I really enjoy brewing beer on a lazy Sunday afternoon.. This Sunday I brewed my first English Special Bitter. This style falls in between an Ordinary or Standard Bitter and the Extra Special Bitter. The styles are all very similar in ingredients, the main difference that sets them apart is the amount of malts that are added which in turns affects the original gravity and the end abv content.

First I gathered up everything I needed equipment and ingredient wise. You can see the fermentation jug is already soaking in an Oxyclean and hot water solution to begin the cleansing. I like a 30 minute contact minimum here, though I will leave it until the time comes to sanitize it and have it ready for the wort.

Here you can see the two types of barley I used as a specialty grain to steep into the wort before the boil. This gives color and adds complexity to the flavor of the ale.

I used only English UK Kent Golding hops for bittering, flavor, and aromas. This is an English style after all!

Of course malts straight from the motherland of England as well, Muntons Extra Light to keep the color within the guideline acceptable range for this style. I plan on entering this into an upcoming home brewing competition so I want to get this one right on all counts. I got two cans which ended up being 6.6 lbs of this caramelly malt extract.

First time trying out the 1968 London ESB liquid yeast. Definitely fits the style here, and I chose it over others due to its higher fermentation range up to 72 degrees. It has been awful hot in California so I figured why not!

I weighed out my specialty grains using a kitchen scale and the mesh steeping bag. I added just .55 lb of the Crystal and .30lb of the Special Roast barley, for my own special blend.

Here is the hot side of my brewery, your standard Blichmann 15 gallon kettle up top a Bayou Classic propane burner that fits it just right. I started heating up 6 gallons of good old Arrowhead Mountain Spring water, not quite what they use in England, but it will do the trick nicely.

Once I hit 150 degrees I added the steeping grains to release the flavors and coloring. I let it steep for 30 minutes, ensuring to move the grain bag around every so often to let the good stuff escape into my wort.

After the steeping I removed the bag, letting the good drippings leak into the wort for a minute. Then I turned the flame up to reach boiling temperature. While things were heating up on that side I measured out for the hop additions. The first addition is the beginning of the boil, 1.3 oz at the 60 minutes mark. You count down in brewing and this is a 60 minute boil, hence the beginning is 60 minutes. These first hops will provide the bitterness that this brew needs to reflect its true personality. It is a Special Bitter, remember!

I was heating up the canned malts in another pot over the stove since the steeping process, this made the malts hot and more liquefied for an easy pour into the kettle, also which occurred right at the 60 minute marker.

I could not take a picture while adding the hops and malt, as I needed one hand to add the ingredients while I kept the wort stirring up good during the additions. You don’t want them malts falling to the bottom of your kettle and burning up, this would affect the end flavors negatively. I kept stirring until I felt all the malts were good and dissolved.

30 minutes in it was time for the second hop addition, just a half ounce of the same UK Kent Goldings for this round. Note the exciting action of hops falling right into the kettle!

I like to ensure my little yeast friends are up to the task at hand so they make plenty alcohol! This shot shows a simple nutrient beverage I whipped up for the little guys, just a 1/2 tsp of the nutrient dissolved in warm water. This was added at 10 minutes left to go in the boil. Like the glass I used here? I didn’t shoot a pic, but I had already added my wort chiller to the kettle with 20 minutes left to go.

By this time I had rinsed the rest of my equipment and it was being sanitized in the iodine solution I picked up from 5 Star. Notice I even sanitize the yeast package and scissors, along with the transfer hose, cap and airlock though you cant see all that good stuff in the tub.

In case you didn’t think all those aforementioned items could fit in such a small bucket, here is some proof!

With just a minute left in the boil I added the aromatic inducing hops, the last half ounce of the Golding hops that you can barely see through all the steam. Oh, theres that wort chiller I was talking about earlier!

Once the flame went off it was time to chill the wort down to 70-75 degrees as quick as possible. I just hook up one end of the copper wort chiller to my garden hose and let the other side leak right off the balcony. Ok, so I am sorry if we are in a drought next year.. It proved very difficult to get much below 80 degrees, next time I am going to immerse the kettle into a tub of ice at the same time. I did mention it has been really hot out here, yes?

I brought the kettle into the kitchen for the transfer once it hit about 78 degrees and wouldn’t cool down any further. I carefully removed the hose from the sanitizer and guided it into place after also dousing the spigot on the kettle with sanitizer. Clean beer is tasty beer I always say! Then I open the valve on the kettle and watch the liquid on its way to what will be its new home for the next two weeks. The hose is cut short so it drops vigorously and creates a lot of air during the transfer. The yeast really like air in the wort right off the bat.

Speaking of yeast, look at how much the packet had swelled! I had brought them out of the fridge and woke them up just about 4 hours ahead of time. They appeared to be ready!

I turn off the valve to stop the transfer at the first sign of trub entering the line. Look at this pile of hoppy trub left behind in the kettle from the boil!! Who wants some HOPS now?! I added the yeast right after the transfer.

I took the original gravity reading which turned out to be a 1.048, right at the top of the Special Bitter scale, almost into ESB range!

Then I capped it off with an airlock and placed it into the coolest part of my home, dubbed “the cellar” it is actually my front entry way. Come on in! Look at the nice layer of foam, I shook it all up real good once I mixed in the yeast to give them a healthy dose of oxygen to promote fermentation.

It is now Monday and I reckon I treated them yeasties right, as fermentation has begun and the krausen is beginning to form already!! This was an easy brew to create and the process went smooth other than the hot temperatures I was forced to deal with. Regardless if things keep up and all goes well, I plan to enter this Special Bitter into what will be my first ever home brewing competition, wish me luck!! I am calling it the “Nothing Special Bitter” because I am simply trying to emulate an age old English style, nothing special!

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Tags: 1968 London ESB, English, Muntons Extra Light, smack pack, special bitter, UK Kent Goldings, yeast nutrient

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