# Yorkshire Bitter, 8.2 English Best Bitter



## Bribie G

Rich and malt driven using English Malts and hops and Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale. Overall, a tribute to Timothy Taylor Landlord.

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*Yorkshire Bitter 2016 AHB*
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

*Recipe Specs*
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.750
Total Hops (g): 55.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.72 %
Colour (SRM): 8.2 (EBC): 16.2
Bitterness (IBU): 32.8 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 74
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

*Grain Bill*
----------------
4.500 kg Maris Otter Malt Thomas Fawcett (94.74%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 Bairds Medium (5.26%)

*Hop Bill*
----------------
25.0 g Northdown Pellet (8.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
15.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.1% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
15.0 g Aurora Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.7 g/L)

*Misc Bill*
----------------
6.0 g Calcium Chloride @ 0 Minutes (Mash)
5.0 g BrewBright @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Ale


Recipe Generated with *BrewMate*

Keg tapped three days ago.





Notes:


British "running beers" are best drunk young when on tap.
Northdown is the hop used traditionally in Tetley's Yorkshire Bitter and teams perfectly with Challenger for slight citrus and "marmalade" overtones. The use of Aurora as an aroma hop (Super Styrian) is a nod to TTL.
Bready and grainy but not cloying... a great refresher after hard day up at t'mill.
Dead easy to run a batch through in a fortnight, as long as you let it see "two Sabbaths" in primary.
Keep at 18 or below, as 1469 is a traditional Yorkshire Stone Square yeast designed for these temps.


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## mosto

Looks bloody nice Bribie G. I've been tinkering with own English Bitter version lately, and you've given me a couple things to think about. Here's the latest incarnation that's bubbling away in fermenter at present.

Title: Brookvale Bitter
Author: Mosto

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Special/Best/Premium Bitter
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 27 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.033
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)
No Chill: 15 minute extended hop boil time

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.54%
IBU (tinseth): 31.03
SRM (ebcmorey): 13.1

FERMENTABLES:
4 kg - Joe White Traditional Ale Malt (93%)
200 g - Joe White Crystal (4.7%)
100 g - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (2.3%)

HOPS:
30 g - Challenger, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.1, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 23.57
20 g - Challenger, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.1, Use: Boil for 0 min, IBU: 7.46

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 66 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 30 L
2) Temperature, Temp: 78 C, Time: 10 min, Amount: 0 L, Mash out

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: Yes
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 75%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 12.22 - 25 C
Fermentation Temp: 18 C
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)


Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2016-02-03 06:00 UTC 
Recipe Last Updated: 2016-01-30 07:33 UTC


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## bradsbrew

Challenger and styrian in a bitter................. :icon_drool2: Swap out the Northdown with first gold and that's my basic bitter. ​


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## Bribie G

Challenger was one of the first "dual purpose" hops designed for bittering _and_ aroma, and IMHO is still the best of that breed.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I

Any ideas of what to water wise? I know in Tassie I struggled with softish water and had to adjust to get bitters and hoppy beers.


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## Bribie G

A fair whack of Calcium Chloride, that's in the Yorkshire brewing water and accounts for the traditional full malty flavour of Yorkshire Bitters that "drink very full for their gravity". Bris water is fairly soft by International standards as well, brewed some great YBs on Bribie Island that's on the same grid as yourself.

Calcium Sulphate and Magnesium Sulphate are more for Burton styles.


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## manticle

Bribie once sent me a bitter which was brewed with aurora from memory.
Was it this one bribie?
******* delicious if it was.


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## manticle

And yeah - challenger and styrians. What a combo for uk.


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## Bribie G

Would have been very similar, in the TTL family.


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## bigandhairy

Hi Bribie, is that hop schedule chilled or NC?

Cheers 
bah


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## RdeVjun

Bribie's YBs are simply legendary and have been a source of much inspiration, so I've no hesitation in stumping up a recommendation for his recipe. Tips me lid to Dr Smurto too for his TTL recipe and also the slants, while now that 1469 is readily available a keg of this real crowd pleaser is usually on at my pad.


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## Bribie G

bigandhairy said:


> Hi Bribie, is that hop schedule chilled or NC?
> 
> Cheers
> bah


NC and cube hopped with the Aurora.
Note the Challenger goes in for 30 mins, not 60.


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## LAGERFRENZY

Its the sharing of these gems of information that makes this site such a rewarding place to visit. Thank you Bribe - I was looking for a recipe to baptise the 50 litre brew kettle for my first full-sized AG brew and the timing of this was truly serendipitous. Now to not make a complete balls-up of it!


