Averagely Perfect ESB - Poll #4 - Grains/Fermentables

Are the Crystal Police back!?!

Cheers!

 

The only time I have used it was in the Pope AK recipe that a number of us brewed a couple years ago. I think that most of the sugars got fermented, but there was still a bit of caramel sweetness that was different from caramel malts. I'm not sure invert sugar belongs in an ESB, but voted for it with hopes of having a discussion/vote about it in a later poll.

 

My 3rd All-Grain attempt was an ESB, and I used Biscuit as one of my specialty malts since I thought that flavor would go great in the style. Unfortunately, it ended up being a "less is more" kind of thing, and the Biscuit qualities were way too much for my liking. It could have been due to my small batch size (3 gal) that it was overpowering, but I like the idea of subtle biscuit flavor/aroma in an ESB.

 

I can't believe that 44% of the polled responses want Munich or Vienna malt in an ESB.

 

Agree 100% but I figured I'd save my argument for the runoff

 

Because folks are afraid of being tossed into the pokey by the stupid Crystal Malt police!?!

Cheers!

 

I'd add hops

 

Yes, I ordered hops as well.

Since this thread was concerning malt that was all that I listed in the above post.

Peter, just for you, I will 'spill the beans':

• Challenger for bittering
• East Kent Goldings for flavor and aroma additions (including dry hopping)

I also ordered yeast but I will keep that a 'secret' for now.

Cheers!

 

I believe English brewers relied heavily on sugar to color the beer. Where a U.S. homebrewer would reach for dark malts, English brewers reached for sugar or caramel. For instance, here's a passage from a @patto1ro post that is mostly about Fuller's mild ale, but that also touches on general ingredient considerations:

No. 3 invert makes a comeback in 1918 for a while before the recipe settles into its postwar form of pale malt, glucose, intense [intense is a type of brewing sugar] and flaked maize. Where's the crystal malt? Fuller's didn't use it. Before WW I you don't see it used much anywhere. Sometimes in Mild Ales, but almost never in Pale Ales. That's a comparatively recent phenomenon. Fuller's were pretty typical in using only pale malt in all their beers except for Porter and Stout.​

If Fuller's used only pale malt in their ales, then where did the color come from? Sugar is the answer.

There is also this from @patto1ro:

By 1900, in addition to the standard numbered invert sugars (Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4) there was a whole range of proprietary sugars, often designed for a specific type of beer. These could convey a great deal of flavour to the finished beer. Even a relatively pale sugar like No. 2 has a surprisingly complex fruity flavour.​

 

But times have changed as indicated by Ron in his prior post: “Currently fullers ESB is all malt.”

“Brewer's Notes

Rich mahogany in colour, ESB tempts with aromas of orange marmalade, balanced by soft malt toffee. The hops impart grassy, peppery notes alongside hints of citrus fruit – while the Pale Ale and Crystal malts bring distinctive biscuity flavours. A smooth, delicate bitterness lingers on the palate to give a supreme finish.”

https://www.fullers.co.uk/beer/explore-our-beers/esb

Cheers!

 

I guess wy1469

 

Yeah, I'm not claiming sugar is mandatory in an English bitter, just that it's extremely common and in my opinion would be fun to add. If you look at @patto1ro's book The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer (which can be purchased here), you'll see that it would be nearly impossible to brew the classic English recipes from after 1880 without mastering the use of sugar. (It was legal to use sugar in England after 1847, but for whatever reason it is absent in a lot of the recipes from 1847 to 1880, at which point it becomes ubiquitous. Obviously this has something to do with Mr. Gladstone's Free Mash Tun Act, but I'm not sure exactly what the connection is. Maybe tax? It's not straightforward legalization, as it is with adjuncts like maize and rice, since sugar had been legal to use for decades.)

Sugar is also a unique and interesting ingredient that most homebrewers in the U.S. only use for Belgian recipes, if at all. And when they use it, they tend to buy it rather than make it, whereas Pattinson includes directions for making invert sugar of different kinds. So I think it would be great to include it in this recipe to expand people's boundaries and to lend a unique (but authentic) character to the beer.

But it's absolutely true that you can brew a proper ESB without sugar, and I understand if people would rather use familiar ingredients.

 

Sugar was extremely common but it got a bad name back in the day, rightly or wrongly - wrongly in my opinion - however some of the best traditional beers still being made here use it still, Harveys for example. A few others still use it

I'd try and persuade voters to go the old time pale/invert/maize/crystal route rather than the all malt pale/crystal one, simply because I don't think many of the old types are made any more. Also because that was what is in Gales HSB which I want to brew but might go for a slightly stronger riff on it if the old type combo gets voted for

 

You must have been reading my other posts?

I guess I am not good at maintaining 'secrets'.

 

I use sugar when I brew my Belgian Trappist/Abbey style beers (e.g., Dubbel, Tripel). I use plain old table sugar (cane sugar). No 'making' required there.

Cheers!

 

Not posts regarding this beer, but you've made your preference known in the past.

 

I resisted my current compulsion to add flaked rye, for the sake of the style.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2tag9xjbgxkqdp/File Mar 09, 14 31 58.jpeg?dl=0

I think this is what we're headed toward, except all around more robust. Just in case the photo doesn't go, Fortnum's and Mason's English Ale.

 

Added a vote for Amber just to try to eliminate Munich.

 

Given how close together the Munich, Amber, and Sugar categories are, I suggest they all make it to the next round. Just my 2 cents. Cheers!