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Blackacre Special Bitter

Vital Statistics: Batch Number: 37 Style: ESB Brew Date: 13 February 2011 Original Gravity: 1.053 (13.10 °Plato) Final Gravity: 1.008 (2.05 °Plato) ABV: 5.9% ABW: 4.6% Calories per pint: 227 Estimated IBU (Rager): 47.7 Estimated IBU (Tinseth): 36.7 Mash Temperature: 154° Mash Efficiency: 74% Days in Primary: 29   Days in Secondary: 0 (kegged on 14 March 2011) Ferm. Temp. Notes: 63-65° Yeast Used: 1968 London ESB Apparent Attenuation: 85% Real Attenuation: 69% Rating: 3.60 Entirely Consumed: Yes (finished 15 May 2011) Availability: 62 days	Recipe: 9 lb 2-row pale malt 1 lb Cara-Munich 1 lb Crystal 60° 10 AAU (62g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60 4 AAU (25g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15 1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min Wyeast 1968 - London ESB
General Notes: Used yeast cake from batch #35.
Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 23 April 2011, after 40 days in the keg. Poured into a glass mug. Appearance: rich red-brown hue with a finger of creamy head, a light tan color also lightly infused with a rusty red hue. Body is totally clear. Color is a bit darker than I would normally like, but overall it's pretty good. (4) Smell: sweetish caramelly malt aroma. Not much in the way of hops, but there is a citrusy character that might be due to either the yeast or the crystal malt; not sure. Overall, nice, but I think some earthy hops at 5 or flame-out would be pretty good here. (3.5) Taste: somewhat sweet caramel malt flavor with some biscuitiness to it. Bitterness is pretty high, though hop flavor isn't particularly present beyond a little earthy character. Some vegetable flavor lingers on the aftertaste; wonder if it's the Willamettes I've got? Noticed the same thing with Bulldog Brown. While, overall, I like this, I think I went overboard again on the crystal malts. Maybe next time I'll drop the Cara-Munich, go 12 oz on the crystal and maybe add some kind of dextrine malt or something. Still, it is decent. (3.5) Mouthfeel: medium to medium-light body with a good level of carbonation. I think this beer is a little more attenuated than I'd wish, at least for the style. Some Cara-Pils and maybe mashing at 156 or something might help me out here. (3.5) Drinkability: pretty good overall, but this beer definitely needs some improvements. Reduce the crystal malt content, add some Cara-Pils, maybe go with a higher-alpha hop for bittering to reduce the vegetableyness of the hop aftertaste. (3.5) Overall score of 3.6 (B). A "B" is pretty accurately descriptive for this beer: drinkable, passable, but not perfect. I like it, but there is definitely room for improvement.
Hops Table Hop Variety Addition Time AAU AA% Quantity (g) Type IBU (Rager) IBU (Tinseth) Notes Willamette 60 10.00 4.5 62 Pellet 41.0 30.6   Willamette 15 4.00 4.5 25 Pellet 6.7 6.1
Competitions Entered Competition Category Date Submitted Final Judging Date Score (High/Low) Outcome Puget Sound Pro-Am 2011 BJCP 8C - Extra Special/Strong Bitter 23 April 2011 30 April 2011 33.5/50 (35/32) Did not place (5th of 19 in English Pale Ale category).