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Going to make this tomorrow

Standard Bitter 5.00 gallon

OG 1.036. FG 1.009
IBU 34.5
6.7 SRM

6 lbs Marris Otter
8 oz carastan
4 oz Amber
4 oz victory

Mash 152 for 60 min

1 oz EKG 60 min
1 oz EKG 15 min

S-04 at 64 F

Any comments on the specialty malts? Or anything else for that matter.

Looks like a good recipe. Ordinary bitters are one of my favorite styles and I have made several very similar to this one. Carastan is a good choice and will add some nice colour and caramel flavour. I use a small 20 gram dry hop for aroma (fuggle or ekg) in my recipes but it isn't necessary.

Amber and Victory together is interesting.

Looks good from here - send a bottle when it's done!

dean2k wrote:Amber and Victory together is interesting.

I always thought they were trade names for the same product from different sources.

jtmwhyte wrote:

dean2k wrote:Amber and Victory together is interesting.

I always thought they were trade names for the same product from different sources.

That's what the NG website tries to tell us, but Amber is toastier/roastier(?) than Victory both in terms of flavour and Lovibond. I think it goes like this: Biscuit < Victory < Amber.

I always thought Amber and biscuit were the same thing and more cookie and victory was more Bready. Don't know.

Broob wrote:I always thought Amber and biscuit were the same thing and more cookie and victory was more Bready. Don't know.

I was doing some reading on this equivalency yesterday when looking at an ESB recipe (I saw a recipe I liked with Amber and was hoping to avoid buying yet another malt just to make a recipe).

I've seen a couple of substitution charts (like this one) that suggest valid substitutions right across Amber, Biscuit, Victory, Aromatic and Melanoidin. Other stuff I've read suggest that it's more like Amber, Biscuit and Victory are one group and Aromatic and Melanoidin are another.

There's a conversation here (including two random dudes named Gordon Strong and Martin Brungard ) that might give you a little more to go on, and it also has some interesting things to say about steeping vs. mashing towards the end.

The Bitter OrBitter recipe looks good to me. I use Carastan in my brown and quite like it; to me it definitely gives an "English" flavor.

I think biscuit, victory, and amber are all substitutable for one another in that you'll get your biscuity-toasty flavours, but to different degrees of flavour and colour.

Sounds like I'm going to be getting a malty toasty beer. I hope it turns out. At the end of the day it will be beer.

So my OG on this was 1048. I've never been that far off before. My volume was a hair under 19 L. My set up is usually pretty consistent at 70 mash efficiency. I thought I was going to be way under as my mash pH was 5.0 (lower than I wanted). Any thoughts on this? I guess I have an ESB.

Generally if I'm off by that much, it's usually a grain weighing issue - i.e. Brewing Error.

I find mash efficiency goes up with a smaller grain bill, also thinner mash. That combined with a higher boil off if you had it would do it.

Every time I try to make a session beer I overshoot.

Sent from the brew timer.

I figured it was my fault somehow. Oh well. I wish I added more hops. Maybe a small dry hop now?

Dilute it down? At 19 L I'm sure you have room to move.

Good idea. Thanks.

Means more beer!

So if I have 5 gallons of beer that was 1050 OG and I want it diluted down to 1036 - I think that works out to about 7 gallons. It's already fermenting, so is it ok to dilute after fermentation?

Broob wrote:So if I have 5 gallons of beer that was 1050 OG and I want it diluted down to 1036 - I think that works out to about 7 gallons. It's already fermenting, so is it ok to dilute after fermentation?

Yes, but, there are some caveats. Of course, I'd taste it first before diluting it, maybe it'll be awesome!
If you do dilute, understand that the salts content of this new beer may not be the same if you treated your strike/mash water.
Be sure that the new water is not going to bring any nasties in, so boiling it first may be a good idea. Boiling it will also help to remove oxygen, which you would not want to re-introduce post-fermentation.
Before adding that full amount to the whole beer, it may be worthwhile to do some testing, though this is much easier if you are kegging, and not bottling.

Here's a BYO article on the process: http://byo.com/hops/item/237-blending-f ... techniques" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cool thanks for the info. I took a gravity sample and it actually tastes pretty good so I may not mess with it. I do want to try diluting as an experiment. I may take a gallon and dilute that, bottle it and compare.

Bottled this mofo last night. Added about 1/2 Gallon of previously boiled water. A nice caramel/toffee flavour from a sample - hopefully that was the carastan. I have never had a problem with diacetyl before. All the same, the taste was nice.