Bitter recipe?

[yashicamat]

Probably one of the most common threads this but just wondering what folks thought to my basic bitter recipe? I'm looking to produce a bulk bitter for a Christmas do, so want to run a trial first:

25 litre brew length:

3981g Low Colour Maris Otter (88%)
316g Crystal Malt (7%)
135g Wheat Malt (3%)
90g Chocolate Malt (1%)

Northdown 30g for 60 minutes boil
Northdown 20g for 15 minutes boil

1 x Protofloc
1x pkt. Safale S-04

Estimated OG: 1043
Estimated FG: 1010
Estimated Bitterness: 33 IBUs
Estimated abv: 4.3%

[Mountain]

Looks pretty good to me, but I'm not sure about the wheatmalt in a bitter?
I did something similar a while back, but with 200g of amber malt rather than the wheat malt.

I used Williamette and I think, Liberty for hops.

Anyway, was one of my best basic bitters.

[boingy]

Wheat will give you a bit of head retention. I tend to use torrified wheat rather than wheat malt but it does not make much difference in that quantity.
I prefer my bitters without chocolate malt but that's just a personal preference and you are using a tiny amount in any case.

Go for it. It's nice to see a normal bitter recipe. Sometimes I read the forums and wonder whether anyone ever brews "ordinary" beer lol

[Mountain]

Doh! Ask a silly question.
I've only recently been sticking 100-200g of torrified wheat in my brews.
-
I do quite a lot of ordinary-ish beers, but keep getting this experimental urge every so often

[yashicamat]

Thanks for the replies folks. The choc malt is in there to add a little malty complexity to the beer; the intended audience prefer malty beers to hoppy beers!

[WishboneBrewery]

You could add a bit of Vienna or Munich malt to further those Malty notes.

[yashicamat]

Brewed today with an OG of 1046, so my efficiency has gone up! Must be about 84% / 85% ish now but needs recalculating properly.

[Rookie]

Thanks for the replies folks. The choc malt is in there to add a little malty complexity to the beer; the intended audience prefer malty beers to hoppy beers!

I had a bitter recipe that I wasn't quite satisfied with until I added a bit of roasted type malt (victory). A little bit of complexity in a low O.G. ale goes a long way.