Screwy's Double Recipe #51 - Extra Special Strong Bitter (All Grain)

This recipe is a retake on my latest attempt, 2 weeks ago, to brew the perfect ESB using all grain, select hops and the yeast pitched in my previous ESB fermentation. I call it a double recipe because of the way it's brewed. I used 11 pounds of grain and 7 ounces of hops in this recipe. The recipe is calculated using a 4.25 gallon batch size, which is 2 times the volume of a Mr. Beer keg, this way I can fill 2 Mr. Beer kegs from a single batch.

Marris Otter, Biscuit, Fuggle, Kent Golding, Willamette and WLP005

The trick to doing a double batch using my method is to have two 12 quart boil pots filled with hot wort during the lautering process. I now put 1.5 ounces of Fuggle hops in each of the 2 boil pots at the start of the lauter and then alternate between the 2 pots when filling. If you completely fill one pot before filling the second pot the first would have a much higher OG than the second.

3 Ounces Of Fuggle First Wort Hops In 2 Boil Pots

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Recipe:

Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 
Size 4.25 gallons: Estimated IBU=66, SRM=11, OG=1.073, FG=1.018, ABV=7.1%

10.0 pounds Marris Otter Malt (UK)

  1.0 pounds Biscuit Malt (Belgium)

 3.0 ounces Fuggle (U.K.) hops (first wort hops)

 2.0 ounces Kent Goldings (U.K.) hops (15 mins)

 2.0 ounces Willamette hops (7 mins)

1 Tube White Labs WLP005 - British Ale Yeast™ 

Aerate, pitch at 70° F and ferment at 66° F for 12 days

Raise to 70° F over days 13 to 14 then rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34° F

Keg at 30 psi for 2-3 days and serve at 34° F

Mash at 156° F for 90 minutes.

Boil for 60 minutes.

Ferment at 66° F (18.8 °C).

Directions:  

** Infusion mash at 156°F for 90 minutes ** 

(Soak mash tun in 8 quarts of 180° F water for 20 minutes to pre heat it)

Heat 21 quarts of filtered water to 174° F

Pour 14 quarts of 174° F water into mash tun

Mix in 11.0 pounds of crushed grain mix at 58° F

Pour the remaining 174° F water to fill mash tun to 4.50 gallon mark

Stir water and grain mixture and adjust to 156°F and mash for 90 minutes

Sparge with 170° F strike water to set mash bed to 168° F

(Split these quantities between both boil pots)

Add 3 ounces of Fuggles (UK) hops to boil pots as first wort hop addition

Lauter for 30 minutes adding 11.5 quarts of sweet wort to both boil pots

Full Wort Boil:

Add 2 ounce Kent Goldings (U.K.) hops with 15 minutes remaining to boil

Add 1/8 tablet WhirlFloc with 9 minutes remaining to boil

Add 2 ounce Willamette hops with 7 minutes minutes remaining to boil

Use Screwy's Cooler wort chiller to cool wort to 70°F

Primary Fermentation:

Pour wort through strainer to remove excess hop and grain debris

Fill the Mr. Beer fermenter with wort to just above the 8.5 quart mark

Aerate wort and pitch 1 package of Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) at 70°F or WLP005

Ferment at 68°F for 12 days, raise to 70°F over days 13 to 14 for rest
** WLP005 Rouse yeast occasionally if needed to promote fermentation

Secondary Fermentation:

Rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34°F

Keg/Bottle:

Keg and force carbonate at 30 psi for 2-3 days at 34°F

Bottle prime and carbonate at 70° for 7-14 days

Setting The Grain Bed For Before The 30 Minute Lauter

I use a 5 gallon mash tun that I made myself with parts purchased from Home Depot. I used the calculation below to determine how much water and at what temperature it had to be added to hit my 156° F mash temperature. I set my mash thickness to 1.25 using 11 pounds of grain and that came out to 13.75 quarts of water

** Infusion mash at 156° F for 90 minutes **

Mash Thickness:   11.0 * 1.25 = 13.75 quarts

Grain Absorption: 11.0 *  .13 =  6.0  quarts

                               ---------------

                                19.75 quarts 174°F (Strike Water)

The combined grain and water mash volume would take up 4.32 gallons of space in my 5 gallon mash tun, leaving me a little over .5 gallon of room for making temperature adjustments if needed.  Using a Strike Temperature Calculator I found that a mash thickness of 1.25 and a grain temperature of 58° F would require the strike water temperature to be 174° F to hit the 156° F mash temperature.

