Let's Brew Wednesday - 1903 Binnie Bitter Beer

The weakest of Binnie’s Pale Ales looks remarkably like a modern English Ordinary Bitter.  Other than maybe being a little too pale. It’s very weak for a pre-WW I Bitter.

Just two ingredients in the mash tun. Pale malt and flaked rice. The latter was quite popular in the early days of the Free Mash Tun Act. Before eventually losing out to flaked maize in the popularity stakes.

The hopping is much heavier than in the Shilling Ales, as you would expect. Exactly double, to be precise, at 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Though that’s a good bit less than the 10 lbs per quarter Whitbread used in its Pale Ales. Also, there are no spent hops, as in the Shilling Ales.

Definitely no ageing for this beer. Too weak, too few hops.

1903 Binnie Bitter Beer
pale malt	7.75 lb	91.18%
flaked rice	0.75 lb	8.82%
Cluster 90 min	0.67 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.67 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.67 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1036
FG	1013
ABV	3.04
Apparent attenuation	63.89%
IBU	32
SRM	3.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale