Classic English Bitter: A Traditional Session Ale

Classic English Bitter: A Traditional Session Ale

Classic English Bitter

This traditional English bitter delivers everything you'd expect from a well-crafted session ale. With its amber-copper colour, moderate bitterness, and satisfying malt backbone, it's the sort of beer you'll want to brew again and again.

Expected ABV: 4.2%

Batch Size: 23 litres

Ingredients

Malt

  • 3.8kg Maris Otter pale malt
  • 300g crystal malt (60L)
  • 150g biscuit malt

Hops

  • 30g East Kent Goldings (60 minutes)
  • 20g Fuggles (15 minutes)
  • 15g East Kent Goldings (flame out)

Yeast

  • 1 packet English ale yeast (such as SafAle S-04)

Other

  • Half a Campden tablet (to treat tap water)
  • Irish moss or kettle finings (15 minutes before end of boil)

Method

Step 1: Preparation

Heat 12 litres of water to 74°C. If using tap water, add half a crushed Campden tablet to remove chlorine and chloramine.

Step 2: Mashing

Add all grains to your mash tun and pour in the heated water, aiming for a mash temperature of 66°C. Stir thoroughly to eliminate any dry spots. Cover and maintain temperature for 60 minutes.

Step 3: Sparging

Heat an additional 16 litres of water to 76°C. Slowly sparge the grain bed, collecting the sweet wort in your boil kettle until you have approximately 26 litres of wort.

Step 4: The Boil

Bring your wort to a rolling boil. Add your 60-minute hop addition and set your timer for 60 minutes. At 15 minutes remaining, add the Fuggles hops and your kettle finings. At flame out, add the final hop addition and stir well.

Step 5: Cooling

Cool the wort as quickly as possible to 18-20°C using a wort chiller or ice bath. Transfer to a sanitised fermenter, leaving behind as much trub as possible.

Step 6: Fermentation

Pitch your yeast and seal the fermenter with an airlock. Ferment at 18-20°C for 7-10 days until fermentation activity ceases and gravity readings are stable over two consecutive days.

Step 7: Packaging

For cask-style conditioning, prime with 80-90g of brewing sugar dissolved in a small amount of boiled water. Bottle or keg your beer and allow to carbonate for 2-3 weeks at room temperature before chilling and serving.

Brewing Tips

  • Water chemistry matters: English bitters benefit from harder water. Consider adding gypsum to accentuate hop bitterness and calcium chloride to round out the malt.
  • Temperature control: Keep fermentation on the cooler end of the yeast's range for a cleaner profile, or slightly warmer for more fruity esters.
  • Patience pays off: This beer improves with a week or two of cold conditioning. The flavours meld beautifully with time.
  • Serve properly: English bitters are best served at cellar temperature (10-12°C) with gentle carbonation to appreciate their subtle complexity.

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Happy brewing!

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