I made this beer in order to use up some hops we had lying around from other beers.  While it has the dubious honor of being the second recipe I made up from scratch, the goal was just to make something drinkable and in an easy English style.  In addition, I threw this together just before I left on vacation, so I could control the primary fermentation and just leave it alone for the secondary.

Brewer’s Notes

Mashing was done on the cooktop and was controlled +/- 5 degrees F.  Sparge was done with a rinse in 1 gallon of 168F water. Oxygen was added for 1 minute before pitching yeast.  In order to try and help control the ferment temperature ramp-down, it was left in the kitchen overnight before moving to the ferment chamber.

Before fermentation, the beer has a light amber color, with lots of suspended particles and a mild hop aroma. Mild malt taste with cereal finish.  After sitting overnight, the wort cleared nicely. Initial tastes are reasonably well-balanced, does not have any sharp bitterness.

OG: 1.064 @ 85F, target 1.056
FG: 1.014 @ 70F, target 1.014

Fermenting Notes

Primary

Target Temperature range: 63-65F
The fermentation was vigorous and hot, as shown by the temperature graph. I could not control the yeast to the target temperature of 65F with my current setup.

Average: 70.7F
Standard Deviation: 3.03

esb_primary

8/23/2013 – 1.020 @ 68F
Racked to secondary. Ferment temps are high, 75F at times. Color is orange. Fairly mild flavor with some fruity overtones. Still too sweet, needs to dry out. Smooth mouthfeel, Val likes it.

Secondary

Target Temperature range: 65-67F
While we were on vacation, outside temperatures were higher than expected, so the heater was never used by the fermentation chamber. Since I only have a one-mode system, temperatures were higher than desired.

Average: 68.6F
Standard Deviation: 0.54

esb_secondary

9/7/13 – 1.014 @ 70F
Light amber / orange color, very hazy. Malt aroma, very smooth drinking. Fruity esters. Copper on initial taste fades quickly. Bottling today with 2.45oz corn sugar for 1.7vols.

Tasting Notes

11/3/13 – This beer was reasonably good fresh.  I put the last of the bottles in the fridge, which have been sitting at room temperature for about 6 weeks.  They have developed a stronger copper taste, and some off flavors from the malt.  The hops were never a strong part of this beer, and the fruit esters faded a little with age, but were still prominent.  I haven’t done many ESBs, but this isn’t one we’ll be doing again.

Recipe