'Ordinary' bitter - what's your favourite sub 4% recipe?

[mandyandnick]

Hi learned friends.

I've been considering making an 'ordinary' bitter (once the temperature drops a bit!) Was looking for a sub-4% alcohol ale which is still satisfying and well balanced.

I quite like fairly hoppy beers and I'm looking for something with good aroma and flavour rather than just bitterness for this one (so I'm guessing plenty of late hops). I'm thinking about things like Tribute or Badger's Cricket (citrusy and light), something interesting enough to make one forget the fact that it's not as alcoholic as most of my brews which end up around the 5% mark.

What would you recommend for a sub-4% brew (I have GW's lovely book)? I'd love a variety of suggestions, whether they apply to what's in my mind or not.

Thanks as ever

Nick.

[dave-o]

I'm a fan of dark (or extra dark) crystal malt when doing a low alcohol beer that still wants to be tasty.

[weiht]

i dun have a recipe, but i remember the youngs bitter as a excellent ale and i think its about 3.8% or so... try finding it

[Blackaddler]

i dun have a recipe, but i remember the youngs bitter as a excellent ale and i think its about 3.8% or so... try finding it

The Ram brewery in Wandsworth closed in 2006, and brewing was moved to Charles Wells in Bedford.

Now it's called Well's and Young's Brewing, with a 60-40 ownership split. Young's Bitter tastes nothing like it used to [some may say that's a good thing!].

Anyway, back to the original question...

In GW's book, there are recipes for Theakston's Best Bitter, and Timothy Taylor Best Bitter. I came up with a sort of mixture of the two but with less hop, for a nice session beer of 3.7%. Not bitter at all, but you could add extra hops if required.

Brewed 55 litres, 10/12/09.

Maris Otter 7350gms 94.23%
Crystal 400 350gms 4.49%
Chocolate 50gms 0.64%
Torrified Wheat 50gms 0.64%

Gives an EBC of 26

Fuggles additions to give an IBU of 21-22

85gms for 90mins
30gms for 10mins
10gms at end of boil

OG 1.039, FG 1.010 using S04/S05 mix, which may have contributed to a slight haze in the beer. It tasted fine, but took months before it eventually dropped bright. I'd normally have used Nottingham, but didn't have any left.

However, it could have been me, as I'm not used to brewing bitters.

It tastes great now, though. It made a good session beer for the summer, anyway.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I'm enjoying a Coniston Bluebird clone at the moment using Norm's recipe from this site. Except I changed the hops to 20/30/40g at 90/15/0 minutes. The real Bluebird is one of my favourites as it's really hoppy and this 1036 clone is pretty close. It's going down very well in the warm weather.

[coatesg]

Aleman's Adnams Southwold is one I've done twice - both turned out very well. I think the trick is in choice of yeast, maybe mashing higher, liberal late hopping and careful use of speciality malts (eg light choc, amber, dark crystals).

Here's one that turned out very well too:

Windrush Bitter
OG: 1034
FG: 1008
IBU: ~31 (Tinseth)

Maris Otter 3.2kg
Crystal (120EBC) 102g
Light Crystal (60EBC) 102g
Amber 85g

Mashed at 67-68C for 75min.

WGV 14g 8% 90min
EKG 27g 4.6% 90min
EKG 14g 4.6% 15min
EKG 14g 0min
Dry hopped EKG, 10g for 4 days prior to bottling

Yeast: Wyeast 1335

[Hogarth]

Hmmm... maybe this should be in Recipes?

Anyway, here's my 3.9% Fuggler. It's a nice, light, fruity sort of beer.

For 23 litres with an OG of 1040

3.5kg Pale Malt
350g Sugar
50g Patent Malt
90 mins: Challenger for 15 IBU
90 mins: EKG for 15 IBU
15 mins: 10g EKG
15 mins: 10g Fuggles
Steeped at 80°C: 10g Fuggles
Dry hopped: 10g Fuggles
Yeast: WLP023 (highly recommended for light ales)

[Scooby]

This should have the hoppy aroma and favour you mention plus it's cirtusy and light, it gives a nod in the direction of St Austell beers.

Pale Malt 90.5%
UK Munich 7.1%
Light Crystal 2.4%

Chinook 21.6IBU 90mins
Willamette 12.3IBU 15mins
Willamette 4.4IBU 5mins

Cascade...same amount by weight as Willamette 15min addition
added at 80c and steeped for 30mins

WY 1318 London Ale III

OG 1.040 IBU 39 BU:GU 0.97 EBC 8.7 ABV 3.9%

[mandyandnick]

Thanks for moving the thread Jim (presumably!).

Thanks too for the suggestions - they should keep me going.

Can I ask about Munich malt please - The recipe specifies UK Munich (presumably as an alternative to German!). Anythig special I should know about this stuff?? Does it prefer a particular mash temp?

Thanks

Nick.

[dave-o]

Anythig special I should know about this stuff?? Does it prefer a particular mash temp?
.

No, just treat it as a standard grain. You can use 100% munich, but people will probably recommend you don't use more than about 15% if you're making a british-style bitter.

[mandyandnick]

Thanks for the advice - I do like the sound of Scooby's brew (sorry - I had to say it!) especialy as have never used Chinook or Willamette before. Hopefully it will be the dogs' danglies! (Just got to wait 4 weeks until back from hols before I have the time now - will let you know what happens!)
Cheers!

Nick

[Dennis King]

noms recipe for Ridleys IPA is not a bad shout.

[mandyandnick]

Just Looked at the Ridleys - sounds great. Completely different from my own IPA (which is about 5.2% and uses different hops, different grains, completely different brew ) so quite excited about this one. Right... shove it on the list!

Cheers.

N.

[bconnery]

I have a grain bill, or at least a type of one, that I use regularly for bitters.
Basically it is around 90% base malt (amount depending on your efficiency and desired alc %) and then 100g each of a light/medium crystal, a dark crystal or some other sort of solidly flavoured specialty malt, and a chocolate malt of some sort. I say that but I so far have always used pale chocolate malt when I've made this 'recipe'.
This gives an easy framework around which I can try different specialty malts.
I came across it testing how well one of my favourite extract recipes would translate to AG without any real adjustment and I've stuck to it ever since. At least for now...

Medium Crystal / Dark Crystal / Pale Chocolate is good combo.

Hop wise I just go for whatever combo I've decided to buy recently. First Gold, Challenger, Bramling Cross, EKG are particular favourites.
yeast wise again whatever I have. The one below was made with Wyeast 1882PC Thames Valley II

Here's an example recipe that was one of the best I've made using this method.

Style: Standard/Ordinary Bitter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 33.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.034 SG
Estimated Color: 27.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 29.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2800.00 gm Pale Malt, Halcyon (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EGrain 90.32 %
100.00 gm Amber Malt (85.0 EBC) Grain 3.23 %
100.00 gm Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 3.23 %
100.00 gm Pale Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (800.Grain 3.23 %
25.00 gm Challenger [7.10 %] (60 min) Hops 22.5 IBU
20.00 gm Challenger [7.10 %] (10 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
25.00 gm Bramling Cross [5.10 %] (0 min) Hops -

[De-Geert]

The one below was made with Wyeast 1882PC Thames Valley II

How did you like that one? I made 2 beers with it and they are pretty nice, only a bit too dry to my taste. But that depends on the grain bill as well as mashing regime as well, of course.
I don't think I'd use it for a bitter again.