Let's Brew - 1977 Boddington IP

While I’m on the topic of Boddington Bitter, I thought I’d throw out a few more recipes. Just for extra context.

I’ve picked 1977 because it’s a year of transition, when several ingredients were dropped, namely enzymic malt, wheat malt and flaked maize. The first did make a comeback the next year, however.

It was also the second year of glucose and the last year of another sugar, Flavex. The latter had featured in Boddington Bitter since before WW II. A search on the web has thrown up bugger all results for it. Most are for a modern artificial sweetener. The only useful hit was an advert in the 1952 Brewing Trade Review, I think from EDME.

Great, I though. I’ve got a run of Brewing Trade Review from the 1940s and 1950s. Frustratingly, my collection ends at 1951. If you happen to own the 1952 volume, take a look at page 64 and let me know exactly what it says. In this recipe, I’ve substituted No. 2 invert.

Not knowing anything about the hops, other than that they were from the 1976 harvest and English, I’ve produced two versions of the recipe. One using older varieties and one using more modern ones. I’ve plumped for Northern Brewer and Bramling Cross in the latter case, as they were varieties that I know Boddington used in the 1980s.

The choice of hop has quite an impact on the (calculated) IBUs: 20 for the older varieties, 31 for the newer ones.

1977 Boddington IP
pale malt	4.50 lb	62.07%
lager malt	1.25 lb	17.24%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.45%
glucose	0.25 lb	3.45%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.79%
Fuggles 85 min	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1034.5
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	81.16%
IBU	21
SRM	4.5
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	85 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

1977 Boddington IP alternate hops
pale malt	4.50 lb	62.07%
lager malt	1.25 lb	17.24%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.45%
glucose	0.25 lb	3.45%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.79%
Northern Brewer 85 min	0.75 oz
Bramling Cross 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1034.5
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	81.16%
IBU	31
SRM	4.5
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	85 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)