The quest of creating a great bitter is going to take some time. The malt, should be easy, but is proving to be a challenge, as are hops and water chemistry. so really just a lot of trial and recording.
The latest recipe to go into production is coded as Sugar & Spice. Quite a bit of residual sugars, and with an addition of Crystal rye malt. This is replacing the traditional Crystal 70.
I also cut out the flaked Maize, as the previous beers did come out a bit dry.
I will keep it for the best bitter, as I would like a dry finish to them, and will be using brown malt for both color, and that chocolate, nutty flavour. This should pair well with a Crystal 70, and some Victory malt for a bit of an edge..
The drinkability of these beers are great, and the sugar & spice is fermented with wlp 023.
I am hoping this will come out quite fruity, and be complimented with the spicy sweet malt.
Hops is difficult, so I went with Target as bitter, Challenger/Northdown @ 15, and Fuggles/EKG @5
No dry hops planned, as this one should be pretty malt centric.
Brewing went reasonably well, even if I am still getting used to the Grainfather. It is great to have a higher degree of control. Gravity was spot on, and I am trying a FFT (Fast Ferment Test) to know where this will finish. The fermentation plan is quite detailed, so this knowledge comes in handy
Tilt is in to track the progress, so now for that all too painful waiting...