ESB

I bought a bunch of EKG hops in my last big hop buy with the intention of doing an English IPA. I figured I would grow a culture of WLP002 by brewing a smaller batch of ESB, rather than doing a 5L starter or whatever it would take me to make enough yeast for a bigger beer from a vial. I also wanted to have something tasty and sessionable around as the weather breaks. 

I've never done an ESB before, but I have done several batches of Welsh Pale Ale. This recipe reminded me of that beer quite a bit albeit with considerably more bitterness.

I'm using a combination of hop extract and EKG to get to the bitterness that I want to. In Mitch Steele's IPA book, he mentioned that English brewers would often bag their hops and pull them out after 30 minutes because they found that a longer boil extracted harsher flavor. I figured I could accomplish something like this by combining EKG bittering addition with a calculated amount of extract. I added 3.8 ml of extract and 2 oz of EKG at 30 minutes. According to HopUnion's extract calculator, that will give me 30 IBU in extract and according to Beersmith, I'll get 10 IBU from the 2oz of EKG at 30 minutes. That will put me at just north of 40 IBU once you throw in the knockout hops.

Brew notes:

Treated strike water with campden, 10g gypsum, and 10g calcium chloride for a target water profile of:

Calcium: 117
Magnesium: 5
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 69
Sodium: 20
Chloride: 117
Sulfate: 131
RA as CACO3: -18

I'm seeking balance in the chloride/sulfate ratio and plenty of calcium. The 20g split between calcium chloride and gypsum got me where I wanted to be with my RA without using acid. The next time I brew this, depending on how this one turns out, I will dial back or the calcium chloride and/or gypsum and use a lactic acid addition to compensate and keep my pH where I want it to be.

Mash pH 5.35.

Mashed for 70 minutes at 152, then raised the temperature to 168. I paid particular attention to may sparge temperature for this beer to see if that helped in my extract efficiency. I knew I left some extract in the mash tun on my last DIPA and I wondered if this was the culprit.

Transferred ~14 gallons of wort to the boil kettle. There was still a bit of wort left in the mash tun that couldn't fit comfortably in the kettle. Tasting it, the wort was tannic and not very sweet. The leftover wort was dumped with the spent grain.

Set the timer for a 70 minute boil, added hops and extract at 30 minutes, added rehydrated irish moss and yeast nutrient at 15 minutes, and knockout hops at flameout.

Chilled to 64 degrees, oxygenated for 120 seconds, pitched 2.5L of WLP 002.

OG: 1.048 @ 12 gallons.

Recipe: 

Batch size: 12 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048 SG

Estimated Color: 7.2 SRM

Estimated IBU: 41.0 IBUs

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         

10.00 g               Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   1        -             

10.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -             

16 lbs                Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         3        84.2 %        

2 lbs                 Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM)           Grain         4        10.5 %        

1 lbs                 Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM)   Grain         5        5.3 %         

3.00 oz               Hop Extract [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min    Hop           6        30.8 IBUs     

2.00 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 30.0 Hop           7        10.3 IBUs     

3.80 ml               CO2 Hop Extract (Boil 30.0 mins)         Other         8        -             

2.00 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Steep/Whi Hop           9        0.0 IBUs      

1.0 pkg               English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49  Yeast         10       -             

Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body

Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs

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Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     

Saccharification  Add 23.75 qt of water at 163.7 F        152.0 F       60 min        

Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 11.54 gal water at 168.0 F