v2

 

The last Bitter was a failure. Of sorts. With dry hopping, turned into a pretty good English IPA though. But it wasn’t what I intended. With the November event coming up, I really wanted to nail a true English Bitter. Something that might impress the Civil Life crowd that will be at the Southside Speakeasy. We also want a beer we can float Tom’s stout on top of for a true Black and Tan. I decided to go back to the beer that won a trophy. Redcoat ESB. This was the first English Bitter I brewed that I was truly proud of. Every one since has been a version of this beer but none stand out like this one. We also need beer for us all to drink since Oktoberfest drained our reserves.

This is identical to the original Redcoat with the exception of pumping up the malt a little to end with a final gravity high enough to float the dry stout on top. Would be really cool if this works out. We have been talking about this for a few years.

October 14, 2017

Redcoat ESB v2 (Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) – 12 gallon

Brewers: Charles. Tom & Sam (morning crew). Rob (afternoon crew).

 

 

 

Grain Bill

• 20 lbs. Maris Otter
• 1 lb. 9 oz. Crystal 80
• 1 lb. 8 oz. Special Roast
• 1 lb. 3oz. Aromatic

Hop Bill

• 4 oz East Kent Goldings 6.1% – 60 mins.
• 1 oz East Kent Goldings 6.1% – 30 mins.

Yeast

• Wyeast 1968 London ESB

Mash Schedule

• 8:50 – Mash In: 8 gallons @ 168˚ – mash 154˚ – Bump with 1 gallon -holding 155˚
• 10:00 – Mash Out: 3 gallons @ 200˚ – holding 166˚
• 10:10 – Vorlauf – cleared really fast.
• 10:20 – Runoff
• 11:00 – Runoff end. Collected 15 gallon

Boil

• 11:20 – Boil – add 4 ounces EKG split between 2 hop screens
• 11:50 – add 1 ounce EKG split between 2 hop screens
• 12:20 – chiller – FORGOT THE IRISH MOSS
• 12:30 – heat off – start chilling and whirlpool
• Chilled to 78˚. Best we could do.

Transfer/Pitch

• Transfer via WortPort in kitchen floor
• Very little sludge in kettle. The least I have EVER seen.
• 13 gallons in fermenter
• Wort temp. 74˚
• Oxygenate and pitch yeast.

Original Gravity – 1.058 – Dead on!

Notes:

A very smooth brew day (except for forgetting the Irish Moss). The extra hands were much appreciated.

The hop screens were a huge success. It is nice to not fight all the crap in the bottom of the kettle and to transfer almost all the wort.

Helps to mount the end of the transfer hose above the fermenter so that the wort splashes. Aids in cooling and oxygenating.

 

Oct. 21, 2017

Racked to secondary. Sample tastes really good.

Not at all happy with how cloudy this is (yes, I forgot the irish moss). Bought some Gelatin Finings, prepared it and added after rack to secondary.

Gravity = .016

Oct. 29, 2017

Racked to 2 kegs, about 4 gallons each and remains 4 gallons to bottling bucket.

Impressed with clarity. However, lots of stuff in the last bit of beer. That say to use gelatin on very cold beer. That would have helped but was not able to do that and I wanted to try to clear it up before putting in kegs.

Gravity = .016 – 5.5%