Small Batch Brewing – Redhook ESB Clone

This was brewed over three years ago and still tastes great.

I wish I’d known five years ago what I know today. (Should’a could’a would’a!) If I could have looked into my crystal ball, I would have been brewing one to three gallon batches of brew from the get-go.

No 5 and 6 gallon debacles. Brewing large amounts of beer can be overwhelming – attempting to boil 6 gallons of wort in your kitchen, lugging huge amounts of hot liquid, bottling a couple cases worth of beer and then what if the beer is mediocre? Do you REALLY want to drink 2 cases of “just okay” beer or try to pawn it off on your friends and co-workers? And we won’t even discuss the money involved. Now don’t get me wrong. I love, love, love to brew. It is so fascinating watching it ferment. I do enjoy the whole process and it is quite satisfying to pop open that bottle and pour a beer that you brewed yourself.

My brewing has evolved to smaller batches. I started making 3 gallon, 2.5 gallon and even 1 gallon batches. You still have several hours of brew time but it's easier and much more relaxing. I find I enjoy the beer even more when there is a limited quantity.

Aside from a few disasters most of my beers have been quite drinkable and some I’ve fallen in love with. And then some have surprised me...

Hard to believe this home brew is over 3 years old!

I was digging around my crawl space and I came upon a beer that I brewed June 2009. Kind of old to be sitting around and to top it off, it was a rather low alcohol beer which is best drunk in a timely manner. It was a clone recipe of Redhook ESB that was published in Brew Your Own magazine 150 Classic Clone Recipes. I chilled the bottle and popped it open. Wow, still carbonated. I poured it into a small tasting glass and was greeted with a beautiful head. And what really surprised me was it tasted great! Three years later!

Here is my 3 gallon recipe that was adapted from the original 5 gallon extract version, using grains and hops that I was able to get in town. Be sure to put your own spin on this. I am no beer expert and I am sharing to the best of my ability! I am also assuming this is not your first batch of beer. Important how-to brewing details have been left out. If you’ve never brewed before watch some videos on YouTube or get a good book. Another great alternative for aspiring brewers are Northern Brewer’s 1 gallon starter kits. It comes with a DVD and a recipe kit. Who knew?!

Redhook ESB Clone 3 gallon extract recipe
Kettle Volume: 3.87 gallons
Boil Duration: 1.5 hours
Final Volume: 3 gallons
OG: 1.053 FG: 1.013
Alcohol: 5.24%
Bitterness: 29.97
Color 5.24 SRM

Ingredients
1.05 lbs dry light extract
2.25 lbs amber liquid extract
.6 lbs pale ale malt
.675 lbs German CaraMunich II malt
.25 lbs 2-row Carapils malt
23.5 grams Willamette - 60 min. boil
8.5 grams Tettnanger - 15 min. boil
8.5 grams Willamette - 15 min. boil
.6 tsp Irish moss - 15 min. boil
25.52 grams Tettnanger - steeped after boil
25.52 gram Willamette - steeped after boil
Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale yeast

Brew the normal extract brew route, cool wort, transfer to sanitized fermenter, top off to 3 gallons if needed, check gravity, aerate, and pitch yeast. I left my batch in primary for 10 days and racked to secondary for 5 days and then bottled. My original gravity was 1.060 and finishing gravity was 1.022 with a ABV of 4.9%. Not as high as the original recipe but that’'s okay.

Two years ago...
Post from June 2010 for a Bavarian Wheat Beer.
One year ago...
My Big Kitchen Fails

Every Day IPA – Small Batch Brewing

Everyday IPA brewed from the recipe in Brooklyn BrewShop's Beer Making Book.

There is nothing quite so satisfying as brewing your own beer. Home brewing only needs to be as complicated as you want to make it. Believe me, the whole process has come a long way since Charlie Papazian wrote The Joy of Home Brewing. I recently discovered the "latest craze" in home brewing called BIAB – brew in a bag. It is all-grain brewing in a bag, in a pot, on your stove. It's very practical when you're making small batches. Which is where the Brooklyn BrewShop's Beer Making Book comes in. All of the recipes are one gallon affairs. I love that! We're talking about 10 bottles. Perfect for someone who likes to brew new and different types of beers. Seriously folks, I am not even going to tell you how many home brews I have in my crawlspace that I will probably never drink, remains of amateur 5 gallon brewing sessions. The beer pictured above I made in January 2012. While brewing, I had some "problems" and spilled a bit of the wort on the floor instead the fermenting container. I just topped it off with some filtered water ended up with about 8 bottles of "small" beer (i.e., low alcohol). And you know what? It was great!

This is a really nice book for the home brewer especially since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of exotic malts and many of the recipes use only two varieties of hops. The Everyday IPA pictured above used American 2-row, Caramel, Victory and Munich malts and Columbus and Cascade hops. Pretty simple. If you are lucky enough to have a home brew shop nearby they probably have all the ingredients you need. If you're interested in this book, I have written a full review on Amazon.

If you have ever thought you'd like to make your own brew, now's the time with easy, modern methods and a fun new beer recipe book. It's really not all that hard!