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I'm looking to design an ESB to have on hand over the holidays.

I have never brewed one and was just looking for some advice. I'm planning to us EKG/Fuggle hops and US-04. Not really sure on the base malts. I like the classic malty, bready, biscuit type flavors and would like to keep it fairly simple. Anyone have a go to recipe or suggestion for a grain build?

My ESB was pretty simple, 95% Marris Otter with some victory and c-80 to add some depth. To be honest i kind of scrounged together what i could to make it this summer when i got back from school so i could have something to drink while i was home since all my beer were back in NL.

I find i get a great malt profile with marris otter using an extended boil and a slightly higher mash temp. I tend to boil everything for 90 minutes and do the occaisional 120 minute boil when i want to push it a bit.

US04, WLP005 and (in my opinion) Wyeast West Yorkshire yeast will all make good ESB's that differ in the amount of esters. I used to used the yorkshire yeast for everything, i had about 8 generations into my culture when it went south on me.

Willamette is a great hop to use, and i even dry hop my ESB with it.

Here's mine: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... f=4&t=7918" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I really enjoyed it, it was really easy to make and I received positive feedback from co-workers. If I were to do it again I would use probably sub one of the crystal malts for more Victory and maybe cut the late hop additions in half if I were aiming for style. I enjoyed the slightly hop-forward flavour but I guess an ESB isn't supposed to have that.

I just got this one http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=83878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; into the keg, tasting good so far.

Rcmaccallum wrote:I just got this one http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=83878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; into the keg, tasting good so far.

This was one of the first all grain batches I every made (almost 5 years ago) it was great

I think I'll give it go. Thanks!