Wednesday 8 May 2024

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1970 Youngs Special Bitter (SPA)

Big brother to Ordinary Bitter, and parti-gyled with it, was Special Bitter.

Special was introduced in 1949, when the restrictions on brewing in WW II were starting to be relaxed.  It was at around the same gravity as PA had been before WW II.  Other London brewers – for example, Watney and Fullers (SPA was the original name of London Pride) – also introduced Special Bitters at around the same time.

For such a strong Bitter, Youngs were brewing considerable quantities of it. With Special often being the senior partner in parti-gyles with Ordinary. This particular brew, for example, consisted of 201 barrels of Special and 145 barrels of Ordinary.

Obviously, the ingredients were identical to those in the Ordinary Bitter recipe above. 

1970 Youngs Special Bitter (SPA)
pale malt 7.50 lb 76.84%
flaked maize 1.25 lb 12.81%
malt extract 0.50 lb 5.12%
No. 1 invert sugar 0.50 lb 5.12%
caramel 1000 SRM 0.01 lb 0.10%
Fuggles 120 min 1.50 oz
Goldings 0 min 0.50 oz
OG 1045
FG 1009
ABV 4.76
Apparent attenuation 80.00%
IBU 23
SRM 5.5
Mash at 148º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 62º F
Yeast WLP002 English Ale


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is what my paternal grandfather drank when he worked in London.
Oscar