Here's what I've got so far: For 5 gallons 6 lbs. Extra Light Dry Malt Extra 1 lb. Crystal 60L (steeped) 0.5 lbs Crystal 90L (steeped) 60 minute boil with 1 oz. EKG at first boil 2 oz. EKG at 180F during cooling Once at room temperature, pitch WLP002 or other English Ale Yeast OG 1.061 FG 1.015 16.6 IBU (perceived bitterness will be higher) 13.6° SRM 5.9% ABV
Not sure how much help this will be, but........ Quite some time ago @VikeMan started a series of threads that let mob rule (by vote) create recipes, and ESB was one of them. Three links, below: First shows all the threads that were used to determine the specifics of the ESB. It's quite involved. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...y-perfect-esb-how-we-got-there-thread.607823/ Second is to the final recipe. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...sb-ag-w-extract-steeped-grains-option.509005/ The third has posts from some folks who brewed it. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...eragely-perfect-esb-turned-out-thread.513625/ Wishing you luck on your brew. It's good to see some activity here again.
Wow. If that's what the Homebrewing Forum used to be like, I'm sorry I missed it! Neat rabbit hole to go down, though. Thanks for the direction!
Briess now makes a Pale Ale DME that may be better suited for this. Will give you more of the traditional British malt nutty, biscuity flavor. It is a bit darker though, so maybe back off on the crystal malts a bit (never a bad idea.)
Not running the numbers or anything, but I'd go 6# Briess Pale Ale DME 0.5# Fawcett medium crystal 0.25# Simpson's DRC 0.25# Turbinado sugar I'd also up the IBUS. Somewhere around 40 for something that's 1.06ish OG using extract and steeped crystal. A 20 or 30 minute addition would be nice. On paper everyone says that it doesn't do anything, but British and German brewers still do it, so it must work. A light dry hop (around 0.5 to 1oz) would also be nice. I tend to like drier beers when it's something you're supposed to be able to drink a couple three of. Also, there's more to British hops than EKG and Fuggles, so you could play around with that. The various Styrian hops out now sound like they would work well in a British ale, Willamette is always great, and some of the newer US hops sound like they may work well when used judiciously.
Something I’ve learned recently from reading Shut Up about Barkley Perkins blog is that English Brewer’s traditionly got a lot of their color from using invert sugar. Crystal malt is a newer thing. Maybe try going with some number two invert? It will give you some color and keep the beer dry. I haven’t used this brand myself, so I can’t vouch for it personally, but others might have an opinion. https://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/beckers-inverted-brewing-sugars-invert-2-1-lb Also, I’d throw in a couple more ounces of East KentGolding’s at the 15 minute mark. It will give you a nice hop flavor and add a little more bitterness, your American, so you really can’t over hop a beer!