Two 12 Quart Boil Pots One Boils 60 Minutes The Other 90 Minutes

By boiling one pot for 90 minutes and the other pot for 60 minutes I am able to use a wort chiller to cool the first pot down to pitching temperature and pitch the yeast with about 10 minutes to spare before the end of the second pot's boil. This saves considerable time over doing two 90 minute mashes followed by two 60-90 minute boils.

Wort Chiller Quickly Lowers The Temperature For Pitching

As the wort was cooling down I filled a keg from one of the Mr. Beer fermenters that had my original ESB recipe in it for 14 days. I left about 1/4 inch of beer on top of the trub at the bottom and screwed the lid back on it for safe keeping until I was ready to pour the cooled wort into it. 

Kegging The Original ESB Recipe To Make Room In The Fermenter

Once the wort had been cooled down to the same temperature as the trub in the fermenter I poured it directly into the fermenter stirring up the trub and yeast that was left there after filling my keg. 

Trub And Yeast Reused From The Previous Fermentation

Pouring the cooled wort directly onto the trub at the bottom of the fermenter allows air to get mixed into the wort and it also breaks the trub up into smaller pieces. This has the same effect as aerating the wort before pitching new yeast.

Pouring Directly Onto Trub Aerated The Wort

Five hours later I looked in to see a nice thick layer of krausen at the top of both fermenters. The temperature inside the fermenters had already climbed a few degrees.

Fermenters With Thick Krausen After 5 Hours

By the next morning both fermenters had really taken off, the krausen was touching the tops of the lids and the inside temperature had risen to 70° F  a full 5° F higher than room temperature.

Fast And Furious Fermentation In Action

Refrigerator Draft Beer Tap Installation

After buying about 100 one liter PET bottles and using them exclusively for bottling my homebrew for almost a year I decided it was time to try kegging instead. It's not that I came to hate bottling I had by this time gotten really efficient at it. I used a priming calculator to determine how much sugar I had to add to each bottle to hit the right carbonation level for the style of beer I was bottling.

Perlick 'Perl' 575SS Sanitary Beer Faucet With Creamer

I guess what bothered me the most was the small amount of trub at the bottom of each bottle and the fact that most folks didn't know how to pour a glass without stirring the trub up making the rest of the beer cloudy. Filtering my beer sounded like an expensive time consuming process that I wouldn't want to do, but kegging now that sounded promising.

I had picked up my kegging system complete with 5 pound aluminum Co2 tank, regulator with high and low pressure gauges and the assortment of tubing, valves and beer in and beer out ball locks needed for a kegging setup. I had also bought two 2.5 gallon kegs to hold my beer and initially put the whole setup, including a cobra picnic tap to serve the beer, inside my refrigerator. Things were now starting to get interesting the idea of having fresh homebrew on tap was awesome!

Co2 Kegging System Tank, Gauges And Kegs

We soon realized that going inside the refrigerator to pour a beer and having to open the door open each time was a pain. This would become really expensive during the summer as well when temperatures inside the garage can reach 100 F and holding the door open would cause the compressor to run continuously. The best idea was to mount a beer tap right into the sidewall of the refrigerator, this would be more convenient and save a lot of energy.

Perl Tap Mounted In Refrigerator Sidewall

In order to mount the 2.5 inch beer shank in the refrigerator wall we used a 1 inch hole saw and an electric drill. We measured from the floor up to the center of the beer shank 41 inches, using an average person's comfortable pouring height, and marked the center of the hole.
 

Use A 1 Inch Hole Saw To Drill The Shank Hole

The Perl tap was screwed onto the shank on the outside and then the shank nut was used to tighten the tap assembly from the inside of the refrigerator. The length of 5/16 inch ID vinyl tubing was then pushed onto the 5/16 barb on the shank and held in place with a small hose clamp. The other end of the 50 inch long tubing was then connected to the beer out ball lock using 2 small hose clamps to hold the 5/16 inch ID vinyl tubing to the 1/4 inch OD barb on the ball lock.

Inside Shank Connection Shown With Beer In Tubing

Next we mounted the Co2 tank and gauges on the outside of the refrigerator, this was done to give back some much need room to store beer and other items and to provide more accurate gas pressure gauge readings when adjusting the Co2 regulator. A 5/8 inch diameter hole was drill through the wall and a small rubber grommet was pushed into place to protect the vinyl gas line from being cut by any sharp metal edges.

Small Rubber Grommet In 5/8 Inch Hole For Gas Line

A screw fastened to the garage wall and a length of electrical wire was used to protect the regulator and gauges from crashing to the floor in case they were carelessly knocked over. A grommet was also used on the hole inside the refrigerator to protect the tubing and provide a more finished look to the installation.