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## sponge

There must be something in the water..


(Plus hops, yeast and barley)

75% MO
20% munich 
5% heritage xtal

Challenger @ cube 
1469 @ 18'C
4%

My usual house bitter but first time with Challenger by itself. Malty, marmalade-y, crystal clear.


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## Bribie G

Ayup lad, I'd pay for that down at t'Dog and Parrot.


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## Rocker1986

There must be, sponge. I have an English ale in the FV bubbling away at the moment. Mostly just trying to use up my stocks of Fuggles and EKG before I try some different ones. Styrians is top of the list.

Mashed at 66-67C for 90 minutes followed by 10 min mashout at 78C
4.500 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 92.4 %
0.200 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 2 4.1 %
0.150 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 3 3.1 %
0.020 kg Black Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1300.2 EBC) Grain 4 0.4 %

75 minute boil; no-chilled with no adjustments to this schedule
20.00 g Goldings, East Kent - First Wort 75.0 min Hop 5 15.6 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 11.4 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 4.1 IBUs
20.00 g Goldings, East Kent - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 4.9 IBUs

1318 London Ale III yeast fermented at 20.5C.

26 litres, OG 1.042
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %
Bitterness: 36.1 IBUs
Est Color: 22.3 EBC

Total Efficiency 71.8%.

May have thrown some CaCl into the water as well but I can't remember now.


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## manticle

I'm trying hard to get rid of my keg of bitter.
Mostly by drinking it.
Challenger and 1469, no styrians because Hobart doesn't usually stock it. They got some in for me recently though so possibly next weekend (tripel and apa on the cards for this long weekend. Bless the regatta).


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## Mardoo

1469 is just an awesome yeast when fermented low. Dark cherry esters...oh yeah. This is pretty much my house yeast.


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## Bribie G

The reason it's fermented low is that it's the yeast used in Yorkshire Stone Squares. From the 18th century on, when they had access to good thermometers, they brewed in big stone or slate squares that were double walled, and pumped water within the gap to "attemperate" the brew. They were incredibly accurate for the era and would ferment around 15 or 16 degrees.

edit: article from Ron Pattinson "Shut up about Barclay Perkins". 

Yorkshire, in the North of England is a few degrees cooler than the balmy South most of the year round and it was easier to ferment at as near to ambient as they could, whereas in the South, brewery yeasts tended to be run at just below 20 or even a tad higher. Also they had access to plenty of nice cold ground water for attemperating.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I

I love your contribution to this Bribie - fantastic effort


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## louistoo

I too just did a best or esb based on the recipe in Greg Hughs book 'home brew beer'. 

1.050 and 36ibu with northern brewer as bittering and ekg at 10 mins for 5 ibu, a little ekg and fuggle as aroma at flame out, like 24 grams combined.
Maris Otter (had been a while between grain bills) a little fawcetts crystal 60 and some torrified wheat and a tiny bit of chocolate for I assume just a bit of color.
Fermented at 20 with u04. Was a good un last time and looking forward to it again!
It's great to drink something a little different to my usual APA's, and Bribies recipe makes me wonder about using a liquid strain for the first time.. why do I seem to brew bitters and pales that ALWAYS have some wheat??! (Rhetorical)

Shall brew a couple without wheat.


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## verysupple

I brewed up a batch of Bribie G's recipe in the OP on the weekend. I made one mistake, though. The LHBS didn't have any Aurora or Styrian Goldings so I figured, "Well Styrians must be a type of Goldings, right?". Wrong, should have gone with Fuggles. I'm sure it'll turn out fine though. I just pitched the yeast so I will update in a few weeks when it's ready.

Cheers for the recipe Bribie G.


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## Bribie G

Yup Goldings should be fine. The reason I use the Slovenian hops is that Timothy Taylor use them to finish their Landlord Bitter.


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## rude

Hey just did one of these over Easter
Maris Otter
Cara munich 11
Torrified wheat
Choc
Challenger 60 m
Challenger 5 min
Styrian goldings 5 min
Cubed
Using 1099 whitbread wyeast
I'll see how it goes might keg hop IBUs were 31


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## manticle

verysupple said:


> I brewed up a batch of Bribie G's recipe in the OP on the weekend. I made one mistake, though. The LHBS didn't have any Aurora or Styrian Goldings so I figured, "Well Styrians must be a type of Goldings, right?". Wrong, should have gone with Fuggles. I'm sure it'll turn out fine though. I just pitched the yeast so I will update in a few weeks when it's ready.
> 
> Cheers for the recipe Bribie G.


