Style differences and ingredients

[grainbrew]

Greetings,

I have only brewed 2 all grains so far, so I'm no expert.

After playing around with Promash for a week or so, I made two recipes; ESB, and IPA.

Now it seems to me that the parameters for both beers are VERY similar, and so are the ingredients.

I've tasted ESB and IPAs at local breweries, and have to say that they're almost identical.

So what is the real difference between a very hopped bitter and an IPA?

The only thing I can see is that the IPA has more malt character and alcohol because of its higher starting Gravity, but according to the parameters in Promash, an ESB could be an IPA?

Thanks for your thoughts,

J

[BluesHarp]

English IPA or American IPA?

The American style will usually have a much more pronounced hop aroma and flavor and if done correctly, be a bit sweeter.

In my opinion, which could very easily be wrong. :D

[b3s]

and here i was going to ask english ESB or american ESB!

a british ESB would be EXTRA SPECIAL bitter and an american ESB would be extra special BITTER.

i highly recommend you get yourself a copy of designing great beers, it covers a very large portion of the styles out there, even down to winning homebrew recipe percentages.

[grainbrew]

It's on the christmas list...

J