Best Bitter

[Craigerrr]

Interested in @Josh Hughes thoughts on this one, and others of course

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Looks real good to me. I'm curious how the Victory malt impacts the flavor. I tried Victory in my ESB once but, it was only 1-2% and I could not taste a difference. I'll be brewing an ESB this Saturday. Maybe I'll try Victory again, but at 5% this time. Now that I have an LHBS again it's not too late to make a last minute adjustment.

Edited to add "not"

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Although its a small amount, I'm not a fan of the special B, I like Caramel 120 much better.
Why so high on the sulfate?

 

[BilltownBrewingCo]

Although its a small amount, I'm not a fan of the special B, I like Caramel 120 much better.
Why so high on the sulfate?

Following for the sulfate question myself...

 

[Josh Hughes]

Other than special B I like it.

@BarbarianBrewer victory is a biscuit type malt.

Going for a water profile closer to Burton?

 

[Craigerrr]

Looks real good to me. I'm curious how the Victory malt impacts the flavor. I tried Victory in my ESB once but, it was only 1-2% and I could not taste a difference. I'll be brewing an ESB this Saturday. Maybe I'll try Victory again, but at 5% this time. Now that I have an LHBS again it's not too late to make a last minute adjustment.

Edited to add "not"

It is said to bring a biscuity/bready flavor to the beer

 

[Craigerrr]

Although its a small amount, I'm not a fan of the special B, I like Caramel 120 much better.
Why so high on the sulfate?

Following for the sulfate question myself...

I adapted this recipe from a video by "the apartment brewer", he used 2.4% Special Roast, I don't have access to it, so I replaced it with a smaller percentage of Special B, I may leave it in there, or not.
I will have to reverse the ratio of sulfates to chlorides to accentuate the malts

 

[Megary]

I know you didn’t ask me, but I have a big mouth.

Personally, I’d ditch the Victory and Special B.
Maris Otter + just enough DME to hit gravity + just enough of 1 dark malt to hit color (I’m a fan of Pale Chocolate)
Bitter however and just a splash of your favorite aroma hops.

Yeast and fermentation are key. I don’t see which yeast you are using.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Like @Megary i do not use victory. Have and liked it but don’t anymore.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

I adapted this recipe from a video by "the apartment brewer", he used 2.4% Special Roast, I don't have access to it, so I replaced it with a smaller percentage of Special B, I may leave it in there, or not.
I will have to reverse the ratio of sulfates to chlorides to accentuate the malts

Special roast is tangy, biscuit, almost sourdough ish.
Special B is a weird raisin flavor
Not really substitutes
I'm more along the lines of what @Megary said.
And way too much on most of the salts.
My 2 cents

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Here's my water on a bitter

 

[GFHomebrew]

I think @Craigerrr maybe be a hangover from the NEIPA salt addictions?

I'm with @Megary 's suggestion.

What yeast you using Craig?

 

[Craigerrr]

I know you didn’t ask me, but I have a big mouth.

Personally, I’d ditch the Victory and Special B.
Maris Otter + just enough DME to hit gravity + just enough of 1 dark malt to hit color (I’m a fan of Pale Chocolate)
Bitter however and just a splash of your favorite aroma hops.

Yeast and fermentation are key. I don’t see which yeast you are using.

Oh I'm asking!
Appreciate the input!
I am thinking of going with S-04, or I could go with Lallemand London ESB

 

[Craigerrr]

Here's my water on a bitter

So a pretty basic balanced profile, thanks

 

[Craigerrr]

Special roast is tangy, biscuit, almost sourdough ish.
Special B is a weird raisin flavor
Not really substitutes
I'm more along the lines of what @Megary said.
And way too much on most of the salts.
My 2 cents

Thanks I will drop the special b, have to revisit the water profile for sure

 

[Steve Ruch]

Looks real good to me. I'm curious how the Victory malt impacts the flavor. I tried Victory in my ESB once but, it was only 1-2% and I could not taste a difference. I'll be brewing an ESB this Saturday. Maybe I'll try Victory again, but at 5% this time. Now that I have an LHBS again it's not too late to make a last minute adjustment.

Edited to add "not"

I use a bit of victory in bitter when the base malt is briess or great western pale ale malt. I skip it when using maris otter. I currently have a bag of Crisp #19 floor malted maris otter and it makes a good bitter all by itself.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I adapted this recipe from a video by "the apartment brewer", he used 2.4% Special Roast, I don't have access to it, so I replaced it with a smaller percentage of Special B, I may leave it in there, or not.
I will have to reverse the ratio of sulfates to chlorides to accentuate the malts

The Otter will give it some biscuity by itself. I would try it with something less generic than an S-04 although that does work. If you can get your hands on some liquid, especially a Fullers, mmmm.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I use a bit of victory in bitter when the base malt is briess or great western pale ale malt. I skip it when using maris otter. I currently have a bag of Crisp #19 floor malted maris otter and it makes a good bitter all by itself.

My ESB is about 85% Maris Otter. So, two thoughts occurred to me. (I know, two in one day! ). First, Victory malt and Maris Otter both have a bisquity flavor to them. So the small amount of Victory malt I used was not enough to stand out. Second, if I used more, say around 7-8%, would the Victory add a bit of complexity to the flavor profile? With that second thought in mind, I think @Craigerrr should do it first and let me know how it turns out.

 

[Craigerrr]

Maybe I am trying to make this beer more complex than than it needs to be, but I really want a knock your socks off Best Bitter.
The malt is the star of the show, hoping to have some complex Malt flavor and Aroma.
I wonder if melanoidin is the answer to bring a more appropriate complexity to this beer.
Definitely want to use a different yeast, not sure where I am going with that, maybe this one

I reversed the Chloride to Sulfate ratio to enhance mouth feel and malt presence

Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU (Tinseth): 30
BU/GU: 0.66
Color: 9.1 SRM

Malts (4.18 kg)
3.7 kg (79.8%) — Crisp Maris Otter — Grain — 3.5 °L — Mash — 90 min
300 g (6.5%) — Briess Victory Malt (biscuit) — Grain — 21.2 °L — Mash — 90 min
100 g (2.2%) — Simpsons Crystal Dark — Grain — 100.8 °L — Mash — 90 min
80 g (1.7%) — Weyermann Melanoidin — Grain — 22.7 °L

Other (454 g)
454 g (9.8%) — Briess Golden Light — Dry Extract — 3.5 °L

Hops (84 g)
43 g (23 IBU) — Fuggle 4.75% — Boil — 60 min
29 g (7 IBU) — Fuggle 4.75% — Boil — 10 min
12 g (1 IBU) — Fuggle 4.75% — Aroma — 20 min hopstand @ 80 °C
Hopstand at 80 °C - Whirlpool/Hopstand Time: 20 min

Miscs
2.5 g — Baking Soda (NaHCO3) — Mash
9.5 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
1 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
3.1 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Mash
3.3 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
0.5 items — Whirlfloc — Boil — 15 min
10 g — Yeast Nutrients — Boil — 15 min

Yeast
1 pkg — Fermentis S-04 SafAle English Ale 75%

Fermentation
Primary — 18 °C — 7 days
Primary — 20 °C — 7 days

Water Profile
Ca2+ 110 Mg2+ 10 Na+ 43 Cl- 172 SO42- 100 HCO3- 73

Adapted from The Apartment Brewer

 

[Josh Hughes]

I don’t think melanoidan. I think a more expressive yeast. You are used to S04 which is more neutral. London or Windsor would be good. I love verdant my favorite dry English yeast. I’m assuming you are going with dry yeast and not liquid.

Since you asked I think dropping the victory and using some lower lovibond crystal will be more what you want. Missed with the expressive yeast. Chevalier malt is a base malt that’s MO on steroids. I love it