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Fuller's ESB
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stickyfinger




Joined: 04 May 2014
Posts: 176
Location: hudson valley, NY


PostLink    Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


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Don't discount the character of Munich malt as a base. Few people probably use it. One of my favorite beers is a Munich Dunkel, and that is over 85-90% Munich malt. It creates a very rich, full, delicious beer. When you add the dark crystal, it creates more complexity, more deep, dark, burnt character. try it out!

my wife hates it when i make malty beers. I wish I had married someone who likes malt more... JK!
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68GTSDart




Joined: 09 Jul 2016
Posts: 8
Location: Plainfield IL


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey all, question for Kal. Did you dry hop all 12 gallons with 1oz of EKG, or did you split your batch in half, and dry hop 2 carboys of 6 gallons with 1 oz of EKG each? I only did a 5.5 gallon batch trying to figure out if I should use 1oz or .5 oz. Been like 4 or 5 years sense I dry hopped anything. Pry going to transfer within the next few days, thanks again.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All of the ingredients are for the entire batch size, including the dry hop amounts. So 1 oz of dry hops in 12 gallons (post boil).

Kal

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Last edited by kal on Sun Jul 24, 2016 1:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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68GTSDart




Joined: 09 Jul 2016
Posts: 8
Location: Plainfield IL


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Appreciate the speedy rely Kal. I'll just use 0.5 oz then.
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kal
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Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No problems! Let us know how the beer turns out!

Kal

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itsnotrequired




Joined: 15 Sep 2015
Posts: 177
Location: central wi


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this one didn't turn out too well for me. it has a ton of chill haze, tastes very bitter and has an off flavor i can't quite place. my lhbs didn't have northdown so i used fuggles, thought that might be it but today i looked at my water. pretty sure i screwed that up. i use ro/di water and treated the entire 20 gallons of water in the hlt before brewing. used 20 grams gypsum, 10 grams calcium chloride and 2.5 gram epsom salt. i got the numbers through bru'n water and i thought they looked good but plugging into ezwater, the numbers look whack. i'm at 284 ppm ca, 189 ppm cl and 475 ppm so4.

thoughts on this water? pretty sure i know the answer but looking for opinions.
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Topdollar




Joined: 20 Aug 2015
Posts: 65



PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah....I used RO water as well. 2.9 grams gypsum, 5.8 grams calc. chloride, 10.2 grams epsom, 7.9 grams slaked lime, 3.5 grams baking soda.

Gave me 110 ca, 16 mg, 16 na, 48 cl and 95 so4 with a .50 ch / so ratio. Mine turned out really well...
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itsnotrequired




Joined: 15 Sep 2015
Posts: 177
Location: central wi


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bah, i had the mash and boil boxes checked in ezwater, that's why my numbers looked crazy. my actual profile was 96 ca, 3 mg, 0 na, 64 cl and 160 ppm so4. that makes much more sense and doesn't look too bad. maybe it is the funky english hops that are giving the flavor. i've only had real fuller's a couple times and can't remember much what it tastes like.
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itsnotrequired




Joined: 15 Sep 2015
Posts: 177
Location: central wi


PostLink    Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

okay, so i was annoyed enough with the chill haze that i actually dumped some dissolved gelatin in the keg. after a few days, it was clearer and tasted better, less bitter. it has been about five days now and each day it tastes better and better. the sharp bitterness has subsided dramatically. there is a slight haze but not enough to care (i probably shouldn't have cared in the first place).

looking back, i only waited about 8 days after kegging when i first tapped it. it has now been 16 days. definitely worth waiting a couple weeks on this one to enjoy.
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68GTSDart




Joined: 09 Jul 2016
Posts: 8
Location: Plainfield IL


PostLink    Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 3:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey all, tapped the keg. Its not a bad beer, but it doesn't taste exactly like Fuller's ESB which is what I want. It is definitely a little more bitter than Fuller's but like itsnotrequired, I tapped the keg a little early. Its been in the keg almost three weeks now, but I feel like the fruitiness of Fuller's is just not there, which is one of my biggest criticisms. I would also say that wonderful aroma that comes from Fuller's is not there at all. The beer is similar to Fuller's, but that is all I would say to compare them. The beer definitely falls short of the great taste and aroma that is Fuller's ESB. It is by NO MEANS, a bad beer, infant it is quite good, just as I have stated, it is not Fuller's. I would love to be able to get this beer closer to Fuller's ESB so if people would like to tackle this and get it closer, I bet we cold do more as a group as oppose to just one person. I would also like to thank Kal for the recipe and all the help he has given me. Replicating a world class beer like Fuller's ESB is no medial task, so thanks for everything Kal I definitely appreciate it.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

68GTSDart wrote:
It is definitely a little more bitter than Fuller's but like itsnotrequired, I tapped the keg a little early. Its been in the keg almost three weeks now, but I feel like the fruitiness of Fuller's is just not there, which is one of my biggest criticisms.

