A brew day of two halves

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My third AG brewday started with power on at 6.30am and was going fine until 45 mins into the boil when the power cut out, courtesy Western Power Distribution (thanks a lot guys). I considered throwing in the aroma hops until I realised I couldn't even cool the wort (our water is pumped from a bore). What was worse I had just tipped in all my spare wort, intending to boil it down. So the brew spent about two hours coddled in an old sleeping bag gently cooling to 90C before I resumed the boil. I wanted to get it going rapidly again so put the lid on and managed to cover the sleeping bag with hops. Anyway at 5pm I finally pitched a packet of Gervin English ale yeast into 23l at OG1044. Recipe:-

3.5kg Pale
350g Crystal
50g Black
500g Flaked Maize
copper hops 20g Challenger 15g Target
aroma hops 10g each Challenger, Target, Fuggles, and Goldings.

It was initially going to be an attempt at Wheeler's Fuller's ESB, then I decided I didn't want it too strong, so then it was going to be Wheeler's "Caroline's Favourite" at 1040 but I didn't like the idea of the invert sugar, and I had to use at least some of the black malt I'd bought and I did have 4 packets of hops open so I'm not sure how you'd describe the final recipe. Tastes reasonable but then don't they always! Must be a smart name for this, but too tired to think of one.

Exe

[PGSteamer]

Very nice intiative there. Mr Baden Powell would be proud

My lame attempt at some names came up with:
Power Cut Coddler
Coddled Not Cold
Boily Boily Bang Bang
Boilmeister Bellyup

What's the colour of the beer? Does the 50g Black Malt add much redness/browness to it?

[Bigster]

Boily Boily Bang Bang

[Vossy1]

Courage in the face of Adversity

Well done EXE

Instead of ESB how about FFS....For F***s Sake

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Thanks for the suggestions. Possibly "Blackout Bitter" if it ferments down really well. Currently it is happy enough in the back hallway at around 18C. I just skimmed some trub off the head, stirred it around and it foamed back up straight away.

It is hard to judge the colour properly as it is a bit yeasty/murky - it is certainly not a whole lot darker than you would expect from the 10% crystal alone, but yes there might be some extra red/brown in there. I only used 50g (1%) black malt though. It is still really tasty though.

[SteveD]

Thanks for the suggestions. Possibly "Blackout Bitter" if it ferments down really well. Currently it is happy enough in the back hallway at around 18C. I just skimmed some trub off the head, stirred it around and it foamed back up straight away.

It is hard to judge the colour properly as it is a bit yeasty/murky - it is certainly not a whole lot darker than you would expect from the 10% crystal alone, but yes there might be some extra red/brown in there. I only used 50g (1%) black malt though. It is still really tasty though.

With 10% Crystal you're not really going to notice 1% black malt that much unless maybe you had side by side samples without it. You might pick up a faint suggestion of roastiness.

I wouldn't stir it around at this stage, other than VERY gently if absolutely necessary. You don't really want any aeration from this point forward.

I did one called 'Blackout' once, but that was because of what it did to you

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Steve,
Thanks, won't stir it any more! When does the yeast stop needing oxygen? Is it worth stirring at all, even earlier on ? Currenty it's at 41hrs after pitching.