ESB inspired beer

[iowalad]

Monk,

My beer will be similar to Graham Wheeler's Fullers ESB as found in BYOBRA:

5 US gals
Pale Ale Malt 8.9 lbs
Crystal 4.8 ounces
Flaked Maize 11.2 ounces
Black Malt .9 ounces

Start of boil (90 min)
Target hops .5 ounces
Challenger .8 ounces

Last 15 minutes

Goldings .6 ounces

Mash 151 90 minutes

IBU: 35
SRM: 16

Wyeast 1968 (ferment at 70F).

I tweak it a little for my taste and system. I use tinseth for bittering. I decided to go with the flaked maize recipe although as I understand it Fullers no longer uses maize or caramel.

For the rest of the world a 23 litre batch:

Pale Ale Malt 4950g
Crystal 165g
Flaked Maize 385 g
Black Malt 31g

Start of boil (90 min)
Target hops 18g
Challenger 27g

Last 15 minutes

Goldings 20g

[monk]

Cool. I must admit that ESB is the clone I've tried to pull off the most number of times and has never come out much like the real thing. Mine is always too light and not rich enough. Maybe it's the malt, or something. Like I said, I got closer with a totally different recipe than ever before, I think. I've never tried the black malt, though. Have you done it this way before?

[iowalad]

This is my first go - mashing as I type. Per Beersmith it comes out a bit light colorwise yet my beers always seem to come out a bit darker than predicted (maybe excessive boil with my propane?).

[monk]

How's this one going, IL? I bet the yeast is already compact on the bottom.

I had a pint of ESB last night and wondered at the difference from bottle to bottle. Sometimes it tastes hoppy, and other times very little hop aroma/flavor. I chalk it up to the time it spends on ships and it warehouses before it gets to my house. Cask ESB is quite hoppy, right?