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Recipe – Golden NW Extra Special Bitter

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

This a wonderful tasting British ale that uses Zeus bittering hops. More of a NW + British hybrid really. This Golden NW ESB has a nice balanced malt to hop ratio. A bread like biscuit flavor rolls into medium bitterness over the tongue. It finishes smooth and has drinkability – in that you will want to take another sip of this brew right away. Extra Special Bitter is traditionally served in British pubs, and would cost extra compared to the house ale.

ESB home brew

Target Volume: 5 gallons

Grains:
5.25 lb Pale 2-Row
4 lb ESB Malt
0.5 lb Mild Ale Malt
(at 75% efficiency)

Extract brewers:
Steep 1 lb ESB Malt, 0.25 lb Mild Ale Malt
Use 5.75 Light Dry Malt Extract, or 7 lb Light Liquid Extract

Hops:
0.75 oz Zeus, 60 min
0.75 oz Goldings, 20 min
0.75 oz Goldings, 10 min

(Extract brewers may want to use 1 oz Zeus to get correct IBU level.)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yeast (aka White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast)

Water Chemistry:
Calcium 116
Sodium 89
Sulfates 214
Carbonates (HCO3) 226
Chloride 46
(all numbers in ppm)

My tap water is practically mineral free. I added approximately 1 tsp CaCl, 3 tsp Gypsum, and 2.5 tsp Baking Soda to get these concentrations.

Procedure:
Mashed at 158F for 60 minutes, standard batch sparge. Fermented for 10 days between 62F-68F, racked and let sit for 12 days. Bottled and primed with 3.5oz dextrose.

Batch Stats:
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.011
IBU: 60
ABV: 5.35%

home brew in bottle
(Freshly filled and capped batch of ESB).

extra special bitter home brew foamy head
(Nice foamy head on this ESB).

5 Responses to “Recipe – Golden NW Extra Special Bitter”
so what extactly is:

4 lb ESB Malt
0.5 lb Mild Ale Malt

Can you be more specific? ESB malt = Maris Otter Malt and a Mild ale = Special roast or brown?
Just curious.

By Jeffrey Bell on Apr 24, 2011
I got these from my local home brew store and that is what they were labeled. I have made a note to call them about this. I will follow up.

By Larry on Apr 28, 2011
I called the LHBS:
ESB Malt is by Gambrinus (made in Canada using American and Canadian grains)
Mild Malt is by Muntons (made in England)

Maris Otter Malt, and Special Roast/Brown not involved in this recipe at all.

By Larry on May 4, 2011
There’s no such thing as ESB malt. Mild ale malt isn’t really specific either, but probably refers to medium crystal such as Fawcett 60L.

By Bottlebomber on Oct 25, 2012
I was wrong. Gambrinus appears to produce a malt by that designation

By Bottlebomber on Oct 25, 2012