Beer Forum

I'm looking for an English style beer that has, as Jamil would say, Biscuity Goodness.

Suggestions for a beer to try or a clone recipe or a new recipe? Or even a recipe from BCS as a suggestion?

Here is a variation on the endless versions of English bitter I've brewed:

@75% efficiency

6 lbs Maris Otter
.25 lbs amber malt (50 L)
.25 lbs crystal 120
.25 lbs carastan (~35L)

IBUS - ~30

60 min - EKG
30 min - EKG
1 min - EKG
dry hop - EKG

Yeast - Wyeast 1968

I usually go with 1/2 oz for all the hop additions except the first one, which gets whatever amount that will get me to the right IBUs.

The key 'biscuity' malt is the amber malt. Go to as much as a .75 lbs of that for my biscuityness. I find this malt preferable to special roast, which I think is what is in Jamil's recipe.

9.00 lb Maris Otter
1.00 lb Special B Malt
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine
0.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (45 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 7.6 IBU

WLP002 if you prefer a little more residual sweetness or;
WLP009 if you prefer a little more "bready" character

75% efficiency
60min boil

KimJongAle wrote:9.00 lb Maris Otter
1.00 lb Special B Malt
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine
0.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (45 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 7.6 IBU

WLP002 if you prefer a little more residual sweetness or;
WLP009 if you prefer a little more "bready" character

75% efficiency
60min boil

That looks like a nice recipe too. Do you find the Special B adds anything not attainable with Crystal 120?

brewerTristan wrote:That looks like a nice recipe too. Do you find the Special B adds anything not attainable with Crystal 120?

I think they're pretty close. I'm a little biased in favor of the Special B due to my addiction to dark Belgian ales, and limited experience with Crystal 120. If you haven't brewed with Special B I would encourage you to give it a shot where appropriate. I can say I'll certainly be taking a closer look at the 120...

Do you have any recipes handy that showcase the 120?

KimJongAle wrote:

brewerTristan wrote:That looks like a nice recipe too. Do you find the Special B adds anything not attainable with Crystal 120?

I think they're pretty close. I'm a little biased in favor of the Special B due to my addiction to dark Belgian ales, and limited experience with Crystal 120. If you haven't brewed with Special B I would encourage you to give it a shot where appropriate. I can say I'll certainly be taking a closer look at the 120...

Do you have any recipes handy that showcase the 120?

I put crystal 120 in just about every Bitter/Best Bitter/ESB I brew, including the one I posted before. I think I must have gotten this from Jamil's book. It's in all his BCS recipes and it's always tasted right on to me.

Interestingly, Fullers ESB, I think (from the CYBI show), uses a Crystal 75 or 80. Lately I've been combining crystal malt flavours. So instead of doing the usual 1/2 lb addition of one kind, I'll do two 1/4 lb additions of two different sorts. Lately I've done crystal 40 & 120, but I'm sure any combination would be nice. For English beers I would definitely try to get the British crystal malt. I think it makes a difference.

I think I tried some Special B in place of crystal 120 in a mild once. I didn't notice too much of a difference. To showcase the crystal 120, I would try brewing a bitter using just base malt and crystal 120, maybe up to a pound of it.

brewerTristan wrote:To showcase the crystal 120, I would try brewing a bitter using just base malt and crystal 120, maybe up to a pound of it.

It interesting you mention that, I was just about to brew something along those lines for an upcoming competition. Do you typically go with a cleaner yeast, or something with a little richer ester profile?

KimJongAle wrote:

brewerTristan wrote:To showcase the crystal 120, I would try brewing a bitter using just base malt and crystal 120, maybe up to a pound of it.

It interesting you mention that, I was just about to brew something along those lines for an upcoming competition. Do you typically go with a cleaner yeast, or something with a little richer ester profile?

Anything English will do. I usually just go with WLP002. The other strains I've used with good success have been WLP013 (the London ale), WLP023 (Burton Ale), and WLP026 (premium bitter). I find the Burton ale yeast has the nicest ester profile. You can of course play with fermentation temperature too for that. In spite of all that, it might be interesting to try a clean ale yeast like Cal ale or something on an English bitter. I guess it wouldn't really be "English" then. I remember making a nice IPA once that was all English except for the yeast.