Let's Brew - 1897 Fremlin BB L

As you’ll see as we go through Fremlin’s Pale Ales that there were variants of the same basic beers. In this case, I’m pretty sure that the “L” here stands for “London”.

What does London mean in this case? Heavier hopping.10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared to 7.5 lbs for plain old BB. I guess Londoners liked their beer more bitter.

Hopping aside, there are other differences in the recipe. For example, there’s no flaked barley. And instead of the “cane” sugar, there’s No, 2 invert. There’s also some dextro-maltose, for which I’ve substituted more No. 2.

Just two copper hops and two dry hops, all English and all from the 1897 season.

There’s a note in the brewing record that days “only 30 barrels racked as Stock, the rest blended with BB”. At least some of it was aged, then. A maximum of three or four months would be my guess. 

1897 Fremlin BB L
pale malt	7.25 lb	74.36%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.50 lb	25.64%
Goldings 120 mins	1.125 oz
Goldings 90 mins	2.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.125 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1048
FG	1010
ABV	5.03
Apparent attenuation	79.17%
IBU	67
SRM	9
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale