Bazza's bitter

[Barry]

Ordinary bitter, subtle beer this.
Pour hard to release some carbonation and serve 'warm' in a pint glass.
Maris Otter, crystal, with subtle additions of NZ Styrians. That is all.

After reading that Ally poured into a jug, thought I'd better add that this beer is NOT bottle conditioned. Appears to be the only one in the case swap that isn't.
It's bottled from the keg, no need to decant off the lees, just drink it.

[studio1]

Shit this is awesome. I love bitter - I could easily session out on this one. I poured it hard as you suggested - got a lovely huge head which subsided nicely. The hop flavour lingers beautifully over a solid malty backbone. What do you carb this to in the keg? (just trying to work out how to get the best out of a bitter in the keg).
04 yeast?
I'm looking to see if there's another bitter in the swap now.

[Barry]

I carb by "feel" - that is I get it to a level of condition by force carbing overnight at 250kpa (which lets me drink it the next night) then back it off to 50-60kpa. Condition drops off in the next week as things settle out, then comes back up slightly to the sweet spot. By then often the keg is half gone :) but each pint from there is gold.

S04 is indeed the yeast. Glad you enjoyed it!

[Stu McKinlay]

Lightly hazy yellow gold with an off-white airy head that laces superbly. Floral perfumy notes on the nose with a little fruit (peach, orange) and wholemeal cornflour. Lean malt character in the mouth, almost verging on tart, with a Imperial Fuggle-like steely hop flavour (I know it is NZ Styrian now but that's what I got) and a dry grainy finish. Very very English. Perfect carbonation for me. Very balanced, very sessionable. I'm sure there will be more than a few beers in this case swap that I'd love more bottles of but this one I'd love a whole keg of.

This is what I expected from Barry.

If anything was to be changed, I'd love to see this beer fermented with a slightly more malt friendly yeast... 1099, 1469, maybe 1968.

Great beer Bazza. My kind of thing for sure.


ps. I carb by feel too. I think that is quite achievable if you like your beer in the low volumes...

[James P]

The anticipation of this beer is unbearable... your beer from the last swap was excellent, so the descriptions so far look to be spot on!

[MrC]

Poured hard straight from the fridge.
Pours gold with large fluffy head. Very clear.
Aroma of hops (I thought fuggles), like Bookbinder without the Riwaka. Loverly floral aroma.
Nice mouthfeel, carbonation is perfect, has a dryness in the mouth. Great lace.
Started off cold & hoppy, maris otter maltiness came through as it warmed. I preferred it colder & hoppier.
Fantastic beer Barry! I'd have to say this is one of the best home brewed beers I've tasted. I'm jealous.
S04 seems to have let the hops shine through. Not sure how you did that, S04 has been sucking the hops out of my beer. Is dry hopping the key?

The only thing I would change is the name. "Barry" doesn't seem to fit the light, flavoursome, floral, balanced beer that it is.

Well done Barry. Don't stop what your doing.

[studio1]

Hi Barry, just wondering what are the IBUs on this?

[Barry]

A proper recipe:
3.6 kg Maris Otter
250gm crystal (which I count in promash as 55Lov)
OG 1.037

30gm NZ Styrians for 60min
15gm NZ Styrians for 15min
15gm NZ Styrians for 3min
promash has this as 28.7IBU but I'm a no chiller so in reality it's probably higher.
S04
FG: 1.010

[MrC]

Thanks for sharing that Barry, this beer has really inspired me.
What was the mash temp/schedule?

[Barry]

Mash temp was single infusion 67deg for 60 minutes, mash out 76deg for 15 minutes, batch sparge.
Fermented at 19deg for 10 days, diacetal rest 4 days at 24deg, fined with gelatin and kegged. Forced carbed as usual (overnight at 250kpa then dialed back to serving pressure). Was in the keg for probably 3 weeks before bottling.

[MrC]

Cheers Barry. I'm planning something similar right now :)

[studio1]

3.5% ABV - sweet!
There was an interesting bit in the John Palmer BIAB article about no chilling and 'no boil' hopping. Do you no-chill in the kettle or rack to a cube?

[Barry]

transfer to fermenter, leave overnight, into the fridge next morning, pitch next night.