Oaty ESB recipe

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

Hey,

I'm planning on putting down an easy drinking, malty delight because there aren't enough commercial breweries putting out ESBs for some reason.

I love what oats bring to an oatmeal stout so I'm thinking that a bit of oats would bring extra creaminess to an ESB. So I've tentatively thrown together this recipe based on an amalgamation of others floating around.

22L Batch
OG - 1.056
FG - 1.014
IBU- 42
ABV - 5.7%

Maris Otter - 4.5kg (82.6%)
Crystal Medium - 0.35kg (6.4%)
Flaked Oats - 0.3kg (5.5%)
CaraAroma - 0.15kg (2.8%)
Biscuit Malt - 0.15kg (2.8%)

Challenger 40g @ 60mins
Bramling Cross 15g @ 20mins
Bramling Cross 10g in the cube.


I'm a bit undecided on yeast at the moment. I'm tossing up between S-04, 1469 and 1968 but I've not used any of them before so any advice would be great.

Also, should I be dry hopping on a beer like this?

 

[manticle]

1469 is wonderful.
Look into simpsons golden naked oats - basically malted, crystal oats. Toast till golden brown for extra nuttiness.
Looks good - if it were me, I'd go challenger throughout or at least have some late. Beautiful hop. Dry hopping is fine but unnecessary I think. If doing it, be judicious - I'd be no more than 1g/L for 2-3 days if you really want to.

 

[manticle]

Also dark uk crystal rather than german cara for raisiny goodness.

 

[kaiserben]

I made a batch with 90% Maris Otter, 5% Dark Crystal and 5% Golden Rolled Oats. It was great (but not exactly what I was aiming for, which is something with a big malt backbone and a honey-like/toffee sweetness) and I fermented it with M79, which gave a type of fruitiness I'm not interested in. (I've since switched to S-04, and will also switch to mostly light crystal, but haven't yet tasted these newer batches).

Comparing that 5% Golden Rolled Oats batch to another batch that was simply 95% MO and 5% Dark Crystal - the one with the Oats was definitely smoother (and slightly sweeter, I think), so the oats are worth experimenting with.

For my honey-like/toffee, sweet ESB, I'll be putting in some Munich (on the advice of someone whose ESB was almost exactly what I'm after) with a fair whack of crystal (mostly light). I'll probably end up trying Golden Promise instead of Maris Otter. And will bring the Oats back into the mix once I've got the basics of what I'm after. So far it's been all EKG for hops. But would like to try a flavouring-stage hop that introduces something more like honey/stonefruit (any tips?)

If anyone has some great ideas about getting some honey-like flavours in an ESB (without playing with actual honey) I'd appreciate your ideas.

 

[manticle]

Using a yeast prone to throwing higher levels of VDKs might help. Lighter crystal rather than dark.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

1469 is wonderful.
Look into simpsons golden naked oats - basically malted, crystal oats. Toast till golden brown for extra nuttiness.
Looks good - if it were me, I'd go challenger throughout or at least have some late. Beautiful hop. Dry hopping is fine but unnecessary I think. If doing it, be judicious - I'd be no more than 1g/L for 2-3 days if you really want to.

Those golden naked Simpsons oats look the goods.

I'll make sure to throw some challenger in late too.

Thanks!

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

The 1469 leaves the estimated FG at 1.017. Is that a bit high?

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

Agghhhh Craftbrewer are all out of Challenger

Any suggested replacements? EKG?

 

[TidalPete]

Perle or Northern Brewer

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

Yeah I went for Perle in the end. Cheers.

 

[manticle]

For challenger I would sub northdown or first gold. Or change it up and usr ekg and styrian goldings.
Brew softwate cannot accurately predict fg but 1469 will attenuate your beer fine. For my bitters with my general mash and fermentation schedule, I expect 1012-ish.
I ignore suggested fg in recipe design software - it's flawed.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

I just cracked this one and I'm pretty proud of it to be honest. I used medium and pale crystal instead of the caraaroma and went with the simpsons oats.

