Boddies Best

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altone

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Ok, here's my current version of the original Boddies - not the canned garbage.

All input welcome.
Code:
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Boddies Best
Brewer: Tamarisk Brewery
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) Based on memories of the original pre Whitbread then Inbev et al. brew made at Strangeways brewery Manchester.
Not a copy of the canned stuff you can buy now.
It was a golden almost amber - low carbed and casked bitter with an ABV of around 3.9 and NEVER sold icy cold.
Quite different in taste to most of it's competitors of the time.
I hope this recipe evokes memories in those old enough and gives insight to those a little younger.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 23.70 l
Post Boil Volume: 20.90 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 18.90 l   
Bottling Volume: 18.60 l
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 14.4 EBC
Estimated IBU: 31.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
1.80 g                Chalk (Mash 60.0 mins)                   Water Agent   1        -             
1.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -             
3.00 kg               Joe White Trad Ale (6.2 EBC)             Grain         3        82.2 %        
0.20 kg               Carafoam (3.9 EBC)                       Grain         4        5.5 %         
0.20 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC)   Grain         5        5.5 %         
0.10 kg               Brumalt (45.3 EBC)                       Grain         6        2.7 %         
0.15 kg               Invert Sugar (3.0 EBC)                   Sugar         7        4.1 %         
20.00 g               Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           8        12.8 IBUs     
15.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop           9        10.7 IBUs     
0.50 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining        10       -             
10.00 g               Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min         Hop           11       3.2 IBUs      
10.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 Hop           12       3.5 IBUs      
10.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Steep/Whi Hop           13       0.7 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               West Yorkshire Ale (Wyeast Labs #1469)   Yeast         14       -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 3.65 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                          Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 13.46 l of water at 73.5 C       68.9 C        45 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 13.75 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:
------
Yeast - sub WY1098 if 1469 not available
Invert Sugar - DON'T use corn syrup - either make your own with raw sugar and citric acid or
substitute with Tate&Lyle Golden syrup.
If you make your own, take it to the point you can see a colour change, don't turn it brown!

Many Boddies recipes suggest adding Patent Black malt but I find it adds a bit too sharp a taste and
even a burnt flavour if you add too much - it does help the colour, but I suggest you try without it first.
I prefer taste over colour - this brew is paler than the Strangeways original.

Maris Otter is usually thought of as the best English pale malt but I find the Joe White to be less 'biscuity"
and more like the way I remember the old Boddies to taste.
Brumalt and carafoam are not essential if unavailable but to me make it a little more like i remember
Just tweak the crystal and base malt to try and compensate.

Water additions based on soft town water.

This recipe is based on my memory of a beer that hasn't been brewed for decades.
(The current canned beer is nowhere near the original)

If you don't like it you probably didn't grow up around the Pennines when lager was for pansies!

If you have a good recipe for this or OB bitter - send it to me and I'll give you the recipe for 
oven bottom muffins and rag pudding. Eyup lad!



Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
 
Well, how about that, I did love a pint of Boddies before they started making it "extra cold" and sticking widgets and bollocks in it and moving brewing to ******* Wales (not that there's anything wrong with Wales). Extra cold? It's bitter! It's not supposed to be extra bloody cold. It's Manchester not Warrumbungle.

I'm adding this to my brew list. Cheers mate!
 
Back in the 70s when regional beers rarely made it over the borders, I first encountered Boddies when I visited my cousin in Manchester in 1975.
It struck me as being:

Quite pale but not as "lager" coloured as Theakstons or Stones Bitter. Definitely paler than the likes of Hydes, Robinsons or Thwaites. I note that Theakston has been darkened up over the decades, back then if you put Theakston next to a pint of Carling there wasn't much difference.

Bitter. I was used to Brains SA - which is more malt driven - as my regular quaff and the Boddies definitely had a bitter edge. If I were making it I'd be tempted to sneak some Admiral or Target in the boil.

Thanks for the recipe.
 
I'm very interested in this. I was weaned on Boddies, Wilsons etc.

Proper, well looked after Boddies back in the day was pure nectar.

How similar is it to the old stuff?
 
manticle said:
I'm curious about the chalk addition.
Just an attempt to get the soft Melbourne water closer to that they used at Strangeways brewery.I may be way off, but I think it helps.
The water around there was very hard compared to our local soft acidic water just a few miles away in Oldham.

Approx water used at Strangeways:
Alkalinity 20 (CaCO3) pH 8 rest similar to local town water


To Aussie Mick - I haven't tasted the stuff for decades so all I can say is, this is close to my memory of Boddies which may or may not reflect yours. :)

I grew up on OB (Oldham Brewery} and Boddingtons plus a fair bit of Youngs as I visited my cousin in London quite regularly.
Oh, and of course Newcastle Brown or McEwans if we were drinking at (somebodies) home. (never liked the local bottled stuff)

If any of you try this and like/hate it
I'd be happy to see your comments, but please, add constructive comment such as it needs more/less/different hop, malt, sugar
so I can get it closer to the collective memory :D

Oh bear in mind this is my take on the pre Whitbread era beer. I moved to Australia before that happened and couldn't understand
how these guys thought VB and Fosters was great stuff - Too cold, fizzy and watery.

At least beer wise, times have changed for the better.
 
I used to love OB. I used to meet my brother in The Old Post Office at Hollinwood for a few OB's early doors onSunday night, then back down the road to Failsworth Pole for a few more scoops. Happy days.
 
Only had Boddingtons once probably in the 60's, thought it was terrible. Brewed using the prisoners socks from Strangeways prison. Must have been a bad pint.
 
Yeah, if it wasn't looked after it was rank. The same could be said for Wilsons, Robinsons, JW Lees and particularly Marstons.

Marstons stunk like sh1te if not properly cellared. But all those above beers were nectar in a glass if fresh. My favourite probably being Wilsons.
 
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