Just like with Mild, there had been a gravity reduction in Lees Bitter. Though compared to post-war standards, it’s still a decently strong beer.
Again, there haven’t been any changes to the elements of the grist, but the relative proportions have shifted. There’s been an even bigger reduction in the percentage of sugar, from around 15% to 5%. Surely simply because sugar was being diverted for other food uses.
The hops were all relatively fresh, from the 1939 and 1940 harvests. All were English, obviously.
| 1941 Lees Bitter | ||
| pale malt | 9.25 lb | 95.21% |
| black malt | 0.01 lb | 0.10% |
| glucose | 0.13 lb | 1.29% |
| No. 2 invert sugar | 0.33 lb | 3.40% |
| Fuggles 90 mins | 1.25 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 mins | 1.00 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.25 oz | |
| OG | 1043 | |
| FG | 1009 | |
| ABV | 4.50 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 79.07% | |
| IBU | 29 | |
| SRM | 5 | |
| Mash at | 149º F | |
| After underlet | 151º F | |
| Sparge at | 165º F | |
| Boil time | 90 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons) | |
This recipe is one of 553 in my recently-released BlitzKrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.
The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.
Buy one now and be the envy of your friends!
It's pretty wild how the gravity was higher than every entry in the table in the previous day's post despite the fact that the UK was under attack and isolated by U Boats in 1941, but had trade access to so much of the world in 1971.
ReplyDeleteCould easily be a modern best bitter.
DeleteOscar
That's an excellent point
ReplyDelete