Bitter Bottled

Bottled a bitter last night. It was intended to be a "Special Bitter" or "Best Bitter"; that is, stronger than an Ordinary Bitter but not as strong as an ESB or Extra Special Bitter. My mash efficiency was a bit better than I expected, yielding a 1.050 original gravity, which is more in the ESB range, but I'm going to call it "St. Crispin's Best Bitter" regardless, as ESB in my opinion ought to have a little more oomph in bitterness and body.

So far this has been one of my most promising brews. I'll approximate the recipe from memory:

7 1/2 lbs British Optic 2-row
1/2 lb Belgian biscuit malt
1/2 lb British medium crystal malt, 60 deg Lovibond
3 ounces Belgian debittered black malt

The small quantity of debittered black malt darkened the beer up more than I had anticipated or intended, and instead of the orange amber I wanted, it was a deeper reddish amber, verging on brown. However, the roasted flavours associated with the darker malts is not there. Here is my hopping schedule:

60 min: 1/2 oz East Kent Goldings, 1/2 oz Willamette (both around 5% alpha acids)
30 min: 1/2 oz Willamette
10 min: 1/2 oz East Kent Goldings

The light hopping really allows the malt and hops to be in balance, something I've never quite allowed in my British bitters before (to their detriment). Willamette makes a great substitute for UK Fuggles, I think, and the aroma of it fresh is intoxicating. Very nice hop, one of my favourites.

I used the Fermentis S-04 strain (with a Whitbread origin) to ferment this batch. This is a very flocculant strain, which leaves a "bright" beer atop a concrete-like yeast cake.

In bottling it last night, the sample I had had a warm maltiness to it, with an unmistakeable biscuit-like flavour from the biscuit malt. Also a slight honey note. Very drinkable; has a sort of mild, rounded flavour that is never harsh or astringent. This is what brewing is about!