Bishops Bitter

[jimp2003]

Its been nearly 2 months since my last brewday so I thought I would try out one of the new hops I have in stock in a bitter. The Bishop Hop (CF114) is described as having an earthy, honey character so I thought it would work quite well.

If anyone has experience of this hop it would be interesting to hear your views on it. The alternative hop I could use if CF112 which is described as being earthy/fruity.

Here is the recipe:

2013 Bishops Bitter


Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.250
Total Hops (g): 90.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.91 %
Colour (SRM): 10.4 (EBC): 20.4
Bitterness (IBU): 31.7 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 75

Grain Bill
----------------
4.500 kg Belgian Pale Malt (Dingemans) (85.71%)
0.300 kg Biscuit (5.71%)
0.300 kg Crystal 60 (5.71%)
0.150 kg Torrified Wheat (2.86%)

Hop Bill
----------------
50.0 g Bishop (CF114) Leaf (4.5% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes (First Wort) (2.2 g/L)
30.0 g Bishop (CF114) Leaf (4.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
10.0 g Bishop (CF114) Leaf (4.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.4 g/L)

I might use the last 10g of the pack to dry hop...

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 19°C with Safale S-04


Any comments appreciated.

Cheers!

Jim

[seymour]

Nice looking grainbill there. I hadn't even heard of that hop yet. Can't wait to hear how it turns out for you.

Cheers!

[killer]

What, in your opinion, does the Belgian malt bring to that recipe compared to an english base grain ?
My experience with Belgian beers (and I've drunk lots) is that the flavour is almost entirely dominated by the yeast or the high level of alcohol, or even sometimes the hops.
Is it a user upper ? Does it give a twist to an english style ?

Cheers,

Cillian

[jimp2003]

Nice looking grainbill there. I hadn't even heard of that hop yet. Can't wait to hear how it turns out for you.

Cheers!

Cheers Seymour. I will make sure I report back with regard to aromas durin the brewday and the flavour etc once the beer has been tasted.

What, in your opinion, does the Belgian malt bring to that recipe compared to an english base grain ?
My experience with Belgian beers (and I've drunk lots) is that the flavour is almost entirely dominated by the yeast or the high level of alcohol, or even sometimes the hops.
Is it a user upper ? Does it give a twist to an english style ?

Cheers,

Cillian

Hi Cillian. To be honest I bought a sack of the Dingemans pale malt on a bit of a whim instead of the usual maris otter I would use. It was only £4 more that the Crisp MO and £2 cheaper than the Fawcetts from Maltmiller so I thought - Why not?

I am nearly to the end of the bag now and must confess that on the majority of brews where I have used it I have not necessarilly noticed the more malty/bready flavour the Dingemans gives but that is probably due to the style of the beer (i.e. very hoppy). On a couple of lighter beers that I had previously brewed with Crisp pale malt I have noticed more flavour. But having said that my brewing technique is not so consistent for me to put that down to the malt.....

I might go back to the crisp malt next time but we'll see.

One malt that is definitely worth experimenting with is mild ale malt that I have noticed has noticeably improved my milds.

Cheers!


Jim

[jimp2003]

Just finished milling the grains and measuring and treating the water for the brewday tomorrow. I will try to take some pics and post a brewday report although I appreciate it is not the sexiest of beers....

[killer]

Just finished milling the grains and measuring and treating the water for the brewday tomorrow. I will try to take some pics and post a brewday report although I appreciate it is not the sexiest of beers....

I don't know... My first AG was a basic english bitter With MO, crystal and good old english hops. There was no water treatment and almost no carbonation (I blame Graham Wheeler). Since then I've brewed maybe 15 Pale ales/IPA's with water treatment, shed loads of expensive hops from America and New Zealand, fancy yeasts and temperature control. These are definitely my favourite beers, but when I proudly show my latest 300g Citra hop jobby off to my friends or work colleagues, they say (imagine a french accent) it's very nice, but what about that first beer you brewed, when might you make another like it ?

I'm interested to hear about this new hop with the non-english malt...