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I made a bitter a while ago and found it was a bit thin. I upped the 2-row by 0.25kg and increased the boil by 30 minutes and remade it. Results are great. Sweeter, maltier more caramel flavour which is what it wanted but along with that came an alcohol increase and some alcohol phenols I don't want in my next batch. I know decreasing the malt or boil time or both will reduce the phenols but I don't want to lose the sweet aroma and flavour. My mash is high at 154 degrees. If anyone has any suggestions it will save me some more trial and error. I posted the latest recipe (I batch sparge so my grain base is high):

31 Litres non-treated water

Grain Bill
4.75 kg 2-row
0.35 kg Dark Crystal
0.1 kg Wheat

Mash in 31 L at 154° for 1 hour

Kettle
20 grams Mt. Hood at boil
20 grams Tettnang at 75 minutes
1 tablet irish moss at 75 minutes
Knock-out at 1.5 hours

Dry Hopped (after primary fermentation) with 40g Cascade and 20g Willamette

Collected 18L

OG : 1.054

Pitched with Wyeast Ringwood Ale Yeast (10th use)

TG : 1.011

Here is the recipe I have used for years. I love it. If you decide to stick to yours and make a few changes, I would add Biscuit Malt and change the base malt to Marris Otter.
http://www.timgorman.net/assets/recipes ... ter_II.htm


Ordinary Bitter (dry hop) II
Standard/Ordinary Bitter

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Brewer: Nick Horne
Boil Size: 45.79 L Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.5


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.75 kg Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) Grain 88.9 %
0.48 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.23 kg Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 3.6 %
60.00 gm Fuggles [5.70%] (60 min) Hops 20.8 IBU
44.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [3.90%] (30 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
45.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [3.90%] (1 min) Hops 0.5 IBU
8.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
0.53 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.037 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.038 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.2 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 3.4 %
Bitterness: 29.3 IBU Calories: 354 cal/l
Est Color: 10.8 SRM Color:
Color

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 6.47 kg
Sparge Water: 25.96 L Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 16.86 L of water at 73.5 C 67.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Add 9.44 L of water at 93.1 C 75.6 C 10 min

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.0
Pressure/Weight: 77.5 KPA Carbonation Used: 11 psi
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 10.0 C Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 11.1 C

Notes

Only dry hopped half
1.012 non dry hop may 13
1.011 8gm dry hop may 21

If you want to decrease the phenols, I say ferment at a lower temperature, and also think about getting some new yeast. The fact that you are using 10th generation yeast could mean that there are some mutations. With that malt bill even with the increased 2-row you shouldn't be getting phenols in a best bitter.

Thanks, I will decrease temperature and see what happens. I have used yeast over 50 times before... I get used to the slight mutations.

I'm with CC, if you're getting phenolic with that grain bill, dump the yeast.