How I Brew

I've always been one to prefer simple, traditional beers.  While I rarely brew German styles, I definitely brew in the spirit of the Reinheitsgebot and have only once added adjuncts when not stylistically appropriate (in my molasses stout, a sloppy, poor attempt to make something near Bridgeport's now discontinued Black Strap Stout).  What's more, I'm a stickler for brewing within the style guidelines.  For whatever reason I've always tried to make the best beers that I can while keeping them strictly within the style ranges.  The way I see it almost all the styles are broad enough to offer more than enough room for so-so, good, great, and mind-blowing beers.  Fiddling with fermentation temperatures alone, ceteris paribus, can dramatically affect a beer's final character.  I don't mean to say that style guidelines are requisite for good beer, but as a brewer I personally want to cut my teeth by mastering the beers that I like to drink, and keep it within the established bounds--it's a greater challenge and gives me some sort of path to follow.

I brew my beer simply, without much for fancy equipment.  I use a converted Gatorade cooler as a mash tun.  I have some propane tanks and a turkey fryer.  I batch sparge, and heat my strike water on the kitchen stove.  I keg because I don't like dealing with bottles.  I always make 5.5 gallon batches and my saccharification rest is almost always 60 minutes.  Mostly, I brew modest beers that I like to drink and don't wreck either my palate or my motor functions with huge flavors and high gravities.

My favorite beer to brew, and the one I brew most often, is an English Special Bitter (a pint of which is pictured above).  The recipe is simple, and the style is balanced nicely between sweet malts, hop bitterness (not too much hop flavor) and just enough esthers and diacetyl from the yeast to keep it interesting.  It's got plenty of flavor and it's not too strong, making it a great beer for a session.  I think that the entire bitter family of styles (ordinary/special/extra special) offer the best day-in day-out drinking because of their simplicity and mildness.  From a homebrewing perspective, a special bitter is a dream because of small size--it's cheap to make a batch and the turn around is super fast.  When I make a bitter, I'm pulling off pints only 12 days after I pitch the yeast.

I've brewed this beer more than any other, and I think that my recipe is finally pinned down:

Grist:
8.25# Marris Otter
0.75# Dark English Crystal (~135 °L)

Hops:
9.4 AAUs East Kent Goldings (60 min)
0.5 oz Fuggles (5 min)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1099 - Whitbread

I conduct a thick mash of 1 qt/lb and rest for 60 minutes at 150°, and try to ferment as close to 60° as possible.  After about 8-9 days in the fermenter, it's right into the kegs to cool and carbonate.  I really enjoy how simple this recipe has become.  When I first drafted it up a couple years ago it had biscuit and other crystal malts in there, but this makes the best beer, and it is a staple at my house.  It's not flashy, it's not huge, but it is descriptive of how I like to brew my beer.