First thing to try is to use the recommended ingredients instead of substitutes, and make sure they're fresh. Get the water adjustments the same too. While doing one or two things slightly differently may not result in something very different, they are additive.

It's important to remember that process is important too. Give 10 brewers the same recipe and you'll get 10 possibly similar, but unique beers. My local homebrew club did an interesting experiment a few years back where a dozen brewers were given the exact same recipe. When we compared the results most of the beers were all somewhat similar but still different enough. In some cases very different. A couple of them were really different and could have been brewers mis-interpreting the recipe even or used the wrong malts as the colours were off. So it's interesting to see how much process and equipment can factor in to how the result tastes even though everyone swore up and down that they followed the recipe exactly.

I only say this because it sounds like you may be looking for the perfect recipe thinking that once that's found you'll have a clone. Unfortunately the recipe is only part of the equation. Fullers has printed and provided their "recipes" a few times now in various print magazines and other locations but again, give that information to 10 brewers and you'll get 10 similar but likely different beers.

68GTSDart wrote:
I would love to be able to get this beer closer to Fuller's ESB so if people would like to tackle this and get it closer, I bet we cold do more as a group as oppose to just one person.

I'm afraid that this idea of working together as a group to get closer doesn't really make any sense as everyone brews differently, and every setup is different: What works for one brewer won't necessarily provide the same results when brewed by another. Instead, you have to figure out what works for you, on your setup, for your brewing process. Making an exact clone of a commercial beer can't ever be a community effort as that just doesn't make sense given the differences with process/equipment/etc. First thing to do would be to get your process down pat, and also use the ingredients I recommend (you made some substitutions).

Look at what worked and what didn't and figure out what needs to change on your equipment/setup and your brewing process to meet the goals you're trying to achieve. Your aroma statement is a good example of this as getting the aroma out of a beer you want is almost more process than recipe. Aroma can be as much about how fresh the ingredients are and how the beer is handled/packaged/aged, and so forth.

For what it's worth, I've done a couple of comparisons now with canned (store bought) versions of Fullers with friends to compare with my version and it's been difficult to tell the difference. This recipe is the culmination of half a dozen brews in order to get as close as I could to the commercial product. All that tells us is that there are differences in how I brew vs. what you've done. Hence the reason why adjustments are sometimes required to meet the goals you're looking to achieve.

Either way have fun - that's one of the joys of brewing. We can create unique beers that we all enjoy but at the same time it's absolutely impossible to put in print a recipe or set of steps that will guarantee that any brewer will be able to create an identical product as everyone brews differently/has different equipment/uses a different process.

Good luck!

Kal

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Last edited by kal on Sat Aug 20, 2016 2:27 pm; edited 2 times in total
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

68GTSDart wrote:
Yeah, I know it will be quite a bit lighter in color when it is put in a pint class as oppose to a 6 gallon carboy... I'm much, much, more concerned with flavor and aroma than color anyways.


Forgot to ask: How did the colour of your beer end up looking compared to the store bought? You posted a picture of commercial Fullers ESB in a glass beside your 5-6 gallon carboy of the beer you brewed here and they appeared similar in colour which means if you put your clone in a glass it would be much, much lighter.

For example, here's a picture of a ~3 SRM German Pilsner in two different containers that I brewed some time ago:



Look at the pictures at the very top and note how different it appears in the small sample on the left and the 5 gallon carboy on the right. One appears yellow, the other amber/red. This is the same beer.

While you mentioned that colour isn't as critical to you, it does indicate that something is off somewhere. The colour in this beer comes from the ~93/7% Maris Otter to Crystal 90L. If you mistakenly used something like Crystal 20L instead, the taste would be different too, not just the colour.

Kal

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Montana Dan




Joined: 09 Dec 2016
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Kal, hope all's good. Preparing to have a bash at this recipe. I'm prepping to brew a scaled down 19L mini batch. I'm a little concerned about the scaled down Malt amounts, other 19L Fuller ESB recipes I see online are calling for between 4kg-5.5kg of Pale Ale Malt and 450g-1.5kg of Crystal Malt. Should I be concerned about the scaled down numbers listed below? Are the smaller amounts due to your 95% efficiency?...

