Boddingtons Bitter clone

[foxy]

Reviving an old thread....I remember Boddingtons before it was ruined...my mate is an avid Boddies swiller...but only the pish you get in tins nowadays.
I’m thinking of trying to brew something to mimic what it used to be like...any decent recipes please?

Sorry Clint only got one from G.W' s early book again no SRM
3,7 kg Pale malt
0,020 Black malt

In the copper
120g cane sugar
29 g Fuggles hops
21 g Goldings hops
13 g Whitbread Goldings hops these three start of boil

3 g Northern Brewer hops
5 g Brambling Cross hops
10 g EKG these 3 last 15 minutes.

mash 90 mins 65 C
boil 2 hrs ?
ABV 3.6%
Final Volume 23 litres This is for cask conditioned, if you are going to bottle up the Pale malt to get a more suitable ABV
I imagine he would have picked up the recipe somewhere, it would be to difficult to distinguish all those hops.

 

[An Ankoù]

Boddington's was taken over in 1989. In the first edition of his book "The Real Ale Drinker's Almanac", published in 1989 (therefore the data will have been collected in the preceding years), Roger Protz has this to say about Boddington's Bitter:
OG 1035 ABV 3.8%
Ingredients:
Pale malt 95.5%
Patent malt 1.5%
Cane sugar 3%
Primed with cane sugar
Bramling Cross 8%
Fuggles 35%
Goldings 30%
Northern Brewer 5%
and Whitbread Golding Variety 22%
Whole hops (I presume this means all the hops were whole hops. I think Northern Brewer was grown in UK then, I don't think it is any longer).

Tasting Notes:
Nose: Complex floral, lemon jelly and spice aromas
Palate: Flinty dryness in the mouth, long hard finish with hop bitterness and tart fruit
Comments: A remarkable light golden bitter, a fine quenching session ale or excellent with fish dishes. The brewer detects slight brandy notes on the nose.

There. I would have thought a recipe could be formulated from all that. Note that there is no crystal malt, which, no doubt, accounts for the "flinty dryness".

 

[Horners]

My first brew after stepping up from kits was the extract version of this but from Wheelers more recent version. Looking at my notes it was just pale, a bit of crystal and the sugar, ekg at start and fuggles towards the end. Colourwise it looked right but cant vouch for the taste as I cocked up the DME measurement quite badly (an early lesson in weighing stuff evem when it comes prepacked) and then bunged extra sugar in at the end to try and up the gravity ( which not at that stage having realised I was 500g light on malt was inexplicably low).

 

[F00b4r]

If you want to try different versions of Boddingtons from the last century take a look here (you are looking for the Boddingtons IP recipes, as that is what it is was known internally as in the brewing records):

https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/search/label/Boddington?m=0

 

[An Ankoù]

If you want to try different versions of Boddingtons from the last century take a look here (you are looking for the Boddingtons IP recipes, as that is what it is was known internally as in the brewing records):

https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/search/label/Boddington?m=0

I think Boddington's Bitter is a post-war phenomenon as many, if not all, these brews seemed to have suffered from the austerities of the time. Indeed I've got a couple of recipes for Boddington's CC which seems to be some kind of strong ale with an abv well over that of Boddington's Bitter.

 

[An Ankoù]

Sorry Clint only got one from G.W' s early book again no SRM
3,7 kg Pale malt
0,020 Black malt

In the copper
120g cane sugar
29 g Fuggles hops
21 g Goldings hops
13 g Whitbread Goldings hops these three start of boil

3 g Northern Brewer hops
5 g Brambling Cross hops
10 g EKG these 3 last 15 minutes.

mash 90 mins 65 C
boil 2 hrs ?
ABV 3.6%
Final Volume 23 litres This is for cask conditioned, if you are going to bottle up the Pale malt to get a more suitable ABV
I imagine he would have picked up the recipe somewhere, it would be to difficult to distinguish all those hops.

That looks pretty much the business. As you would expect as Roger Protz was co-author, I've just remembered.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I went to the redwood forests in northern California/Oregon about 10 years ago, camped in a national park, met the exceptionally friendly park ranger who as soon as he heard my accent exclaimed 'oooh your British, I love your beer!' I asked him what he liked best and he replied (phonetically) 'Bodeingtons'. Oh how I laughed.

 

[chesters-mild]

I lived in Longsight in the 60s & 70s, and yes Boddies was OK then, but mostly drank in The Red Lion - Didsbury - ('cos it was a good place to meet girls) Remember we all shed tears of sorrow when the (Marsdons) beer went up to 2/6 a pint. Mind you £2 would get a belly full of beer a packet of ****, bus fare, and pie & chips on the way home ! Happy days.
Cheers

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I’m thinking of trying to brew something to mimic what it used to be like...any decent recipes please?

Ron Pattinson has published a number of original recipes over the years, his most recent is from 1987, unless that's too recent for you? It's pretty much just a pale/Goldings SMaSH, with sugar and other adjuncts at various times in the 20th century.

Don't know if there's any WLP038 Manchester still kicking around suppliers following its recent Vault release, otherwise something like Omega Gulo might give you the 90+% attenuation that they used to get in the 70s.

 

[Bulldog.]

If you never had Boddies before the 90s then you can have no idea what the fuss was about. Boddies now is not worth drinking. Originally it was a great beer, and allegedly gave rise to CAMRA, which was started in Manchester in the 70s by blokes who liked Boddies, according to legend, and were not happy that so few other beers were worth drinking at the time, and the fact that independent breweries were all being bought out and ruined by the big breweries. As Boddingtons was itself, by Whitbreads, who ruined it and then InBev, who now own the brand, and made it even worse.

We are now seeing some of the craft breweries of the recent craft wave being bought out by big brewers.

"Loopy Juice" True Boddington's was the proper beer. It was the golden nectar. Today's stuff shouldn't bare the name

 

[An Ankoù]

Sorry Clint only got one from G.W' s early book again no SRM
3,7 kg Pale malt
0,020 Black malt

In the copper
120g cane sugar
29 g Fuggles hops
21 g Goldings hops
13 g Whitbread Goldings hops these three start of boil

3 g Northern Brewer hops
5 g Brambling Cross hops
10 g EKG these 3 last 15 minutes.

mash 90 mins 65 C
boil 2 hrs ?
ABV 3.6%
Final Volume 23 litres This is for cask conditioned, if you are going to bottle up the Pale malt to get a more suitable ABV
I imagine he would have picked up the recipe somewhere, it would be to difficult to distinguish all those hops.

That's interesting. I've got his 1998, 2001 edition and the recipe is different. it includes crystal malt, which Protz' Almanac doesn't include. What edition have you got, I'll try and get hold of a copy.

 

[ACBEV]

I've brewed this Boddingtons bitter from Ron Pattinsons blog (1987). Well my interpretation...
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/05/lets-brew-wednesday-1987-boddingtons.html

23L Batch
3000g Golden Promise Malt
150g Wheat Malt
150g Golden Syrup
20g Blackstrap or 35g Black Treacle

Boil 90 Mins
12g First Gold @ 90 Mins
12g Goldings @ 45 Mins
12g Goldings @ 20 Mins

 

[foxy]

That's interesting. I've got his 1998, 2001 edition and the recipe is different. it includes crystal malt, which Protz' Almanac doesn't include. What edition have you got, I'll try and get hold of a copy.

This is a 1993 copy by Wheeler and Protz.

 

[An Ankoù]

This is a 1993 copy by Wheeler and Protz.

Thanks. That edition is too expensive on Amazon, but with your recipe and Protz' notes, I've managed to knock a recipe together. I thought the grain bill was a bit high for an OG of 1035, by the way. Particularly with the sugar addition.

 

[foxy]

Thanks. That edition is too expensive on Amazon, but with your recipe and Protz' notes, I've managed to knock a recipe together. I thought the grain bill was a bit high for an OG of 1035, by the way. Particularly with the sugar addition.

You had me worried there for a minute, I do adjust the recipes a bit and add more malt instead of maltose syrup or sugar, but that is what is written,Phew.

 

[An Ankoù]

You had me worried there for a minute, I do adjust the recipes a bit and add more malt instead of maltose syrup or sugar, but that is what is written,Phew.

Well, a half batch of 11.5 litres is spluttering away in the cauldron as we speak. Hadn't intended this one, but I'd cultured up a yeast and it wasn't ready for my Thursday brew day, so I needed to get it used. Boddy's should be alright with West Yorkshire Ale Yeast, it's not that far from Keighly to Manchester.

 

[foxbat]

I've brewed this Boddingtons bitter from Ron Pattinsons blog (1987). Well my interpretation...
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/05/lets-brew-wednesday-1987-boddingtons.html

23L Batch
3000g Golden Promise Malt
150g Wheat Malt
150g Golden Syrup
20g Blackstrap or 35g Black Treacle

Boil 90 Mins
12g First Gold @ 90 Mins
12g Goldings @ 45 Mins
12g Goldings @ 20 Mins

What was it like? I've often wondered if blackstrap + golden syrup would make a passable substitute for No3 invert. Could you taste the molasses?

 

[ACBEV]

What was it like? I've often wondered if blackstrap + golden syrup would make a passable substitute for No3 invert. Could you taste the molasses?

I've brewed that recipe twice in the past, the first with 35g black treacle and the second with 20g blackstrap. In both cases I think I added a tad to much, although the beers were really good, with no noticeable molasses taste, but the blackstrap in particular adds something apart from colour.

As for your question aka golden syrup + blackstrap to make brewers invert sugar substitute, I think its close enough to the real thing not to bother making the stuff.

My recipes for brewers invert 1 through 4... (1kg)
No. 1... 990g Golden Syrup, 10g Blackstrap
No. 2... 970g Golden Syrup, 30g Blackstrap
No. 3... 940g Golden Syrup, 60g Blackstrap
No. 4... 800g Golden Syrup, 200g Blackstrap

I only use Meridian Blackstrap. it should be used sparingly as its very bitter and very black!

 

[marshbrewer]

I only use Meridian Blackstrap. it should be used sparingly as its very bitter and very black!

Totally agree with this, also be aware that there is Meridian Blackstrap and Meridian Organic Blackstrap - the latter is darker in my experience.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

FWIW henken at Unholymess uses somewhat less blackstrap for the dilution method, I guess based on colour :
http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-invert

He also has instructions for inverting sugar directly.
(the site's been abandoned for some time, and seems to have been hacked, so beware of clicking on some of the links!)