Bitter recipe

[Skittlebrau]

Okay, putting this out there. I've put this together with the following criteria in mind:

Relatively cheap ingredient-wise
Straightforward grain bill
Solid, uncomplicated, satisfying "tastes like beer" taste.

I've used Warrior because a lot of people seem to use them for bittering so I'm guessing they're not foul when used for this. I've also used some for a bit of aroma after reading their description on the Malt Miller website. However, having looked around a bit, no-one else seems to use them for this purpose. Is it a terrible idea?

Any other advice/input into this recipe will be warmly received. One thing I was considering was bringing the mash temperature down as the Crystal content is so high...

It should be noted that I also have S-04 and T-58 available and could save the WY1728 for another brew.

House Bitter
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 26.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.850
Total Hops (g): 53.04
Original Gravity (OG): 1.042 (°P): 10.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 3.91 %
Colour (SRM): 9.4 (EBC): 18.5
Bitterness (IBU): 37.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 72
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.030 kg Maris Otter Malt (83.09%)
0.481 kg Crystal 60 (9.92%)
0.339 kg Wheat Malt (6.99%)

Hop Bill
----------------
21.8 g Warrior Leaf (17% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
31.2 g Warrior Leaf (17% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 68°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[seymour]

It looks good overall, I'm sure it'll meet your requirements and be a tasty, easy drinker.

A couple minor quibbles:

1. Warrior is a super-alpha, bred for bittering. You'll get the most "bang for your buck" since you need so very little in the early addition to efficiently reach your target IBU. However, it definitely does not produce typical English/Scottish hoppy flavours and aromas in the late addition. I'd urge you to replace the 0 minute addition with something traditional like Fuggles, Goldings, Whitbread Goldings Variety, Bramling Cross, etc.

2. Wyeast 1728 "Scottish Ale" is a phenomenal strain, the historic McEwans yeast, and one of my all-time favorites. However, it is HIGHLY attenuative, so this recipe will almost certainly ferment lower than OG 1012, and thus your alcohol content will be several ticks over 4% as well. That's not a bad thing, it'll just have a lighter body and crisper, drier finish than you expected.

3. Also, using this yeast technically transforms your recipe from an English Bitter to a Scottish Export 80/-, in case you're that nit-picky or plan to enter it in a competition.

Cheers, and happy brewing!
-Seymour

[orlando]

I brewed a Scottish Ale with that yeast and I have to say it turned out brilliantly, even though it is not a style I particularly warmed to. I found that it was a good idea to ferment at a low temp and went for 17c, takes a little longer but still attenuated really well. Clarity was amazing, head retention was astonishing and the maltiness was huge. I was after a mash temp of 69 but missed by 1 degree, if you want the malt to shine somewhere round this is ideal.

[Barley Water]

Yeah I agree with Mr. Seymour, Warrior is a great bittering hop (and in fact is my go to ale bittering hop) but not so good as a late or dry hop. If you want your beer to taste British, I personally would stay away from any hop that has the grapefruit/pine tree aroma and flavor typical of say Cascade and stick with the old British standbys, Kent Goldings and Fuggles (and I am sure there are others). To my taste anyway, British hops have more of an "earthy" aspect to them and of course that plays well with the British malt flavors we all just love. On the other hand, if you want something that just reeks of hops, well the boys on this side of the pond can certainly accomidate that (and I just put a light bodied APA on tap which I bursted with Amarillo and Simcoe, smells like a hopyard).

[Skittlebrau]

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. Not too bothered on the style accuracy thing, but will consider using the S-04 instead. I also bought some EKG to use for the late addition. Still very curious to give Warrior a go as an aroma hop though. Perhaps in another brew.

[seymour]

Hey man, you're the brewmaster. Don't let us talk you out of Warrior or McEwans. Like I said, it'll undoubtedly be a tasty, easy-drinker. I was just giving you some additional info to fine-tune your expectations...

[louiscowdroy]

Hey man, you're the brewmaster. Don't let us talk you out of Warrior or McEwans. Like I said, it'll undoubtedly be a tasty, easy-drinker. I was just giving you some additional info to fine-tune your expectations...

Mate,

Can u use Warrior for aroma as well??

