Low ABV bitter

[Sutty]

I'm looking to brew a low ABV bitter, 3 to 3.5% ABV, but with plenty of flavour and body. Here is my possible recipe, any comments from more experienced folk welcome.
Oats are for more mouthfeel, wheat for better head retention, munich and crystal to boost the flavours and colour. Hop choice partly because I have most of them, but fairly low alpha to get lots of flavours and aromas without excessive bitterness.
You may spot I have programmed a very high efficiency, but have been getting very high with the grainfather, and would rather undershoot the ABV rather that overshoot.
Planning on WLP002 or WLP007 yeast.

Calculated with BeerEngine.

Any thoughts?

FermentableColourlb: ozGramsRatioPale Malt5 EBC 5 lbs. 8.1 oz2500 grams81.4%Oat Malt3.5 EBC 0 lbs. 3.5 oz100 grams3.3%Munich Malt20 EBC 0 lbs. 3.5 oz100 grams3.3%Torrefied Wheat4 EBC 0 lbs. 1.8 oz50 grams1.6%Crystal 100105 EBC 0 lbs. 7.0 oz200 grams6.5%Crystal 400400 EBC 0 lbs. 4.2 oz120 grams3.9%
Hop VarietyTypeAlphaTimelb: ozgramsRatioChallengerWhole7.6 %60 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz11 grams17.1%NorthdownWhole8.3 %15 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz11 grams17%ChallengerWhole7.6 %15 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz11 grams17.3%Styrian GoldingsWhole4.5 %15 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz10 grams16.2%Styrian GoldingsWhole4.5 %60 mins 0 lbs. 0.7 oz20 grams32.4%
Final Volume:23Litres Original Gravity:1.035
Final Gravity:1.008
Alcohol Content:3.5%ABV Total Liquor:31.4Litres Mash Liquor:7.7Litres Mash Efficiency:90% Bitterness:31.6390418752942EBU Colour:33EBC

 

[MyQul]

That's REALLY hard to read with no spacing, mate (I know it's the fault of whatever brewsoftware you usedand not yours)

 

[Sutty]

It didn't look like that as I was posting!
I'll try to find a way to make it legible.

 

[MyQul]

I love a low abv bitter (ordinary/standard bitter) and make them when I'm not making dark beers. In fact I made one today http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59455

That's quite bitter (for a ordinary bitter) with a IBU/OG of 0.9. Iirc, being a style nazi, ordinary bitters are usually 0.7 and I prefer mine even lower at 0.5/0.6. But if you like them that bitter, that is of course fine

 

[Sutty]

[FONT=&quot]Fermentable Colour Grams Ratio[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Pale Malt 5 EBC5 2500 grams 81.4%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oat Malt 3.5 EBC 100 grams 3.3%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Munich Malt 20 EBC 100 grams 3.3%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Torrefied Wheat 4 EBC 50 grams 1.6%
Crystal 100 105 EBC 200 grams 6.5%
Crystal 400 400 EBC 120 grams 3.9%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hop Variety Alpha Time grams Ratio[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Challenger 7.6 % 60 mins 11 17.1%
Styrian Goldings 4.5 % 60 mins 20 32.4%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Northdown 8.3 % 15 mins 11 17%
Challenger 7.6 % 15 mins 11 17.3%
Styrian Goldings 4.5 % 15 mins 10 16.2%

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Final Volume:23Litres[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Original Gravity:1.035[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Final Gravity:1.008[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Alcohol Content:3.5%ABV[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mash Efficiency:90%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Bitterness:31.6EBU[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Colour:33EBC[/FONT]

 

[Sutty]

I do like them quite bitter, but was hoping there would be enough malt flavour with those grains to balance it ok - though I may well be wrong!

 

[Dads_Ale]

Low gravity beers are the hardest to get right.

I would just go with your recipe and see how it turns out. Looking at it should be ok. :smile:

 

[MyQul]

I do like them quite bitter, but was hoping there would be enough malt flavour with those grains to balance it ok - though I may well be wrong!

You've got plenty of crystal (just over 10%) in there so you'll be fine I think. I've made London Pride's in the past but tweeked it so it had much higher IBU's than the recipe states and it was really helped the 10% crystal in it

 

[Sutty]

Edit: sorry for blank post - was experimenting with another way to post a copy legibly (didn't work)

 

[Sutty]

Well I brewed this today but made a mistake with the grain: I had 1Kg packs of Maris Otter and a 1Kg pack of Munich, as well as some leftover Maris Otter. I was weighing out the grain into a bucket, chucked in the 1st 2 packs of Maris Otter and then realised one was the munich (I'd also added 200g of leftover Maris Otter before I realised). I also wasn't sure which went in first. Oops!!
So I scooped off what I though was the leftovers, mixed the rest thoroughly and removed half. So left with 500g Maris Otter and 500g Munich. added the rest knocking the MO back a bit to allow for the extra Munich. So (roughly):-

Maris Otter 1950g
Munich 500g
Oat Malt 100g
Torrified Wheat 100g
Crystal 100 200g
Crystal 400 120g

Mashed at 65C for 90mins

Challenger 7.6% 15g 60mins
Styrian goldings (Bobek) 3.1% 15g 60mins

Challenger 7.6% 15g 10mins
Styrian goldings (Bobek) 3.1% 15g 10mins
Northdown 7.1% 15g 10mins#

23l in the FV at 1033, 1-2 litres left in the boiler.

WLP002 added at 22C

Time will tell! I've labelled it "Ooops Bitter"

(I now have a 1Kg bag of 50% Maris Otter 50% Munich for future use!)

The Grainfather is less well suited to small grain bills - I added 2l extra mash water than calculated as the pump was obviously sucking a little air with the wort at only 12l (and creating foam). Worked fine after that although the overflow was miles above the top plate and the recirculating wort never reached it. Nice clear wort at the end.