Bens Ordinary

[macleanb]

Tomorrow (Sunday) myself and Ian will be brewing the below. Based on Whorst's "Quick Bitter" I am hoping to be drinking this in < 2 weeks. As Ian pointed out I am incapable of brewing anything that is both below 1060, or with at least 5 malts - so in keeping with tradition I am using 5 malts (even if the OG is a little low for me)!

Whorst's didnt have any choc/roasted, so I added a little for a wee bit more flavour:

Bens Ordinary
English Ordinary Bitter


Type: All Grain
Date: 05/10/2008
Batch Size: 24.00 L
Brewer: Ben
Boil Size: 27.47 L Asst Brewer: Ian
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.20 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 82.90 %
0.45 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 11.66 %
0.15 kg Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 3.89 %
0.03 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 0.78 %
0.03 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 0.78 %
28.30 gm Fuggles [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 15.8 IBU
28.00 gm Fuggles [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
24.43 L London, England Water
SO4 Yeast

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.037 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.59 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 25.3 IBU Calories: 90 cal/l
Est Color: 24.3 EBC

[ECR]

Good luck for Sunday

[booldawg]

Hope all goes well for tomorrow No doubt you'll be able to crack a bottle open once the boil is underway!

[macleanb]

Right, Mash On! about 3pm. Facing brewing without a beer (yet) which is unusual - brewing slight variation on the above having run out of crystal, so used just a little caramunch:

Bens Ordinary 05/10/2008
Batch Size: 24.00 L Brewer: Ben Asst Brewer: Ian
Boil Size: 27.47 L Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.20 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 82.69 %
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 10.34 %
0.15 kg Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 3.88 %
0.05 kg Caramunch Malt (110.3 EBC) Grain 1.29 %
0.04 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 1.03 %
0.03 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 0.78 %
28.30 gm Fuggles [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 15.8 IBU
28.00 gm Fuggles [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
20.00 gm Styrian [2.60 %] (20 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
12.00 gm Burton Water Salts (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
24.43 L London, England Water
1 Pkgs SO4 - SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Kids playing nicely, this teas a bit flat..... (throats dry too, mmm..)

[maxashton]

Sainsburgs have half pint bottles of Duvel for 1.60 at the mo, nip and grab yourself a couple.

[macleanb]

All wraped p and put to bed by 7PM - we are getting better - just 4 1/2 hours.

Nice deep copper colour, smelling very nice... No pics this time, just got on with it.

Sampled my ABA which is showing signs of promise, it's a bit full on still at the moment, but by the third mouthfull when most of your lupulone receptors have died off a bit, its decidely moorish...

Also had a bottle of Ians Blencathra Best, which brewed in may, had matured nicely...

Cheers...

[macleanb]

Quick Update - transfered this to cornie on Friday night, only go down to 1012, but not entirely amazed due to speciality malts. However, thought I better have a sup to see how she was ccoming along - and the answer was bootiful! I've necked about 8 pints so far - lovely fresh beer, not at all green, nice subtle bitterness and aroma - lovely stuff. Thanks Whorst for the basic guidance...

[Damfoose]

Looks like one to put on my list of to doooooos

[macleanb]

Its a nice pint, I am happiest when I think - if someone served me that in a pub would I be pleased - and the answer is yes! We even had some nice warm weather which made supping a cool pint even better.

But more than that it was ready in just 7 days - until I saw Whorst post I didnt know that was possible! Hadn't got anything else to drink except for some high OG which needs more time - this was the only way to buy that time! I am also amazed at how clear it is - no finings - just SO4. I thought it was cloudier, until I relised it jst was holding a lot of fine condition which clears in a minute or two...

[Whorst]

Nice! I'm glad it worked out. Nothing better than brewing a nice Bitter and knocking a few pints back after 7 days. I racked mine on the 3rd day of fermentation into the corny and served on day 7 on my beer engine. It was nicely conditioned and like yours, bootiful! I hope other people have a go. The style itself is one of the worlds greatest beers.

[macleanb]

About the only thing I could have asked for more would be to serve it through a beer engine (sigh)... I just left mine in primary for the week, and racked very carefully into cornie.

Your right - a truly great style, and my outhouse is around 12-14c at the moment - which is just the right temperature - I'd forgotten how good a pint of just plain ordinary bitter could be...

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Are the speciality malts necessary or could I get away with a simple variation using some of the following? (By the way this'll be my 2nd AG so my stocks and knowledge aren't up to the advanced standards of some of the guys here ....snivel snivel) Cos my first AG is only gonna last one evening as there are a few of us drinking and its much better than my kit beers/canned beer (Jupiler, Maes etc)/bottled beers (Duvel, Chimay, Orval) that I want more. By the way for anyone I've just shocked by admiting that a) I drink Jupiler and Maes or b) I rate my own AG above the Belgian demi-gods of Duvel, Chimay and Orval....well you can have too much of a good thing and I miss my English bitter.

Belgian Pale Malt
Crystal Malt
A bit of Fuggles about 60g
A bit more of Challenger about 70g
Slightly less Styrian about 50g

Cheers,

Paul

[delboy]

I would say the chocolate and roast barley would be an important part of the flavour profile, you could go ahead though and brew something with what you have to hand it'll just be a bit different.