Mo’ Bitter Blues: It has been a long while since I’ve seen a Spike Lee joint. When I found a DVD double pack of Mo’ Better Blues and Cooklyn on eBay earlier this year, I planned to remedy this and I am so glad I did. Mo’ Better Blues is filled to the brim with the signature energy and style of She’s Gotta Have It and Do The Right Thing, and I feel it has been overlooked, like a lot of Lee’s work. The same can be said about the ordinary bitter, whilst the style is heavily grounded in the practical and everyday it is a platform to showcase spectacular brewing skills and the magic of British ingredients.
This year, for London Amateur Brewers Hayesenbrau we focused on styles that fall under British bitters. A year ago I made my rather dodgy first bitter, and attempted a Sussex inspired best bitter. I had perhaps too high an aim, so this time I tried to brew as ordinary of a bitter as I could. Here is my recipe:
Recipe
ABV: 3.4%
OG: 1.035
FG: 1.009
EBC: 22
IBU: 30
Grist:
Crisp’s Finest Maris Otter Ale Malt – 89.7%
Crisp’s Light Crystal 150 – 9.6%
Crisp’s Roasted Barely – 0.6%
Hops:
Fuggle – 7.2%AA – @ 60 min for 16 IBUs
Fuggle – 7.2%AA – @ 30 min for 9 IBUs
Fuggle – 7.2%AA – @ 15 min for 5 IBUs
Water:
It occurred to me recently that with my most recent batches, my mash PH had been actually quite low. This has effects on mash efficiency and I had read some speculation from other brewers on Reddit that it could have caused their beers to have lower attenuation. A lower PH also causes beers to be flabby and slack the intended malt character, this is something I have noticed in my last two batches. I had assumed the Aldi water I had been using had a consistent minerality to what I had used in the past, but that appears to be untrue.
For this brew, I have purchased 10 litres of water from Aldi, which is much softer than the Ashbeck that I have historically used. I have also bought 2 litres of harder water from Lidl, and have dechlorinated around 4 litres of London tap water. In theory I’ll have harder and less acidic water than my last batch, but I am unable to calculate the actual water profile. To balance out the mash PH, should it be too low, I have acquired some baking soda which used sparingly will raise the PH.
Yeast:
Fermentis SafAle English Ale S-04
Brew day
Mash
Started off by boiling 4 litres of tap water to remove the chlorine. 1.5 litres of tap water w/ 5 litres of Aldi soft water and 2 litres of Lidl’s harder water. Mash water starting PH was 7 before heating. I decided to insulate the mash tun this time. After 20 mins, I checked the mash PH and got 5.1, so I added (gradually) 2g of baking soda, which raised the PH to 5.4. After 60 min mash, I raised the temperature to 75, and held for 15mins for a mash out.
Mash Time: 60 mins
Mash Water Vol: 8.5 litres
Mash-in temp: 66
Mash PH: 5.4 *after correction
Mash high temp: 67.3
Mash low temp: 64.5
Mash-out temp: 75
Post mash PH: 5.4
Sparge
I used my two bucket fermenters to sparge, this meant I could take a more reliable gravity and PH before the boil. I collected 13 litres of wort, which is less than expected but with a higher gravity.
Sparge Vol: 7
Boil
I screwed up the weights when splitting the bag for each addition, which may cost me one IBU. I have assumed 6.6g for each addition for now, it doesn’t look to make a huge difference at all. I started off boiling this in 2 pots and once they both reached a boil, I combined them in the big pot. I hope this will curb the boil off. Meanwhile I cleaned the fermenters with VWP for, rinsed and then soaked in chem san.