[seymour]

You can use any hop for aroma, so yes. Warrior has an unpleasant aroma, and you live in the country with the world's best aroma hops, so why would you?

[Skittlebrau]

You can use any hop for aroma, so yes. Warrior has an unpleasant aroma, and you live in the country with the world's best aroma hops, so why would you?

This is one of the things I really wanted to know! Unpleasant how?

[seymour]

You can use any hop for aroma, so yes. Warrior has an unpleasant aroma, and you live in the country with the world's best aroma hops, so why would you?

This is one of the things I really wanted to know! Unpleasant how?

It's hard to describe, and you may brew with them and disagree, but just not very good.

So, you know how dedicated aroma varieties smell very smooth, flowery, perfumey, resiny, citrusy, peppery? Bring to mind your favorite English ales, preferably something with lots of late hops or dry hops. Remember all that delicious marmalade, drizzled honey, dried apricot stuff going on? All that stuff is very mild and muted with Warrior, mixed with some rough-around-the-edges, leafy, weedy, tomato plant, faint musky scents. Maybe not offensive, exactly, but not pleasant. It's not Warrior's fault, he was bred only for super high alpha acids, which makes him really, really good at his bittering job. But the other essential oils and stuff fell-off along the way, so he doesn't pretty-up well for the ball, so to say.

Surely it's not hard for an Englishman to source a handful of any heavenly Fuggles, Goldings or similarly-derived cultivar to use for aroma instead, right?

[louiscowdroy]

You can use any hop for aroma, so yes. Warrior has an unpleasant aroma, and you live in the country with the world's best aroma hops, so why would you?

I know, to be honest, I've been using US hops for ages and a friend of mine said hey do want my US hops I was like yeah sure why? He said, well I want to try and get back to my routes and use British Hops and see what I can do.

I was thinking about this a lot when I came home and I came to the conclusion that he had a good point and I would also try and use milder hops and be more cunning in my brewing techiques (or try too anyhow)...lol.

[Skittlebrau]

You can use any hop for aroma, so yes. Warrior has an unpleasant aroma, and you live in the country with the world's best aroma hops, so why would you?

This is one of the things I really wanted to know! Unpleasant how?

It's hard to describe, and you may brew with them and disagree, but just not very good.

So, you know how dedicated aroma varieties smell very smooth, flowery, perfumey, resiny, citrusy, peppery? Bring to mind your favorite English ales, preferably something with lots of late hops or dry hops. Remember all that delicious marmalade, drizzled honey, dried apricot stuff going on? All that stuff is very mild and muted with Warrior, mixed with some rough-around-the-edges, leafy, weedy, tomato plant, faint musky scents. Maybe not offensive, exactly, but not pleasant. It's not Warrior's fault, he was bred only for super high alpha acids, which makes him really, really good at his bittering job. But the other essential oils and stuff fell-off along the way, so he doesn't pretty-up well for the ball, so to say.

Surely it's not hard for an Englishman to source a handful of any heavenly Fuggles, Goldings or similarly-derived cultivar to use for aroma instead, right?

Not hard at all, indeed it's already done! The aroma addition will now be EKG.

[seymour]

Score! Now you're talking about a classic English bitter. Happy brewing!

[Skittlebrau]

This now looks like this.

More chocolate? Only want a subtle influence from it, but not so subtle as to be non-existent.

Hoose Bitter
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 26.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.850
Total Hops (g): 51.84
Original Gravity (OG): 1.042 (°P): 10.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 3.91 %
Colour (SRM): 11.0 (EBC): 21.6
Bitterness (IBU): 37.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 72
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.030 kg Maris Otter Malt (83.09%)
0.400 kg Crystal 60 (8.25%)
0.339 kg Wheat Malt (6.99%)
0.081 kg Chocolate, Pale (1.67%)

Hop Bill
----------------
21.8 g Warrior Leaf (17% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
30.0 g East Kent Golding Leaf (4.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 69°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[seymour]

Looks absolutely delicious. You probably won't get much chocolate from such a small percentage of the pale version, but I like it. I think it'll add some subtle complexity typically not found in a relatively pale ale. And again, just bear in mind your McEwans yeast strain will almost certainly finish below 1012, so your ABV will be a bit above 4% as well. Yum! Best of luck!