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The Boddies Bitter fun never ends. Or maybe it just seems that way. Whatever, this recipe documents a transitionary phase of the beer, which was only around for a few years, between 1976 and 1982 or 1983.

The most obvious feature is how simple the recipe has become: just four elements to the grist: pale malt, enzymic malt, glucose and malt extract. (The small quantity of enzymic malt I’ve just rolled into the pale malt base.) Even without out, this version is paler. A very Lager-like 3.4 SRM.

The dropping of Flavex (which appears as No. 2 invert in the 1977 recipe) and a reduction in the quantity of glucose has more than halved the sugar content and increased the malt content from 86% to 90%. On the face of it, an improvement in the recipe. Yet this exactly the period when, according to oral accounts, when the quality of Boddington Bitter nosedived. It’s a bit of a riddle.

Three types of hops in this example, all English, two from the 1978 harvest and one from 1979. For the sake of fairness, I’ve again provided recipes with two different sets of hops. The older varieties of Fuggles and Goldings set against the newer types of Northern Brewer and Bramling Cross. There’s a pretty big difference in bitterness levels between the two: 20 IBU for the old, 32 IBU for the new varieties. Both value calculated, obviously.

1980 Boddington IP
pale malt 6.75 lb 90.00%
malt extract 0.50 lb 6.67%
glucose 0.25 lb 3.33%
Fuggles 120 min 0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min 0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.25 oz
OG 1034
FG 1007
ABV 3.57
Apparent attenuation 79.41%
IBU 20
SRM 3.5
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 158º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 63º F
Yeast Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

1980 Boddington IP alternate hops
pale malt 6.75 lb 90.00%
malt extract 0.50 lb 6.67%
glucose 0.25 lb 3.33%
Northern Brewer 120 min 0.75 oz
Bramling Cross 30 min 0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.25 oz
OG 1034
FG 1007
ABV 3.57
Apparent attenuation 79.41%
IBU 32
SRM 3.5
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 158º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 63º F
Yeast Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)







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