# Red Headed Stepchild



## jswordy (Apr 11, 2015)

Well, here's my first beer recipe, *Red Headed Step Child*. An Extra Special Bitter (ESB), it should be a red beer when all is said and done.

Steeping my grain mix...





Boiling the bittering hops...





I could not keep my nose out of the empty Brew's Gold bag! Wow! 





After 10 minutes of aroma hops, the cool-down...





All in all, a good day! The wort was so good, I let some from the trub leftovers settle a bit in a wine glass and had a few sips as it was. I tasted it throughout. Should turn out nice! Fingers crossed.


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## BernardSmith (Apr 11, 2015)

Good luck!


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## vernsgal (Apr 12, 2015)

not much of a beer maker...as I say that ,I have kits- a honey ale and a pilsner as well as a cider in secondaries, but I love your pics.Is this a heavy beer or like a lager?(newbie beer question I'm sure).


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## jswordy (Apr 12, 2015)

I'm a newb to it, too. This one is an Extra Special Bitter, an ale style that falls somewhere between an English bitter and a Scottish ale. My first self-made recipe. It has more hop than either English or Scottish ales, but the Maris Otter malt shines through, too. It will also have a red color and biscuity flavor from the steeping grains.

My beer is bubbling away today in primary.

Pilsner! Didn't that require lagering? I'm doing ales now because I don't have a good lagering setup and the weather down here tends to stay warm in winter.

Good luck! Post some pix if you can.


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## Jimyson (Apr 12, 2015)

I love English style. I have some Bedford British slurry itching to come out of the fridge for either an ESB or a Northern Brown. 

Man, you must have one heck of an ice maker to chill that way. Why not a small immersion chiller?


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## jswordy (Apr 13, 2015)

Jimyson said:


> I love English style. I have some Bedford British slurry itching to come out of the fridge for either an ESB or a Northern Brown.
> 
> Man, you must have one heck of an ice maker to chill that way. Why not a small immersion chiller?



*No more equipment!* That's why. Plus, it will not work with my faucet. I have two large steel cabinets full of wine equipment, which is very sufficient to do double-duty for beer. The ice costs me a whopping $4.50, does the job well, and the tub was free. 

I probably won't be making beer for long anyway, it looks like. The gluten in it makes my joints ache like hell all the time, which is why years back I switched to wine. I can drink 2 bottles of wine at a sitting and still feel better the next day and the next week than if I had drank 4-6 beers at that session. Unless I can find a gluten-free beer that tastes good. So far - nada!


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## sour_grapes (Apr 13, 2015)

jswordy said:


> I can drink 2 bottles of wine at a sitting and still feel better the next day and the next week than if I had drank 4-6 beers at that session.



Well, that is saying something!


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## jswordy (Apr 14, 2015)

Ah, we are in the secondary now, and you can see the reddish tint to it that should just get nicer as it clears. Had a taste and I like what I tasted! I sure wish they'd get together on what 5 gallons is! Five-gallon carboy, marked so, is more than the 5 gallon line on my bucket. Last time, a different 5-gallon carboy, marked so, was less. 

Time to enjoy a couple of the last Scottish Ales I'll have on hand for a few weeks...


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## jswordy (May 10, 2015)

Might've turned out a bit too blonde to be called Red Headed Stepchild, but boy does it taste AWESOME! It is really good - I have to get my pro brewer friend to critique a bottle.





53 bottle yield, got to get them someplace cool now before they really take off. It's 92 here today. Used 1 oz/gal table sugar this time for bigger bubbles.


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## nucjd (May 10, 2015)

Really fun to read through! Thanks for sharing!


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## Elmer (May 11, 2015)

Jim,

Looks good.
Was the pic taken after the head settled down? 1oz/gall should have given you some good froth, unless it hasnt conditioned fully?

Can you post your recipe?

2 things I have altered in my process.
1-I toss the trub into the primary.
2- I do a moderate ice bath in the sink.
I also buy 2- 1 gallon bottles of water. I put them in the fridge and get them really cold.
I wait until the wort is down to about 100F and add to the bucket, I then add 2 gallons of super cold water to get down the wort down to about sub 80 and toss yeast in.

sadly I just dont have enough storage space for 10 lbs of ice. I had to make room in the chest freezer for the kids ice pops (they dont chill wort well)!


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## jswordy (May 26, 2015)

Boy, this is good beer! A hit at the party I brought it to. It needs to sit in cold to clear up but I can't keep my hands off the stuff. Great head, lots of bubbles at 1 oz/gallon. Used table sugar and it boosted bubbles but they are still very small. The only thing is, it turned out more blonde than red. Very good stuff! I will make this again and refine it more.

Elmer, the wineglass shot was straight out of the secondary as I was bottling it. No fizz yet.


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## jswordy (Jun 2, 2015)

*3 reviews*

3 reviews of my first recipe:

#1 – "What style did you give me? I'm drinking it now (haven't even changed out of my work clothes yet) and it's delicious! Jeff liked it too! It is yummy! Thank you!!!"

#2 –"Okay...one word....YUM!!! That really was a good beer. I stuck one bottle in the freezer for about 20 minutes while I made dinner, then poured it into a cold glass. It was the perfect temperature when I drank it. One complaint I have about local breweries is that all the beers have a very "hoppy" taste. Yours had just enough of that without being overpowering. I'm not a connoisseur by any means, but it seemed to have just a hint of fruitiness (Blue Moon "ish") but again not too much. I really think you nailed it. Good job!!!"

#3 – "I tried the liquid goodness last night and here is my assessment:
Effervescence: exactly right
Alcohol content: strong but delicious
There did seem to be something missing, and I wish I had the proper knowledge to articulate it..... maybe it needs more sweetness or fruitiness or honeyness or something."

This gives me some idea besides my own of where to go with the beer. My own assessment is that it is very close to perfect. It sets up a residual hop flavor in the mouth that compels the next sip, but the hops do not overwhelm. It has a full mouthfeel and chewiness many beer lovers like. The carbonation to me is spot-on perfect, right in line with what American beer drinkers like. Getting there.

I did not like the yeast I used because it does not flocculate out as well as what I had been using. Flavor-wise, it was great, though. So right away, I have to boil another batch with my usual yeast to see if it changes the flavor. I have two more progression recipes from the base, so I might try one of those to see what it tastes like in comparison.


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## BernardSmith (Jun 3, 2015)

Nice one! What yeast did you use?


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## jswordy (Jun 3, 2015)

Safeale S-04


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