Fuggles are quite different to styrians, despite the common lineage. Presuming you went for ekg or similar, I think you'll find it works well.


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## verysupple

manticle said:


> Fuggles are quite different to styrians, despite the common lineage. Presuming you went for ekg or similar, I think you'll find it works well.


Good to know. Yeah, I used EKG.


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## mckenry

Kinda O/T but I dry hopped an American Amber (that was tasting a bit too much of the roast malt) with EKG and now it is drinking superbly.
EKG is a lovely hop and used in a few well known beers.


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## Tahoose

Top of the brew list, finger crossed for Sunday.


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## Droopy Brew

Bribie Im going to give this a go over the weekend although slightly amended due to ingredient availability. Styrians at 60, Challenger at both 30 and 0 min and London Ale III.
Im interested in the addition of CaCL2 you mentioned.

I have used almost equal parts CaCl2 and CaSO4 to achieve the balanced profile which is about 80ppm - Ca, 80ppm- SO4 and 75ppm -Cl2.

Are these about the numbers you work with for this beer?


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## Bribie G

Sorry late.
I haven't used EzWater for years, for YBs I tend just to chuck in a flat tsp of Calcium Chloride. Should get of my arse and check out EzWater again, problem was that it doesn't seem to like the thin mash ratios used by BIAB.

The other problem with Bribie Island was that it went onto the SEQ water grid and you never knew from one day to the next whether you were getting bore water or mountain water. Now I'm in Kyogle I know exactly where the water is coming from, might pop down to the Council.

I was using CaSO4 as well I'd certainly go equal parts, around a level tsp of each for a soft water area.


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## Droopy Brew

Thanks mate. I might stick with my calcs as that profile has worked well for similar beers in the past.


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## louistoo

louistoo said:


> I too just did a best or esb based on the recipe in Greg Hughs book 'home brew beer'.
> 
> 1.050 and 36ibu with northern brewer as bittering and ekg at 10 mins for 5 ibu, a little ekg and fuggle as aroma at flame out, like 24 grams combined.
> Maris Otter (had been a while between grain bills) a little fawcetts crystal 60 and some torrified wheat and a tiny bit of chocolate for I assume just a bit of color.
> Fermented at 20 with u04. Was a good un last time and looking forward to it again!
> It's great to drink something a little different to my usual APA's, and Bribies recipe makes me wonder about using a liquid strain for the first time.. why do I seem to brew bitters and pales that ALWAYS have some wheat??! (Rhetorical)
> 
> Shall brew a couple without wheat.


So this post was off topic as recipe is a southern bitter but I can't help saying it turned out awesome!.


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## nosco

Brewing a slightly modified recipe this weekend. An almost double batch using a 17lt cube. I hope to use it on a soon to be cleaned and maintenance"d beer engine  The other cube for a lowish carbed keg.

Everything in this beer is new for me . Ive never used any of these malts or hops before. Same % as Bribies first post but using,

Pearl
Simpsons heritage

North down
Challenger 
Styrian G

Hanging for some bitters.
I think it will be nice


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## Droopy Brew

This turned out quite good but I had some yeast issues. Bastard stalled at 1.030 @19C. Swirled, bumped temp to 21C and down to 1.020 after a few days. Another swirl, another bump to 22C and finally got it to 1.014. Got sick of waiting so CC and kegged.
Nice bright beer, good flavours although heavy on the esters due to temp. Unfortunately due to my impatience I also got some acetylaldehyde but not enough to make the beer bad. I can taste it but fellow drinkers seem to think its "bloody good.'
Will try again with a massive yeast pitch and let it go for a week after FG.


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## nosco

Good to know. Ive brewed the my beer but ive had the yeast in the fridge for about 2 months. I am hoping to split my starters 3 ways and then make another starter from a 3rd. I hope its enough with a bit of o2.


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## TheWiggman

Got this on the boil at the moment. I don't have any Aurora but have Challenger and EKG. No-chilling. Did you no-chill Bribie and if so were you additions as per the recipe? I'm tossing up whether to put the Challenger in later to showcase it some more, say at flameout then some EKG when whirlpooling.


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## TheWiggman

Might ask for advice next time earlier than 30 mins before I need an answer. Went Challenger 15 mins, EKG at flameout. Smelled bloody good, holy smokes did it smell good. Floccy 1469 stirring up as we speak.


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## technobabble66

You did good, wiggdude. Exactly as I would've: challenger late, EKG at flameout.
[emoji106]


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## Bribie G

+1
Ed, I no chill and in recent months have gone to cube hopping.


