Let's Brew - 1910 Lees Bitter

One beer which hasn’t dropped much in gravity is the Bitter. Which is just 2º lower in gravity than in 1884.

It’s pretty much a full-strength Pale Ale. Maybe a few degrees weaker than a top-class London version.

The grist is fairly similar to the two Mild Ales: pale malt, maize and sugar. Though in rather different proportions. There’s a lot more sugar, which here is around 14%. I wonder if that’s to keep the colour as pale as possible? That’s certainly something that happened.

The hopping rate is much heavier than in the Mild Ales. No surprise there. It’s 7.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared to around 3 lbs. 

The hops themselves were the same as in the Mild Ales: Two types of English hops and one Württemberg, all from 1908 and Californian from 1907. 

1910 Lees Bitter
pale malt	9.75 lb	82.42%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	2.79%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.75 lb	14.79%
Fuggles 125 min	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.25 oz
Hallertau 30 min	1.25 oz
Cluster dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1055
FG	1016
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	70.91%
IBU	44
SRM	8
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	166º F
Boil time	125 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)