Bitters abound

I'd say I'm way overdue to visit England.  While I'd love to see the pastoral countryside that Ralph Vaughan Williams depicted in music during the first half of the past century, I definitely need to spend some time down the pub with a few hand-pulled pints of ordinary, best, and/or extra special bitter.  While I've enjoyed British-styled pale ales in the States, especially on cask, I've never had the opportunity to revel in the "real thing."  Until I manage to finagle myself into the British Isles, I'll have to make due by brewing my own, five gallons at a time.

I enjoy the challenge of brewing session beers (below 4.5% ABV, as defined by some) in general, and it's one that I still strive to perfect.  British pale ales, particular the lowest gravity ordinary bitters, have been source of immense brewing pleasure for me over the years; finding the balance between malt, hops, and characterful yeast in a low-alcohol package has put me to the test and has at times yielded phenomenal beers.  With cooler weather approaching (and now upon us) this seemed a perfect style to keep me (and others) off the streets and indoors sipping pint after pint of beautifully balanced easy-drinking beer.

The wort was relatively straight ahead, mimicking some of my early successes in the style: neutral American base malt with a fair measure of crystal for residual sweetness, followed up by a bit of brown sugar to up fermentability.  This was a split batch; one half received a pretty traditional hop schedule of Kent Goldings

and Fuggles, the other half built on Willamettes and Styrian Goldings that worked so well in my early attempts with bitters, specifically in one I named S.O.B. (for "Standard/Ordinary Bitter").  Two different English yeasts added a bit more interest.  And with that, we were off.

The batch with the Willamettes and Styrians ended up a little higher in gravity than I intended, moving into the special bitter range, but everything else went pretty well according to plan.  These beers sat a bit longer in the fermenters than I would've preferred; while bitters can turn around in as little as a week and are often best as fresh as possible, these had to wait for about a month before I managed to bottle them.  I was worried when I sampled a couple early bottles; one batch had me concerned that the yeast had flocced out enough to make carbonation difficult, and the other that it had sat long enough to pick up a bit of acetobacter.  After an additional week and a half of sitting, though, everything seems to have pretty much come out all right.  The more tradition bitter is smooth and has a nice malty finish, while the S.O.B. has a bit more initial bite from the Styrians.  This has the makings of a fine early autumn, to be sure.

Double Batch Ordinary Bitter - Trad Bitter & S.O.B.
Batch size: 10 gallons
Projected OG: 1.043
Projected SRM: 7.1
Projected IBU: 33.8/35.0
Boil time: 70 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 89%

Grains/Fermentables
9 lb Malteurop 2-row
2 lb C 40
1 lb Carapils
1 lb Light brown sugar (8 oz per batch; 60 min)

Hops (Trad)
.5 oz Phoenix (10.2%) (60 min)
1 oz EKG (5.8%) (10 min)
1 oz Fuggle (4.2%) (10 min)

Hops (S.O.B.)
1 oz Willamette (4.7%) (60 min)
.7 oz Willamette (20 min)
1 oz Styrian Goldings (3.2%) (15 min)
1 oz Styrian Goldings (5 min)

Yeast
Trad - WY1968 London ESB
S.O.B. - WY1469 West Yorkshire Ale

Extras (per batch)
1 tsp Irish moss (10 min)
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (10 min)

Water additions
9 qts RO water (mash)
1 g Gypsum (mash)
1 g Salt (mash)
4 g Gypsum (2 g each boil)

Brewday: 2 September 2012

Mash: 154F for 4 hours
1st sparge: 22 qts @ 200F
2nd sparge: 23 qts @ 190F
Pre-boil volume: 14 gallons
Pre-boil gravity (w/o sugar): 7.1P (1.028)

Trad fermenter volume: 5.1 gallons
OG: 10.0P (1.040)

S.O.B. fermenter volume: 4.8
OG: 11.6P (1.046) - now a special bitter, apparently

Fermented in swamp coolers @ 62F ambient

Bottled: 29 September 2012
Trad FG: 1.006
ABV: 4.4%

S.O.B. FG: 1.007
ABV: 5.1%

Each bottled with 2 oz light brown sugar.

Tasting: Both batches ended up on the watery side, with a decent malt presence.  They share an off-flavour, though, that I can't quite place; at first I thought it might be acetobacter, but that hasn't developed.  Possibly oxidation?