Keg, Gas And  Beer Lines Are All Ready To Pour

After all the holes were drilled, the beer and gas lines run and connected, the beer keg was placed inside the refrigerator and the ball locks snapped tight. The Co2 valve was opened and the 6 psi serving pressure was applied to the keg, our first pour was only moments away. The Perl faucet dispensed the beer perfectly the very first time, pouring a full glass of beer in in seconds with no foam over.

Extra Room Inside The Refrigerator Is Another Benefit

Now that the draft beer tap has been properly installed and setup to pour a perfect draft beer every time my next challenged is going to be in keeping up with the demand. A full 2.5 gallon keg of beer can be properly force carbonated and ready to drink in less than a week which knocks off about 10 days wait time when bottle carbonating.

The Perl Beer Faucet Dispenses A Perfect Poured Draft Beer Every Time

Screwy Double Novacaine Brewday

Last June was the first time I ever brewed Mr. Beer's Novacaine barley wine recipe and I'm glad I did. Novacaine was a huge hit with everyone who was lucky enough to get to drink it before it ran out. I bottle primed using pure cane sugar in 1 liter PET bottles and let them condition in my basement for 5 or 6 months before drinking them. This year I brewed 2 batches of the same recipe and plan on letting them condition until Thanksgiving, this time giving them 9-10 months before drinking them.

Double Order Of Novacaine Ingredients

Size 2.13 gallons: Estimated IBU=48, SRM=36, OG=1.102, FG=1.026, ABV=9.9%

Novacaine
REFILL INCLUDES:
1 Can West Coast Pale Ale HME
1 Can St. Patrick's Irish Stout HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
2 Cans Pale Export UME
2 Packets Sterling Pellet Hops
2 Packets Northern Brewer Pellet Hops
1 Pouch Wyeast 1056 - American Ale Liquid Yeast
2 Muslin Hop Sacks

Directions

Stand extract cans in hot water and pour OneStep cleanser mix on lids

Place Wyeast 1056 yeast in warm location and smack pouch 3-6 hours before pitching

Boil 11 quarts of filtered water

Add 1 ounce Northern Brewer hops with 5 minutes remaining to boil

Remove from heat and add all extracts

Add 1 ounce Sterling hops in muslin hop sack

Use wort chiller to cool wort to 70° F

Aerate, pitch at 70°F and ferment at 66°F for 18 days

Raise to 70°F over days 19 to 21 then remove hops sacks and rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34° F

Bottle prime with cane sugar and carbonate for 21 days at 70° F

Condition For 8 months between 60-74° F

 
To brew the Novacaine recipe I pretty much followed the instructions that shipped with the ingredients. The only 2 things I did differently was to boil the Northern Brewer hops for 5 minutes and do a full wort boil then used my wort chiller to cool the wort down to 70F for pitching. Mr. Beer said to bring the water to a boil then turn off the flame and toss in the Northern Brewer hops, last time I boiled them for 5 minutes as well and the Novacaine tasted great.

I Gave The Northern Brewer Hops A 5 Minute Full Wort Boil

I was able to do a boil enough water to completely fill the Mr. Beer fermenters without having to add any cold makeup water. Doing it this way makes having a wort chiller a necessity as it allows you to cool the wort down very quickly to the exact pitching temperature of the yeast. I want all conditions possible to be idea so the yeast can take off quickly and begin a healthy fermentation, especially with a high gravity recipe like Novacaine.

Cooling The Wort Down To 70F Took 15 Minutes

I had the Wyeast sitting in a bowl of 70 F One Step cleanser for 20 minutes to match it up to the temperature of the wort before pitching it. After pitching the yeast I left both fermenters in the basement to cool down a bit before moving them upstairs to the fermentation room.

Both Kegs Fermenting In 66F Room After 1 Hour

By mid morning of the next day both fermenters showed a healthy level of krausen and filled the room with the aromas of fermenting beer. They'll stay in this room for another 18 days before I raise the temperature a few degrees over days 19-21 and then rack them to a secondary removing the hops sacks and cold crash them for a week in the refrigerator before bottling.

12 Hours Later A Healthy Primary Fermentation Was Underway

Four and a half gallons of this really nice barley wine will be sure to lift the spirits of both friends and family for the late fall and early winter holidays coming up.

I bottled up both batches and added 1.5 teaspoons of pure can sugar to each 1 liter bottle for priming the natural carbonation.

