The extra special bitter recipe :
- Color : Copper
- Alcohol content : 5.4%.
- Quantity : 23L
- Bitterness : Moderate
- Difficulty : Easy
- Brewing time : 5h
- Cost : Cheap
Ingredients
- 5,3kg of Maris Otter
- 250g of Caraamber
- 150g of Mélano
- 100g of Spécial W
- 30g of hops East Kent Goldings
- 70g of hops East Kent Goldings
- 2 yeast packets of English Ale Yeast from Lallemand (or S-04 from Safale)
- Total water volume : 32L (Preferably Sulfate > Chloride = 2:1)
Brew our English amber beer recipe step by step
Step 1
Heat 18 liters of water to 72°C and pour in the crushed grains.
Stir well to avoid lumps, and bring the temperature down to 67°C.
Hold for one hour.
With 30 minutes to go, heat 14 liters of rinse water to 77°C.
Step 2
Once the saccharification hour is over, move on to filtration and rinsing.
Step 3
Heat your wort for a 60-minute boil.
In a Hop Spider or hop bag, infuse 30g of East Kent Goldings (EKG) hops as soon as the timer starts.
If you’re using a cooling coil, don’t forget to sterilize it in the wort 15 minutes before the end of the boil.
With 10 minutes to go, add the remaining 70g of EKG hops.
Step 4
Cool the wort to 19°C and transfer to the fermenter, not forgetting the yeast.
Your initial specific gravity should be around 1.055.
Ferment at this temperature for about 3 weeks.
To make sure fermentation is complete, gradually raise the temperature to 22°C for a final week.
NB: English yeasts being a bit lazy, I always prefer to take my time with this kind of beer. You’re free to shorten the fermentation time.
Final specific gravity with this type of yeast should be around 1.014.
Step 5
Add 3 to 4 g per L of sugar at bottling. English beers are generally not very carbonated.