Scaled Down Numbers
19.0 lb {8.618 kg} British Maris Otter Malt (92.7%) = 8.618kg x 19L -:- 45.42L = 3.60kg
1.5 lb {680g} British Crystal Malt 90L (7.3%) = 680g x 19L -:- 45.42L = 284.45g

...Look forward to hearing your thoughts. Cheers, Dan Mug
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Montana Dan wrote:
Are the smaller amounts due to your 95% efficiency?...

Exactly right. Every setup is different so you need to scale for works on your setup.

Good luck!

Kal

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Montana Dan




Joined: 09 Dec 2016
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers Kal, I thought that might be the reason. I've never adjusted for Efficiency % before, do you have any advice or a formula for scaling the above g/kg figures up for my average Efficiency of 78.5%? Mug
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Montana Dan wrote:
Cheers Kal, I thought that might be the reason. I've never adjusted for Efficiency % before, do you have any advice or a formula for scaling the above g/kg figures up for my average Efficiency of 78.5%? Mug

I recommend using whatever brewing software you use. They all have this functionality built in.

For more information on the brewing software I recommend and use (and how to use it), see my BREW DAY STEP BY STEP guide:

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/brew-day-step-by-step

Good luck!

Kal

_________________
Our new shop with over 150 new products: shop.TheElectricBrewery.com
We ship worldwide and support our products and customers for life.
Purchasing through our affiliate links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!
My basement/bar/brewery build 2.0
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Master




Joined: 30 Jan 2016
Posts: 171
Location: Virginia Beach, VA

Drinking: Naked Singularity Stout, Hurricane Bohemian Pilsner, Pineapple Cider, Ich bin ein Berlinerweiss, AbbyNormal Glutton Free Lambic

Working on: Vienna Lager. Witty name to follow.


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I was looking for a good beer to do my cask vs keg test.

I just got the supplies from the LHBS today to make it, 10 gallon batch split 5 to cask, 5 to keg.

Only change I had to make due to the impending "Snowmageddon" (I'm from the great frozen north, I laugh at their "winter" here) was 19# of Golden Promise, as they were out of Maris Otter.
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Rhetorik




Joined: 11 Feb 2016
Posts: 1
Location: Ottawa ON Canada


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm going to be brewing something very similar to this beer this upcoming weekend; main difference is that I'll be subbing in some Special B malt since it'll provide the raisin/plum notes that I find I get from Fullers ESB. Also, I'll need to mess around with the hops a bit due to availability - options I'm leaning towards (based on DeFalco's availability) are Goldings, First Gold, and/or Fuggles. I have citra/el dorado/mosaic in stock already but they wouldn't be appropriate for the style.

This will be the 2nd beer I keg (just finishing building a 2-tap kegerator right now) and I'm planning on serving it at low CO2 vols as I don't have beer gas yet. However, I did pick up the stout/creamer faucet tip from Intertap so I'll see how that goes.

It's nice that I'm also in Ottawa since I can copy your water additions!

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kal
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Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If I had to work with those hops I think I'd just go all Goldings (EKG). Would make a very tasty ESB.

Either way, let us know how it turns out, and welcome to the forum!

Kal

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sillbeer




Joined: 15 Sep 2016
Posts: 44
Location: West Point, UT


PostLink    Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 2:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I brewed this today and definitely need to work on refining my process. I have been crushing at .038" forever and need to give it up. This is the second time I've had a problem that I think is directly related to the crush. I know you recommend .045" and I'll probably come to terms with that, eventually.

Secondly, I recently read an article about step mashing being a thing of the past. We'll, I didn't step mash and I didn't hit my targets. Came a couple points low. I will try again later and step mash to see if it makes a difference on my setup. My pre boil volume was low when I hit 1.010 on my runnings at 11 gallons. I topped off with two gallons of water and ended up with 1.047 instead of 1.051. I ended up putting 10.5 gallons into my two fermenters at 1.057. Not too far off but I'm curious to know if step mashing will help with the extra runnings. I followed your grain bill and calculations exactly for mash water. My hose and dead space is .65 gallons plus the (1.25*19/4).

This seemed like a really thick mash to me. I have always used 1.5 for my calculations and just read on your site about mash thickness for different styles.
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