These Will Be fully Conditioned By Thanksgiving Day

I'm a happy guy right now. We started drinking a few liters of this Novacaine recipe this weekend. Brewed back in March of this year and after 6 months of conditioning they taste as good, or better, than we remembered when I brewed them for last Thanksgiving Day. The only problem is now I wish I had brewed more than just 4 gallons.

Nothing Says Happy Thanksgiving Like Novacaine!

Im down to me last 3 plus gallons and it's the middle of September, I think I can manage my supply so it lasts until the holidays. The weather here in the Northeast has dipped into the low 50's the past few nights making for some really good Barley Wine drinking.

I plan to brew this same recipe again next March and this time bottle some of them up in 12 ounce longnecks so they're easier to give out to friends and family around the holidays.

Screwy's Recipe #49 - Extra Special Strong Bitter (All Grain)

After months of brewing German style beers like Pilsener, Okoberfest/Marzen and Weissbier I now have locked down quite a few recipes that produced beers I really enjoy drinking. I also turned my attention to producing some nice American ales based on recipes that included hops like Cluster that were available to Prohibition Era immigrant brewers.

Lately I've been focusing on English ales like India Pale Ale (IPA) and Extra Special Strong Bitter (ESB) and trying to design recipes that produce interestingly complex mixtures of malts and hops. As always I began my research on the BJCP website to get the official take on how this beer should come out. The next step is to drink a few different brands to get an idea on how the bigger brewers have interpreted the style and then search the Internet to see how other home brewers have brewed the style.

Marris Otter, Biscuit, Challenger, Fuggle, Kent Golding and WLP005

I used created a new qBrew's default 'Screwy Brewer's Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)' style guideline as the basis for crunching this recipe's numbers. It's loosely based on qBrew's default 'Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)' guideline, the recipe download contains my complete ingredient list and brewing notes. You can download the latest qBrew database below and use it to upgrade your current ingredient database. This latest ingredient database includes more yeast, fruits, extracts and other helpful entries then ever before.

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Recipe:

Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 
Size 2.13 gallons: Estimated IBU=56, SRM=11, OG=1.070, FG=1.017, ABV=6.8%

5 pounds Marris Otter Malt (UK)

1/4 pound Biscuit Malt (Belgium)

1 ounce Challenger (U.K.) hops (first wort hops)

1/2 ounce Fuggles (U.K.) hops (20 mins)

1/2 ounce Kent Goldings (U.K.) hops (7 mins)

1 Pack Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP005 - British Ale Yeast™ 

Aerate, pitch at 70°F and ferment at 66°F for 12 days

Raise to 70°F over days 13 to 14 then rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34°F

Keg at 30psi for 5-7 days and serve at 34°F

Directions:  

** Infusion mash at 150°F for 60 minutes **

Heat 16 quarts of filtered water to 170°F

Soak mash tun in 8 quarts of 180F water for 20 minutes and then dump out to preheat tun

Pour 8 quarts of 170°F water into mash tun

Mix in 5.25 pounds of crushed grain mix at 60°F

Pour the 170°F water to fill mash tun to 2.50 gallon mark

Stir water and grain mixture and adjust to 150°F and mash for 60 minutes

Sparge with 170°F strike water to set mash bed to 168°F

Add 1 ounce of Challenger (U.K.) hops to boil pot as first wort hop addition

Lauter for 30 minutes adding 11.5 quarts of sweet wort to the boil pot

Full Wort Boil:

Add 1/2 ounce Fuggles (U.K.) hops with 20 minutes remaining to boil

Add 1/8 tablet WhirlFloc with 9 minutes remaining to boil

Add 1/2 ounce Kent Goldings (U.K.) hops with 7 minutes minutes remaining to boil

Use Screwy's Cooler wort chiller to cool wort to 70°F

Primary Fermentation:

Pour wort through strainer to remove excess hop and grain debris

Fill the Mr. Beer fermenter with wort to the 8.5 quart mark

Aerate wort and pitch 1 package of Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) at 70°F or WLP005

Ferment at 68°F for 12 days, raise to 70°F over days 13 to 14 for rest
** WLP005 Rouse yeast occasionally if needed to promote fermentation

Secondary Fermentation:

Rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34°F

Keg/Bottle:

Keg and force carbonate at 30psi for 5-7 days at 34°F

Bottle prime and carbonate at 70° for 7-14 days

First Wort Hop Additions Added To Both Boilpots

I decided to double up on the recipe and mash 10.5 pounds of grains at the same time, this saved me an hour and a half since I only had to mash and lauter a single batch. I used a mash calculator to figure out my mash volumes and temperatures. Adding 50% of my hop additions to the boil pots during the 30 minute lauter lets them steep in the hot wort which makes their aromatic oils become more soluble and not evaporate during the boil.

