Description
-This recipe Does Not Include Yeast-
Sussex Best is the most famous beer of this old English brewery, a superbly balanced bitter with prominent hop character. The brew evolved over decades, satisfying the expectations of the people of Sussex and its adjoining counties. Finest Maris Otter malted barley is supplemented with a dash of Crystal malt for balance. Their hops are a blend of four different local whole varieties, to give a distinctive traditional hoppy finish.
Ingredients
Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter
Crisp Dark Crystal Malt
Crisp Flaked Maize
Total grain bill without husks 3976g
Oat Husks (500 grams)
Progress T90 Pellets (26 grams)
Bramling Cross Pellets (26 grams)
Fuggles Pellets (15 grams)
East Kent Goldings ( GOLDINGS ) Pellets (15 grams)
Method
Beer Style (main): British Ales
Beer Style (sub): Special Bitter or Best Bitter
Batch Size: 23
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV %: 4.0
IBU: 35
THE MASH
Temperature °C: 68
Length (mins): 60
Out temp °C: 77
Out time (mins): 10
THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 90
Additions and timing:
26 g, Progress, ≈6.3% AA, 60 minutes
26 g, Bramling Cross, ≈6.5% AA, 30 minutes
15 g, Fuggles, ≈5% AA, at flame-out, steep until cooled
15 g, Goldings, ≈5% AA, at flame-out, steep until cooled
Secondary additions and timing:
N/A
Yeast: Sussex yeast if possible, this can be harvest and grown from Harveys Stout or see list of varieties to try
Fermentation temperature/steps: Ferment at 17c and it should end at 1.008.
Comments:
-This recipe Does Not Include Yeast-
Yeast: it seems a lot of people have been growing up yeast from the actual beer as its a key ingredient to deliver a true flavour. The origin of the yeast is supposedly Tadcaster, but it has been used constantly over 50 years to develop into what it is today.
Otherwise you could use WLP017 (Whitbread strain) or WLP002 (fullers strain) and WLP005 (Ringwood strain), or try using Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire or WLP037 Yorkshire Square, Bedford or other traditional English strains.
If you choose to add the Brewlab Yeast Slope, please refer to our video instructions on how to use these products. You will need to grow a yeast starter a few days prior to brewday to ensure you have enough viable yeast for a strong and healthy fermentation.
Paul Cartwright (verified owner) –
Love this recipe, I have been using Safale S-04 yeast and the taste and clarity is really good in my opinion.
Martin Rake (verified owner) –
I’ve just brewed a batch using the new Verdant IPA yeast, thats turned out really good. Leaves a slight malty sweetness to it. Thats what I love about this kit that you can try it out with so many great yeasts.
Jonathan Taylor –
Great bitter. Used Safale04. Very drinkable at 3 weeks!
James Carey (verified owner) –
Well this is truly a nice beer. After brewing so many hoppy beers throughout the year this was a welcomed change. I’ve only had a small sample as I’m going to give this as much time as I possibly can to condition? And the sample was very promising. A real nice body to it and a lovely clean malty after tase, great head retention too. I brewed this with WLP 005 and happy with the results. A BIG thumbs up from me, and the mrs likes it too
Clobber (verified owner) –
Incredibly tasty for a 4% ale, brewed for a friend who grew up with Sussex Best and it’s made him want to visit a Harvey’s pub. I used WLP002 and am most happy with the result.
Clobber (verified owner) –
Incredibly tasty for a 4% ale, brewed for a friend who grew up with Sussex Best and it’s made him want to visit a Harvey’s pub. I used WLP002 and am most happy with the result.
Jeremy Draper (verified owner) –
Interesting brew.. Not sure which was the key part of the batch, kit or yeast. I used Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood ale) which is known for quirky behaviour. As no yeast is provided, you make the choice, and I used the Ringwood strain which throws a lot of diacetyl flavours. This is the second time I have used this yeast and it behaved the same as last time – slow to start and diacetyl in abundance. The kit was a great backdrop for the yeast and after a long spell in the fermenter (3 weeks under a little pressure), the resulting brew still had faint diacetyl when barrelled. The resulting pints were the closest to a hand drawn pub pint I have had since lockdown… All gone.
Martin Hudson (verified owner) –
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and this kit does exactly that. Brewed on my G30 and I ended up with nearly 27 litres in the FV at OG of 1.041. I used the SA-04 yeast (plus starter) and fermented under pressure (8 psi) and attained 1.011 for 4.10% and bottled nearly 25 litres. Put simply I don’t think you could buy a better bitter locally than this and I’m not being a big head when I say this. Quality fresh malts and a consistent fermentation temperature of 20c will produce a professional ale to be proud of. Would be great to scale this up to a 50 litre batch as TMM have done with the Doom Bar clone. Cheers
Graham Bunt (verified owner) –
Only a week after bottling but couldnt resist trying and got to say I’m quite impressed. It has a slight caramel smell and taste to it which im not sure is right or wrong but i quite like it. Brewed with harvested Wyeast 1469 although will probably try a verdant next time.
Robert Neale –
The slight caramel taste, this could well be Diacetyl, this is a yeast driven flavour that can be at a very low level in a bitter. In your bottle conditioned beer it should sort its self out over the next week or so.