Boil Time: 60 mins
Pre Boil Size: 13litres
Pre Boil Gravity: 1.031
Pre Boil PH: 5.8
Post Boil Gravity: 1.037
Post Boil PH: 5.6
Cooling & Pitching
I put the pot out on the balcony to cool for a couple hours, where it dropped to 40ish degrees. Then I moved it to the fermenter (leaving as much trub behind) and let it cool further. In the morning it had dropped to 26, so I popped it outside (4 degrees), for 90 mins and it dropped to sub 20. Aerated the wort by shaking the bucket for 5 mins, then pitched one pack of S-04. I’ve taped the probe to the middle of the fermenter and isolated it on top.
I’ve picked 18.5 because I am aware the core temp will be higher than this, so I have some upwards swing space. But I also don’t want it to swing sub 18 out of the yeast’s comfort zone.
Finally Batch Size: 9
Original gravity: 1.037
Starting PH: 5.6
Yeast Pitch Temp: 19.5
Temperature Set: 18.5
H Limit: +0.5
C Limit: -0.5
Fermentation
Day 1: After 24 hours, I am seeing some gentle airlock activity. The fridge feels very cold but with the fermenter being insulated and the probe well positioned, I’m thinking the internal temperature is being better reflected this time.
Day 5: fermentation has been steady, never really energetic. I’m wondering if the temperature is perhaps making it sluggish. I am committed to not adjusting though as I want to be sure I’m keeping this as consistent as I can. I also won’t take a gravity reading for a week.
Day 11: gravity has come in at 1.010, 3.9 PH. Sample smells of fresh bread, quite mineral, touch of sulphur. It tasted a bit more tasty than bread but with some malt sweetness. Decent bitterness. I’ll check the gravity later on and bottle soon.
Day 13: gravity is still sitting at 1.010 and PH at 3.9. So that’s an abv of 3.5%. One thing I’ve noticed is the beer feels a little fizzy, even though it isn’t primed. This is apparently quite normal and just the residual CO2 in solution. Personally I think it’s a little too bitter.
Day 15: bottled 7x 500ml bottles. Each primed with one tab. Set the fridge temp to 20, with 0.5 tolerance each way. Prob attached to a bottle in the centre. Gravity was stable at 1.010 and the PH the same at 3.9.
I tasted this a couple of times before the competition but decided to take some final notes just before leaving the house on the day. I usually find at home I am rather kind to my own beers but find them to be wildly different when tasted at our meetings. It would have been in the bottle for 5 weeks, so neither young nor old at this stage.
Tasting Notes
Look: medium amber, some haze, and an off-white head, not bad retention
Smell: fresh granary bread with seeds, light toffee, some light red fruit and faint green apple off flavour.
Taste: quite typical, malty, light sweetness, decent bitterness. Not particularly bold or flavourful but pleasant.
Feel: medium carb, no real astringency
As mentioned above, this comes across rather positively, however the reality is that this beer was so well received in the competition. The feedback points too cold a fermentation temperature (acetaldehyde), perhaps under pitched yeast (diacetyl) and also it being oxidised giving a cardboard flavour.
Looking back on my notes I’d concur that the fermentation temperature was probably too low. I’ve recently purchased an iSpindle and through some tests with water I’m getting temperature readings significantly lower in solution than what the Inkbird is programmed to. So whilst I was initially very happy to see that I managed to avoid issues with over attenuation in the bottle, I have only uncovered more room for improvement. Whilst the recipe might explain some of the rather dull characteristics of the final beer, really the execution is the main drawback.
Over a month later, I opened a bottle from another contestant as it was so well conditioned and full of flavour. I was so impressed and inspired that I actually got around to writing up these notes. Now whilst doing so, I have also opened a bottle of my own and time has not been so kind. Here are my final tasting notes to play me out.
Look: a muddy brown with a golden hue, some off white foam that vanishes.
Smell: cardboard and wet bread with some faint fruitiness and touch of malt vinegar.
Taste: bready and earthy with some sweetness but very bland overall with a lack of any depth and richness.
Feel: carbonation has dropped a little, still not much in the way of astringency or a cloying character but also not particularly dry, just a bit dull.
Babette’s Yeast 
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