Ordinary Bitter Extraordinary Bitter

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.45 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 6.95 %
0.38 lb British Caramalt (34.0 SRM) Grain 5.29 %
0.25 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3.48 %
0.06 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 0.83 %

1.07 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (60 min) Hops 19.0 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.40 %] (5 min) Hops 1.0 IBU

Mash at 152 for 60 minutes. Whirlfloc would be greatly beneficial in the last 10 minutes of the boil to help clearing since the flaked barley will inevitably contribute to chill haze. Cool and pitch yeast starter. Although I used Thames Valley, any good British yeast will work. Ferment at 66 degrees for three weeks then bottle or keg.

My intention when formulating this recipe was to create a bitter that I felt would be similar to an Irish Dry Stout, without the roastiness. Creamy and refreshing and capable of being drunk in large quantities. It makes a perfect summertime drinker, being light and refreshing, and you can have them all day without getting smashed. The hop flavor is surprising given the low amount used. Hope you guys enjoy!

This beer placed 3rd in the Bitters category in the 2009 HBT BJCP competition.

That looks like a tasty pint there, Brian. I brewed something very similar but used 4.5% torrified wheat instead of your flaked barley. Can you comment on the mouthfeel/body of this beer? I'm at a crossroads in deciding, for a bit more body, whether adjunct, more crystal, or process is the way to go. How much water did you mash with and did you make any water adjustments? Thanks again!

14thstreet said:

That looks like a tasty pint there, Brian. I brewed something very similar but used 4.5% torrified wheat instead of your flaked barley. Can you comment on the mouthfeel/body of this beer? I'm at a crossroads in deciding, for a bit more body, whether adjunct, more crystal, or process is the way to go. How much water did you mash with and did you make any water adjustments? Thanks again!

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The mouthfeel was fairly thin, though it worked well for this beer. I've never had much luck with flaked barley in adding body. I think your best bet in achieving a fuller mouthfeel and more body would be crystal malt. And maltodextrine if you wanted to cheat. I typically mash with 1.25-1.3 quarts/liter. I probably made no adjustment to my water for this beer. My water has about a 2:1 sulfate:chloride ratio and fairly low residual alkalinity.

I just brewed this AG today... it smelled and tasted great. I wanted a bit of extra bitterness, so I did 1oz Will/.25 EKG at 60, and the recipe's .25 EKG at 5. Also bumped Victory up to a half pound... I don't have a scale yet, so I have to work in round numbers.

REALLY looking forward to this one... hydro sample was light with an incredible bready/biscuity taste, and a great thirst-quenching bitterness in the back of the throat. This one is going to go quick, I can already tell.

Awesome! Enjoy it!

Excellent photography...that shot is enough to sell the recipe by itself. Great work and thanks for sharing.

OMG, someone on the forum who's familiar with Clipper City brews, Excellent! :rockin:

I've got a lot of U.S. two row, and thought about making this recipe. How do you think that may effect the flavor profile, if any?

wscott823 said:

OMG, someone on the thread who's familiar with Clipper City brews, Excellent! :rockin:

I've got a lot of U.S. two row, and thought about making this recipe. How do you think that may effect the flavor profile, if any?

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I got 4 of those glasses from a keep the glass night at a local pub when they were serving loose cannon from a cask. It was AWESOME!!

The US 2-row should work fine. I'd normally suggest bumping the biscuit malt up a bit to get a bit of the british pale malt toastiness back, but I find it's flavor can stick out of a beer while young, and tends to extend the amount of time needed for conditioning. So if I were you I would sub the US 2-row directly for the british and keep the rest of the recipe the same. If you think you would really be missing out by not having quite the same toastiness, you could always toast about a half a lb of the 2-row in an oven for about 30-45 minutes at 350. Whenever I toast my own malt I give it a minimum of 2 weeks of rest before using in order for it to mellow, though I've heard many people use it the same day with no ill effect.

Thanks for the helpful comments bro. I'm familiar with toasting my own malt, did it with great ease and success on my IIPA a couple months ago.

Any suggestions on a WLP equivalent to Thames Valley? I don't have good access to Wyeast in my area.

wscott823 said:

Thanks for the helpful comments bro. I'm familiar with toasting my own malt, did it with great ease and success on my IIPA a couple months ago.

Any suggestions on a WLP equivalent to Thames Valley? I don't have good access to Wyeast in my area.

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Burton Ale is supposedly the same strain though it tastes a bit different to me. I actually like it better than the Thames Valley though so I'd definitely go for that one. I have the opposite situation here, both brewstores only carry wyeast so I've gotta order white labs whenever I need it.

KingBrianI said:

Burton Ale is supposedly the same strain though it tastes a bit different to me. I actually like it better than the Thames Valley though so I'd definitely go for that one. I have the opposite situation here, both brewstores only carry wyeast so I've gotta order white labs whenever I need it.

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Should be happy that you have a brew store near you.
I have to order everything on the internet.

Brewed this (or rather, something similar) about a month ago. I only used EKGs and bumped the bitterness up to about 27 IBUs. I also used the Whitbread yeast strain. A delicious, fruity English ale.

tiredofbuyingbeer said:

Brewed this (or rather, something similar) about a month ago. I only used EKGs and bumped the bitterness up to about 27 IBUs. I also used the Whitbread yeast strain. A delicious, fruity English ale.

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Sounds like you made something out of Ron Pattinson's blog. His Tetley's 1945 Bitter is all EKG and the IBU is 27. It also uses 1099 Whitbread Ale Yeast. The grain bill is a bit simpler however.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/02/lets-brew-wednesday-1945-tetleys-bitter.html

kevin58 said:

Sounds like you made something out of Ron Pattinson's blog. His Tetley's 1945 Bitter is all EKG and the IBU is 27. It also uses 1099 Whitbread Ale Yeast. The grain bill is a bit simpler however.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/02/lets-brew-wednesday-1945-tetleys-bitter.html

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Yeah, I'm a big fan of Ron's blog. I think this recipe is a bit different, though, because the Tetley's bitter uses quite a bit of invert, and KingBrian's recipe contains none.

My meaning was just that I purposefully brewed Brian's recipe, but tweaked the hop additions just a bit and grabbed a different yeast. Seemed worth noting because this recipe deserves some appreciation since 2015. It's good!