Preheated Mash Tun With 180F Water Fro 20 Minutes

My brewing area is around 58F so I preheat my mash tun to get it closer to my mashing temperature before beginning my mash. After 20 minutes I dump out the water and prepare for mashing by pouring 2 gallons of 170F filtered water into the tun. I next add in my 10.5 pounds of 58F crushed grains and then stir in enough 170F water to fill the tun to the 4.5 gallon mark, adjusting the temperature as needed to hit my 150F mash temperature.

Mash Thickness Of 1.5 And A Temperature Of 150F For 1 Hour

After mashing at 150F for an hour I cracked open the valve on the tun to recirculate around 2 or 3 cups of wort in order to set the grain bed and clear up the wort before running it into the boil pots. Once the wort is running clear I sparged the grains with 170F strike water until both boil pots were filled with 11.5 quarts of wort each.

Pour Sparge Water On Plastic Lid To Avoid Disturbing The Grain Bed

I timed the boils of both pots to be about 30 minutes apart since it takes about 15-20 minutes to chill the wort down from boiling to the 70F pitching temperature. This allows me enough time to pour the chilled wort through a strainer into the primary fermenter while the other pot is still boiling. This takes a bit of multitasking because you don't want to miss the hops additions to the boiling pot while you're racking to the fermenter.

The Left Pot Is 30 Minutes Behind Right Pot's Boil

I keep a pot of boiling water simmering on the stovetop in case I need to add a cup or so of makeup water to the boil so I have enough volume for the fermenter.

First, Second, Third Hop Additions And WhirFloc Have Been Added

The tap water is a cold 60F this time of year in my area and the hot wort cooled down quickly. I removed the hop sacks from the wort before putting the sanitized cooling coil in the boil pot.

From 212F To 70F In Less Than 20 Minutes

My first choice for yeast was to pitch Wyeast 1968 - London ESB™ but I decided to try out White Labs WLP005 - British Ale Yeast™ instead. I've never used the White Labs yeast before although I have seen their somewhat unique way of packaging their yeast before. On a visit to an injection molding plant many years ago I saw the same type of White Labs yeast tubes, that is before they were formed into 1 liter bottles.

White Labs WLP005 - British Ale Yeast™

This yeast is pretty easy to use, just warm it to 70F and shake it up really well until it's uniform in consistency and color and it's ready to pitch. I split a single tube into 2 Mr. Beer sized batches as 1 tube will ferment up to 5 gallons of wort.

After 5 Hours Both Fermenters Showed Good Amounts Of Krausen

The White Labs website has a lot of information about all their yeast strains including WLP005, the lazy yeast. This yeast is a fast starter and highly floculant producing malty ales in a relatively short period of time. There is also much discussion among homebrewers about stalled fermentations and the manufacturer suggests rousing the yeast may be needed to re-suspend the yeast.

I pitched the yeast at 70F and put the fermenters in a 70F room and after 5 hours there was a good amount of krausen present already. When I checked the fermenters again after 15 hours of fermentation the krausen had already fallen a lot and the yeast was settled on the bottom of the fermenters. It seems this yeast unlike most Ale yeast ferments from the bottom up and racking early to a secondary will actually hurt the fermentation more than it will help.

Rousing The WLP005

On day 2, about 24 hours later, I noticed the krausen had fallen off alot. I remembered reading on the White Labs website that the WLP005 yeast may need to be roused back into action if the fermentation looked like it was stalling.

Re-energized Fermentation After Gentle Rousing Of Mr. Beer Fermenters

Apparently the folks at White Labs know their products as the gentle rousing stirred the yeast back into suspension and the fermentation really took off again. After 14 days of fermentation I took a final gravity reading of 1.011 and racked the fermented beer to my kegs for force carbonating.

Final Gravity Was 1.011 Before Kegging

I used a short piece of 3/8 inch outside diameter rigid tubing, that I cut off of a bottling wand, and a length of 3/8 inch inside diameter soft vinyl tubing to attach my Mr. Beer fermenter to my transfer tubing. This allows me to have a tight connection in the spigot and then use flexible tubing that is easy to position inside the keg.

Flexible Transfer Tube Allows Easy Positioning

Once the keg was full I sealed it tight and used Co2 to purge the air out of it by applying pressure while opening the relief valve a few times. Both kegs are inside the refrigerator at 34F and I'm applying 30 psi to each one to force carbonate them. Over the next few days I'll pull a sample pour to see how the carbonation levels are and then use about a 6 psi serving pressure.