Luckyeddie's AG#9 - Lucky ESB

[luckyeddie]

I had a pint of Fullers last week. This is not a clone but I'm certainly hoping for a similar darkish fruitiness with this very simple recipe.

Maris Otter 4.6 kg
Crystal Malt 120 0.2 kg

66 degree mash for 75 minutes. Was going to be 90 but my iodine test came up negative for starch after 45 minutes so I cut it short. Besides, I had a couple of agencies interrupt me with a couple of contract possibilities and I sort-of lost track of time.

Northern Brewer 30 grams FWH
Fuggles 30 grams @ 30 mins
EKG 30 grams @ 15 mins

We've got the boil on at the moment. Mobile low on charge and can't find the charger atm - missus has probably moved it - so no piccies today because I may be having a telephone interview at 5:00 pm.

Yeasties one pkt Windsor yeast

Collected 24 litres (sparged a bit too long - another phone interruption) - expect 20 litres post-boil.

 

[gurtpint]

Hope this one works out well for you Eddie. ESB is a nice pint. Had my first jar of Seafarer at a local pub last weekend and it was also pretty tasty. Used to be a London Pride man but ESB ruined that!

 

[luckyeddie]

It's in the FV, and all we can do now is wait. I've never used Windsor yeast before - I understand that it's a low to moderate attenuation job, so I expect a full-bodied, fruity beer (which was the main object of the exercise). The colour is absolutely spot-on, but of course I won't hit the strength of Fullers ESB from a OG of 1051 (I forgot to adjust for temperature) with the Windsor. Probably the best I can hope for is 5% if the yeasties excel themselves, but I'm expecting 4.5 - 4.8%.

I've never had Seafarer. I'll keep my eye open for it when I'm next in London. It sounds nice from the description on the Fullers website.

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, the yeasties HAVE excelled themselves. The stated attenuation for Windsor (according to Beer Calculus) is 71% which would bring the SG to 1.015.

It currently stands at 1.011 which by my calculation is 78%, giving me 5.2% alcohol. It's trying its hardest to clear a bit (reading other posts, apparently Windsor is a bitch like that) so I'm going to give it another couple of days before moving to secondary. The air temperature has dropped considerably since last week, so I've just popped a brewbelt on it, just for tonight.

The taste is lovely - not quite as fruity as I anticipated, but that's perhaps because it's now a little drier than I envisaged. The EKG / Fuggles combination smells grand, and there's a cracking 'bite' from the Northern Brewer. This is going to be one corking beer. If I'd have brewed it a month earlier, then I would have had something to lay before the holy high priests at the Spring Thing.

Next year, perhaps.

 

[luckyeddie]

Still at 1011 - racking, priming and bottling tonight.