After doing a lot of research, I jumped into the ESB style. The first attempt was by no means poor, but was in some ways lacking. It did finish a bit dryer than I had hoped for, and was lacking som distinctive aroma. It was not bland as such, but could have been more characteristic.
My second attempt was full of brewday disasters, kettles failing, and overheating led to a slightly stressful day, but at the end I had 20+ litres sitting in my fermentor.
All targets in terms of measurements were hit, so I had decent hopes of improving on the first ale.
Two weeks later, the fermented beer was transferred to a keg, and carbonated with Co2. As the first attempt was carbonated with sugar in bottles, this was a first try at forced carbonation. 13 hours at 3 bar was pretty close to perfect. The temperature was raised to 7 degrees C, to be close to a good cold english cellar.
One of the challenges is waiting, and today, only two days later, I just had to try it.
Carbonation is pretty much spot on Yay!!
The taste and aroma has some development, as the smell is still a bit metallic, but the flavors are pretty good. given some time this is getting close..