ESB

Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) is a beer style that I enjoy, but that I have yet to brew, surprisingly.  Each year, I set myself new homebrewing goals and this year one of them was to brew more styles of beers which I had not ventured yet. Besides Stouts and Porters, English Ales tend to be at the bottom of my brewing list but I started working on that last month when I brewed my Brown Ale.  

ESBs are maltly/bitter beers of moderate strength, yet balanced and very drinkable, like a lot of English ales. I kept my recipe fairly simple using Maris Otter as the base malt for its classic toasty and nutty flavour, a little Munich for a speck of breadiness and malt sweetness, Crystal 60 for a little caramel to balance the bitterness and a dash of Crystal 120 for a subtle touch of raisins and nut flavour.  

For the hops, I chose Bravo for bittering as I prefer to bitter with high AA hops instead of using a buttload of lower AA hops.  I find Bravo has a noble-ish character with its floral, earthy and spicy notes.  For finishing hops, I used  the classic English Fuggles.  I am also considering dry hoping the S-04 carboy with some Willamette just for fun.

Recipe Specifications
Batch Size (Gal): 15.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 28.57
Estimated OG: 1.054
Anticipated SRM: 11.3
Anticipated IBU: 43.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grains
77.0% (22 lbs) - Maris Otter
14.0% (4 lbs) - Dark Munich 
7.0% (2 lbs) - Crystal 60
2.0% (9 oz) - Crystal 120

Hops
2.50 oz Bravo (10.75%) @ 60 min
3.00 oz Fuggle (4.9%) @ 20 min
2.00 oz Fuggle (4.9%) @ 0 min

Yeast
5gal -> WLP002 English Ale
5gal -> Safale S-04 English Ale
5gal -> Danstar Windsor Ale

Mash Schedule
Sacc Rest - 60 min @ 152F

Notes
04/24/14: Made 2L starter for WLP002 
05/02/14: Brew day

Fly sparge with 170F water
Collected 15 gallons
OG = 1.053


05/27/14: Kegged  FG=1.009