Advice on a Session Bitter

[TheMumbler]

I have a friend who is thinking about moving from kits to AG and he is coming over for a brewday tomorrow. He wants a pale, hoppy session bitter. This is my first attempt at recipe formulation what do you think? I'm a bit concerned about the hops in particular as I've just discovered that Beer Engine is assuming about double the hop utilisation suggested in Home Brewing. Thanks in advance

Pale Malt 3500g 90.9%
Torrefied Wheat 150g 3.9%
Crystal Malt, Pale 200g 5.2%

Hop Variety Alpha Time
Glacier Whole 7.8 % 90 mins 25 grams
Cascade Whole 4.6 % 15 mins 20 grams
Cascade Whole 4.6 % 0 mins 30 grams

Assumed Mash Efficiency:75%
Mash Temp 65

Final Volume: 23l
OG: 1.037
FG: 1.009
ABV: 3.7%

Total Liquor: 32.2 Litres
Mash Liquor: 9.6 Litres
Bitterness: 28.6 EBU
Colour: 10 EBC

[dave-o]

Looks fine really.

Perhaps up the Glacier to 30-35g if you want reasonable bitterness.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Use some decent hop instead of that yankee stuff.

[TheMumbler]

I was expecting that OSB
I have some EKG and Fuggles on order but they may not be with me tomorrow. Maybe I'll try the same grain bill and one or both of those next. Then we can have a taste test.

[trucker5774]

That looks like you will get about what you are aiming at. It will be light in colour and bitterness but should provide some good hop flavour from those cascades. If you are looking for a little more bitterness just up the glacier or add some cascade to the early boil. You could consider target, fuggles,challenger or (for economical bittering) northern brewer.

[mysterio]

Cascade is fine in a hoppy bitter IMO although you need a bit of sweetness to back it up. Nothing worse than heavy Cascade flavour in a thin beer.

Pale crystal, what colour EBC is that ? 80 ?

[TheMumbler]

it is listed at 60-80, I guessed at 60 in beer engine but it could be 80. To be honest I doubt having it a little darker is going to be an issue. Are you thinking I should up the crystal?

[mysterio]

No - you said your friend wanted a pale bitter. I think it will be kind of dark golden with that amount of light crystal so you don't want to surprise him by adding any more. You could maybe add a percent or two of caramalt (very light crystal)? It depends on what yeast you're using - any ideas?

[TheMumbler]

I have nottingham in at the moment so I was thinking of using that. I may have saf04 and US05 and I think lancssteve has some windsor I can take and replace at later date. What would you recommend?

[mysterio]

Nottingham will be fine ideally I would add a few percent of caramalt or carapils but that's just fine tuning, the recipe will be good as-is

[TheMumbler]

Thanks for the feedback.

I don't have any caramalt or carapils. I don't think any of the other grains I have (see below) will help with that.

dark wheat malt
lager malt
flaked maize
flaked barley
roasted barley
carafa 3 (150g)
chocolate

I suppose I could up the fermentables and raise the mash temp but to be honest I'm thinking about leaving it as is.

[StAnthonyB]

Cascade is fine in a hoppy bitter IMO although you need a bit of sweetness to back it up. Nothing worse than heavy Cascade flavour in a thin beer.

Pale crystal, what colour EBC is that ? 80 ?

I think what you have for a grist will make a fine beer. Although, I'd say that the glacier might be a little to citrusy (I do like glacier in stout). And, the cascade perhaps wee too heavy on the palate. Some will say, "Yuck!" But if you like Cascade, it's your beer.

Fawcett Pale Crystal is around 23.5 Lovibond. (I don't know EBC ??)
http://www.northcountrymalt.com/pages.php?pageid=6

Use some decent hop instead of that yankee stuff.

Easy, mate.


For the record these hops aren't grown in New England and by definition that means they aren't Yankee.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Use some decent hop instead of that yankee stuff.

Easy, mate.

I'm not your mate and never will be so don't try that one.

[dave-o]

Why the needless hostility?

[TheMumbler]

Cascade is fine in a hoppy bitter IMO although you need a bit of sweetness to back it up. Nothing worse than heavy Cascade flavour in a thin beer.

Pale crystal, what colour EBC is that ? 80 ?

I think what you have for a grist will make a fine beer. Although, I'd say that the glacier might be a little to citrusy (I do like glacier in stout). And, the cascade perhaps wee too heavy on the palate. Some will say, "Yuck!" But if you like Cascade, it's your beer.

Fawcett Pale Crystal is around 23.5 Lovibond. (I don't know EBC ??)

EBC = SRMx1.97, or double SRM to make it easy

I was aiming for citrusy so hopefully it'll be OK. So what would you recommend for using 60g or so of glacier I have left in the freezer? I know very little about them.