Homebrewers like to send us their beer and we got a package with two beers from “those brew dudes” in the state of Indiana, USA. The first one we tried was brewed by a guy named Kris and it was an Extra Special Bitter or ESB. See what we thought of his beer as we continue to shoot videos from my basement during this snowy month of March.

When he first contacted us, Kris said he had brewed an ESB with some honey malt in it. I thought that would be good to taste. He sent along a couple of bottles for us to try it out along with a detailed sheet of his recipe and brewing process.

Extra Special Bitter By Kris – Recipe

Batch size: 10 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 7.0%
IBUs: 42.5

Ingredients:
92% Maris Otter Pale Malt
4% Biscuit Malt
4% Honey Malt
4 Ounces Fuggle hops (4.5% AA) – added with 60 minutes to go in the boil
East Kent Goldings hops (5% AA) – added with 15 minutes to go in the boil

Yeast: White Labs WLP002 – English Ale yeast (2 packages)
2 liter starter using stir plate

Procedure:
Batch sparged
Fermented for 10 days at 68°F, then cold crashed at 40°F for 2 days
Transferred through a 1 micron filter into kegs, where it was carbonated for 1 week.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: A nice caramel color but even with all the steps used to clarify the beer, it was still hazy. We didn’t know if that was an outcome of shipping or what.
Aroma: Faint sweet malt aroma. Beyond the malt, there was a Fuggle hop presence – very earthly.
Flavor: The Fuggle hop earthy presence was noted in the flavor along with the malt. The beer finished dry as it should.
Mouthfeel: It was low to medium low
Overall Impression: Very drinkable and finished nice.

It was a nice beer for sure. When it came to the haze, we were wondering if the process should be revisited to understand what worked and what didn’t work and take steps to fix it for next time.

Brew on!