Fuggle Duck
After a lot of attempts to get this right I think I've finally settled on my house bitter. It's amber in colour, low in ABV, medium bodied and nicely balanced between the First Gold & Fuggle hops and the malts. Perfect for quaffing on Friday night after work.
I tried mashing high with this one (69C) to try to get a full body and it does seem to have worked. I ended up with OG/FG of 1.046/1.013 for an ABV of 4.3% and the residual sweetness is in balance with the hop flavour and bitterness. I do like a dry beer though, so maybe 67C next time.
Brew day
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Date:
Bottling Volume: 21.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 21.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 37.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 87.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
30.34 l Ashbeck (bitter) Water 1 -
4.14 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 2 -
3.11 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -
3.11 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 4 -
3.02 kg Crisp Clear Choice Ale Malt (5.5 EBC) Grain 5 71.5 %
0.84 kg Munich Malt (20.0 EBC) Grain 6 20.0 %
0.17 kg Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) (3.9 EBC Grain 7 4.0 %
0.17 kg Crystal Medium - 240 EBC (Crisp) (236.4 Grain 8 4.0 %
0.03 kg Chocolate Wheat Malt (1200.0 EBC) Grain 9 0.7 % (optional: colouring)
10.00 g Magnum [11.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 12.4 IBUs
11.00 g First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 5.5 IBUs
11.00 g Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 12 3.2 IBUs
16.00 g First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 5.9 IBUs
16.00 g Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 3.4 IBUs
23.00 g First Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 16 4.6 IBUs
23.00 g Fuggle [5.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 17 2.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [124.21 Yeast 18 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.22 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 25.34 l of water at 72.1 C 69.0 C 60 min
I started by weighing out and crushing the grain.
Some of the hops for this brew are from BrewUK and the others from CML.
I mashed for 60 minutes, dunk sparged and brought it all to the boil, adding hops when required.
The OG was 1.046, just as planned.
Kegging
The FG was 1.013, much higher than I normally get which shows that the higher mash temperature did do the job of retaining some body in the finished beer. The ABV was 4.3%.
Tasting notes
Drink young to get the most of the tangy orange-marmalade flavours of the first gold hops or leave to mature a few more weeks for a more even balance with the malts and earthy fuggle flavours.
Further information
The Homebrew Forum has a discussion thread on this bitter.