive criticism.
 
Looks good. I appreciate your level of detail in explaining your goals and reasoning. It helps us to help you. Some things to consider:

You might want to cut back on the Victory malt. It is pretty powerful stuff. Cutting this back from 8 oz to 4 oz would be my recommendation, or use no more than say 6 oz. It adds a sort of toasted bread crust flavor which is tasty.

When I think bread, I think pilsner malt and pale malt. Maris Otter is pale but is more nutty. This is optional and I'm not exactly sure of the right combination, but consider whether you might want to split the base malt between Maris Otter and another pale malt to enhance complexity of the bread character.

And as far as nuttiness, nothing is more nutty to me than a little addition of Maris Otter which you have toasted in the oven. Take perhaps 4 to 8 oz of your Maris Otter and put it in a 350 F oven for roughly 20-30 minutes. Let it cool then brew with that as part of the mix. Plenty of nutty from doing that guaranteed. This is of course optional as the Maris Otter is nutty on its own, but if you wish to enhance the nuttiness, this will guarantee it, while again not being overpowering, like the Victory, this is powerful stuff and only a few ounces will do the trick.

The remainder of your recipe including hops and yeast, mash schedule, etc. all looks great to me. Whatever you decide... Enjoy.
 
dmtaylor said:
And as far as nuttiness, nothing is more nutty to me than a little addition of Maris Otter which you have toasted in the oven. Take perhaps 4 to 8 oz of your Maris Otter and put it in a 350 F oven for roughly 20-30 minutes. Let it cool then brew with that as part of the mix. Plenty of nutty from doing that guaranteed. This is of course optional as the Maris Otter is nutty on its own, but if you wish to enhance the nuttiness, this will guarantee it, while again not being overpowering, like the Victory, this is powerful stuff and only a few ounces will do the trick.
Click to expand...
Dmtaylor recommended I try this as well, for the stout I just brewed. I roasted three pounds and ground it into the rest of the grist. I'll let you know how it worked out.
 
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I'm glad I posted then. Since I haven't used Victory before, I am now especially glad. I was toying with the idea of Brown malt before, but my homebrew shop doesn't have any, and that is why I chose Victory. I will probably tweak my recipe this weekend. Thanks again.
 
@Sandy Feet, I'm glad you posted as well. I have been thinking about using Victory in my ESB and I would probably have used 3% like you did. Thanks @dmtaylor!
 
Over the last several months, I have fallen in love with English beers. I tried making a much simpler Special Bitters. I screwed-up and made it at 6.2% vs the 5.5% that I wanted. I made a Porter that I absolutely loved, but I missed OG on the low end. Even after my mistakes, I know I love Maris Otter, and I know I love Fuggle Hops.
I tried doing an ESB when I was using extract, and it didn't turn out the way that I wanted. Hopefully, this time I might get what I want. Thanks to y'all.
This can be a challenging hobby, but it is exciting when the lightbulbs in your head go off when you realize how to do something right.
 
Love English beer. I’d say half of what I’ve brewed have been. Looking forward to hearing how the ESB turns out.
 
I wasn't completely satisfied with a best bitter recipe that I had until I added 4 ozs of victory in a 3 gallon batch.
 
Thank y'all for your help. Thanks for the advice of not using too much Victory.
I had this in the fermenter for 14 days and in the bottles for 11 days. I prime with a full 5oz of corn sugar, and I know that this style is not supposed to be crazy carbonated. My solution is to crash it a few days ahead of 14 days (in this case 11). I put one in the refrigerator last night to let it sit for a full day.
I am drinking it tonight, and I am pretty damn happy. It is what it is supposed to be. I love the Marris Otter. I love the WLP002 English yeast characteristic. I love the malt/hop balance.
I was a little scared when I tasted it out of the fermenter flat. I did add some brown sugar to balance the OG in the software, and it did have some alcohol bite. I don't notice it now, and it is about where I wanted it. I also don't notice any ill effects from using the Publix Spring Water. It does have some minerals, but probably not as much as the style is supposed to have.
For those brewing different things that have an extra $8 or so, that spring water is a good happy medium for learning things
I do have another couple of ideas that I may be asking about over the next few weeks or a month, but thanks again for the input. 
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looks good, ESB is one of my favorites.
 
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