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