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## TheWiggman

So no chill _and _did additions at 30 mins? This isn't a practice I do, all of my brews are either 60 mins or at/after flameout.


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## Bribie G

I posted the original recipe as the all-purpose version and should maybe have said to adjust for no chill as per your usual schedule. 

For example when following a lot of traditional UK recipes where they tend to put in a shit load of EKG etc for the last 10 minutes I move that to cube hopping.

With the Challenger at 30 you could move it to 20 or even 10 as it's mainly there for the marmalade.


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## TheWiggman

Then toast me up sugar


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## welly2

Put down a new English bitter today. Using White Labs WLP005 which I built a starter for. Haven't strayed too far away from Bribie's recipe although took the opportunity to use up a few last bits of grain:

3.75kg Maris Otter
0.15kg Caramalt
0.15kg Medium Crystal
0.15kg Dark Crystal
0.05kg Wheat malt

30g Northdown @ 60
20g Fuggles @ 30
20g Fuggles @ 0

WLP005 British Ale Yeast

Even if its no TTLL, it'll still be beer and I'm sure I won't have a problem drinking it! It'll be used to test my new cask.


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## Dozer71

Put down one on the weekend

90% gladfield ale malt
5% victory
5% caramunich 2
30g challenger FWH
20g challenger in the cube (no chill)
23L and 34IBU
Used 1469. Stepped up a starter to save some for another brew and it kicked off in 12 hours at 17C.

Should be a little over 4% when bottled, so a nice summer drink - or likely spring as it may not last that long.


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## stuartf

Wanted to get some feedback from experienced tasters, last trip back to olde Blighty I was drinking TTL in a pub in that London and found it quite watery. Im assuming this isn't normal?


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## rude

Just put an Ordinary Bitter down too

Marris Otter 3,7kg

carramunich11 150g

pale wheat 150g

choc malt 50g

acid malt 20g

challenger all the way 32 IBU

Came in a bit high 1045 mashed highish might have to add some water maybe
for 3.8% or just go for 4.2% Best Bitter

Using Whitbread Ale yeast 1099


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## Tricky Dicky

I'm a relative newby with a partial grain + DME set up and still trying to nail a good YB. I was interested in the temperature of the 1469 making a difference to the final flavour, could someone expand on that i.e how the lower temperatures and higher temperatures affect the flavours?


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## stuartf

Tricky Dicky said:


> I'm a relative newby with a partial grain + DME set up and still trying to nail a good YB. I was interested in the temperature of the 1469 making a difference to the final flavour, could someone expand on that i.e how the lower temperatures and higher temperatures affect the flavours?


Basically lower temps reduce ester production by the yeast giving a "cleaner" fermentation while warmer temps will increase esters. Depending on yeast strain this can be a good or bad thing. English strains can give fruity or floral esters so fermentimg warm within the temp range of the yeast strain can help to get those flavours and aromas in your beer.


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## sponge

1469 is very versatile (and effing delicious) as well. Probably my favourite English strain.

Happily run it fruity from low to mid 20s for a good English bitter with good yeast character, or keep it cleaner for an APA around 17.


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## Tricky Dicky

sponge said:


> 1469 is very versatile (and effing delicious) as well. Probably my favourite English strain.
> 
> Happily run it fruity from low to mid 20s for a good English bitter with good yeast character, or keep it cleaner for an APA around 17.


Up to now I've fermented at 20C with temperature control for the whole fermentation period which is usually 2 weeks,so you go up to 25C for the whole fermentation period?


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## sponge

Pretty sure some beers like doombar (although not specifically a yorkshire bitter) are fermented closer to 25'C for the whole period. 

Give it a crack at 22-23'C.


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## Tricky Dicky

sponge said:


> Pretty sure some beers like doombar (although not specifically a yorkshire bitter) are fermented closer to 25'C for the whole period.
> 
> Give it a crack at 22-23'C.


Drank a fair bit bit of Doombar on my last visit to the UK a good quaffer IMO. I will try the higher temp on the next batch using 1469. Just read an interesting Brulosophy article on brewing two batches of the same wort with wlp002 at two different temperatures 66F and 76F I think it was, and none of the people tasting the samples could taste any difference?


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## Tricky Dicky

Mardoo said:


> 1469 is just an awesome yeast when fermented low. Dark cherry esters...oh yeah. This is pretty much my house yeast.


how low?


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## sponge

It's pretty happy chugging around 17°C, but can easily be pushed higher with great results as well.


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