Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)

All Styles

Style Profile based on 195 recipes

BU:GU

0.66

Hops

5.6 g/L

Mash pH

5.55

Dry Hop

0.2 g/L

Typical Grain Bill

70% Pale
14% Pilsner
7% Crystal
4% Toast

% of total grain weight across all recipes · sums to ~100%

Common Additions

% of Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) recipes using each malt category (addition % in brackets)

Hop Usage by Addition Type

g/L · median with IQR range

Bittering

0.45 g/L 1.5 g/L

1.03 g/L

Flavour

0.39 g/L 1.37 g/L

0.75 g/L

Aroma

0.5 g/L 1.5 g/L

0.88 g/L

Whirlpool

0.24 g/L 1.37 g/L

0.5 g/L

Dry Hop

0.61 g/L 1.5 g/L

0.85 g/L

Common Hops

% of Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) recipes using each hop

Dry-Hop Rate by Year

g/L · median with IQR range

2019

0.68 g/L 1.18 g/L

0.77 g/L

2020

1.31 g/L 2.22 g/L

1.45 g/L

2023

0.37 g/L 0.86 g/L

0.57 g/L

2024

2.07 g/L 3.41 g/L

3.41 g/L

dated Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) recipes with at least one dry-hop addition

Common Fermentables

Colour = malt category · bar = % of recipes

Common Yeasts

% of Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) recipes using each strain

Mash Profile

76% Single Infusion
22% Step Mash
2% Decoction

50 recipes with mash data

Typical Water Profile

91 ppm Ca²⁺
10 ppm Mg²⁺
25 ppm Na⁺
74 ppm Cl⁻
105 ppm SO₄²⁻
100 ppm HCO₃⁻

median across recipes with a declared water profile

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