Dry hopped with a bit more Bramling Cross.

 

[BrewedCrudeandBitter]

The oats give a nice full body but it could probably stand to be a tad sweeter.

Nice malt aroma and good bitterness.

 

[Mardoo]

Next time have a go with oat malt as well. I've been brewing a string of oat-based beers and I'm really liking them. They're a bit different from barley beers. My last one was 60% oats.

 

[manticle]

Have done a 100% oat - was interesting. Very cloudy, very porridge like, efficiency below normal.
Interested in trying again one day.

 

[evildrakey]

Have done a 100% oat - was interesting. Very cloudy, very porridge like, efficiency below normal.
Interested in trying again one day.

That's really interesting... So you're saying that a 100% oat beer will actually work and produce a beer, I wasn't aware that was possible. I'd love some more info on what you did if you can remember and can spare the time please?

 

[manticle]

Info on a bunch of stuff, including my recipe and results here: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/63874-oat-beer-experiment/

 

[Mardoo]

I did an oaten mild that was one of the first beers I've brewed that dedicated Carlton Draft drinkers liked. A lot. I also happened to like it. It definitely did not taste like Carlton Draft. I hope.

 

[Alex.Tas]

<snip>
22L Batch
OG - 1.056
FG - 1.014
IBU- 42
ABV - 5.7%

Maris Otter - 4.5kg (82.6%)
Crystal Medium - 0.35kg (6.4%)
Flaked Oats - 0.3kg (5.5%)
CaraAroma - 0.15kg (2.8%)
Biscuit Malt - 0.15kg (2.8%)

Challenger 40g @ 60mins
Bramling Cross 15g @ 20mins
Bramling Cross 10g in the cube.
<snip>

I just cracked this one and I'm pretty proud of it to be honest. I used medium and pale crystal instead of the caraaroma and went with the simpsons oats.

First of all, your beer looks awesome.

Rather than start a new thread, as there is some good information here that doesn't need to be repeated, I'm interested in having a go at a similar beer to this, however tone it down a little.

Your OG is 1.056, im after something more in the realms of 1.042ish (closer to a <5% beer including ~0.3% for priming) possibly even lower.
would i be making a mistake in scaling back the quantities of all malts to hit my intended OG, then scaling back the hop additions to get the same IBU/SG ratio?

I really enjoy wells bombadier, bishops finger and sam smiths nut brown. all of which could probably be classed as prime examples of different styles according to BJCP/AABC styles.
To my palate, they all seem to have a nice caramel/dark fruit/raisin/sultana and malty flavour with a hint of ester. Not too bitter (i found TT landlord too bitter for what I am after in an english bitter- purely personal preference).

using a grain bill similar to what is mentioned above, adjusted to what i have on hand:

• Simpsons Maris Otter - (82.6%)
• Joe White Crystal Medium - (6.4%)
• Homebrand (what a tight arse) quick oats - (5.5%) - I don't have any flaked oats, how would some quick oats toasted for ~30 min go? obviously not the same thing, but i reckon it would contribute nicely to the flavour.
• Gladfields Shepherds delight - (2.8%)
• Gladfields Biscuit Malt - (2.8%)

also, I am a fan of first wort hops.
I've got abunch of challenger (never used before), EKG and styrians.
I was thinking something like challenger and EKG FWH, EKG and challenger at 30 and again at 15.
Thoughts/questions/abuse?

I haven't decided if I'll cube this batch or chill it using my IC. if i cube, the 15min additions will be cubes, and the 30 min additions will be 15 from end of boil. For simplicity sake, keep suggestions as if i will be chilling using the IC please, to avoid confusion.

Yeast:
ive got healthy populations of 1469 west yorkshire, 1968 london ESB and 1187 ringwood.

Cheers for any advice