Eternally Greatful ESB

Twas time to brew a tribute brew to all things great about Great Britain, little england, In loving memory of English Roses, London Pride, Past Masters, the Queen and that is good and great about a nation that loves its past and style and plum with a passion and for good reason.  They did win a war or 2 least we forget! They gave us James Bond 'shaken but not stirred' and continue to pump out some outstanding ales in glorious reflection of their past but with a modern style and in build British character.  As so aptly spoken by a true British character John Keeling Brewing Director @Fuller's the home of London Pride and ESB "if we are going to brew beer with character we need characters brewing it".  So I set forth with a relatively 'true to style' recipe to pay my respect for great brewing heritage and style with this oh some humble and possibly slightly hoppy tribute to an English Special Bitter

Brew Day: Sat 3 Oct 2014

Gladfield Malt Grain Bill

Kiwi malted made by Kiwi maltsters - they all or most of em descended from Great Britain or close to it and I know for a fact the barley was an English variety, most probably Taverner (an old Guiness variety) grown on the Canterbury plains which are just about as British as the Duke himself.

1. Gladfield Ale Malt 4.3 Kg 86%
2. Gladfield Light Crystal Malt 0.4Kg 8%
3. Gladfield Biscuit Malt 0.3Kg 6%

Hops

Two fair English maidens here - true and true to the roses of this great nation! Miss Fuggles & her lovely sister Miss East Kent Goldings

1. 40g Fuggles (pellets) @60 mins
2. 20g Fuggles @30mins
3. 15g EK Goldings @20mins
4. 10g EK Goldings @10mins
5. 10g EK Goldings @0 mins

I digress here a tad before returning to Yeast to mention a trip I was fortunate to make to another great brewing nation - the Netherlands in mid 2013 and stumbled upon a wonderful craft brewery in the red light district - don't ask me what I was doing there - it was a lazy Saturday afternoon walk.  In I went to tour and talk to the brewers who kindly showed me around and informed me they brewed exclusively with German and Czech malts and UK hops and only one hop in particular EK Goldings. No US hops allowed they told me to my amazement. They made every style imaginable from pale ale through to barley wine with Ms Goldings as their flower of choice.  I was fortunate enough to return in the evening that same day and sample rather a few of their great brews with the brewers at the bar (post brew day knock offs) and thoroughly enjoyed the beers so much I vowed to pay some humble tribute in my home brewing to Miss Goldings at some future later date - much later as it turned out!  Another gratuitous brewery bar & beer shots of De Prael...a home of good beer and English hop flowers

 

Yeast

Veered a little West of little England here opting for an Irish yeast

• White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

First time to use White Labs and pleased to pick up a fresh vile from my good friends @CoreBrewingConcepts it would not be wasted and was put to good work on an English gent - how dare we do that to poor Molly!

Brewing aids and water treatment

• 5g + 5g of Calcium Chloride & Caclium Sulphate (Gypsum) to treat water
• 1/2 tsp of White Labs Yeast Nutrient + 1/2 tab of Irish Moss

Mash

Nothing abnormal to report this time round and pretty much hit my mash temp in the Rubbermaid Esky did a couple of Iodine tests and got a SG of 1.050 into the boil

Boil

The trusty Crown Urn took a while to get it up but eventually he hit his paces and gave the wort a jolly good boil for 60+ before immersion chill and a new highly experimental esky ice crash chill.

Music to brew by:

• Snow Patrol - are they british?

Knock off beer:

• Boatrocker Alpha Queen a sublime and happy ending

Wash Up:

Was washed up and off to @TwoBirdsBrewing in time to join the Westside Drinkers on their inagrual pub crawl from the Spottiswoode (did they get one?) via TwoBirds Brewery (didn't see either) with a wrap up @JunctionHotelNewport! A suitably happy ending to a happy brew day.

Brown Ale (mighty fine one) @Two Birds Brewery in Spotswood

Racking:

Wed 8th Oct  - racked and dry hopped with 20g of East Kent Goldings (might leave that later next time 2-3 days prior to bottling).  Took a hydrometer reading 1.020

Conditioning:

Wed 15th Oct - chilled down to 8C

Mon 19th Oct - chilled down further to 2C

Sat 25th Oct - FG 1.012 - time to bottle on a Saturday night - what else does on do on a Saturday night?

153g of Briess LME CBW Munich bulk priming and pulled off 19 tallies and 18 stubbies.

Tasting notes:

• First stubbie Sun 2 Nov only a week or 8 days in bottle and suitably cloudy with pronounced hoppiness but not quite in balance
• 3 tallies shared with Ant Delaney Thu 6 Nov and each glass tasted better and better until I was told I was driving the Delaney's home. Doh! Stop!
• 1 Pint on Fri 7th Nov - tasted so good I had to go to the beer fridge and raid my Emersons growler of Unhappy NY Hefe! Bad idea!
• Its morish and has the 'moorishness' that Richard Fuller the Sales Director requests John Keeling brew into his London Pride or at least it does for me anyway.  A rough enough kiwi irish b@#4%^d of an English Special Bitter for me :-)