# 🍺 Top-down Brew: Ordinary, Best, and Strong Bitter

The bitter style family is a classic British ale with pronounced malt flavors (crystal malt, biscuit) and medium to high bitterness. The default values below are for a best bitter.

Original Gravity

Enter the desired original gravity as specific gravity (1.0XX) or degrees plato (°P).

Ordinary: 1.030 to 1.039; 7.6 to 9.8 °P

Best: 1.040 to 1.047; 10 to 11.9 °P

Strong: 1.048 to 1.060; 12 to 14.7 °P

Target volume

Enter the desired volume at the end of the boil. The volume units can be either liters, gallons, or US barrels.

Measurement Units
Metric US US Barrels

Select the preferred unit of measurement for the inputs and outputs. Metric uses liters, grams, and kilograms. US uses gallons, ounces, and pounds. US Barrels (31 gallons = 1 barrel) is in barrels, pounds, and ounces.

Mash Efficiency

Enter the anticipated mash efficiency percentage. If this is not known, try the following values based on the sparge method: Steeping (50%), No-sparge or brew-in-a-bag (65 to 75%), Batch sparge (80%), or Continuous (fly) sparge (85 to 90%).

Grains

Enter the name, fermentable %, Lovibond, and yield (SG or percent) with comma separations.

Bitters should have a British pale ale base malt base. Light to dark crystal malts compose up to 10% of the grain bill, but 5% is more typical, especially for commercial examples. Specialty grains that promote bready and nut-like character are possibilities: special roast, victory, biscuit, and aromatic. Small amounts (1% or less) of roasted malts can be used for darker color. Torrified wheat is a possibility for up to 10% of the grist.

- Brew United's grain database
- BYO magazine grain and adjunct resource

Sugars

Enter the name, fermentable %, Lovibond, and yield (SG or percent) with comma separations. The grain and sugar percentages must add to 100%.

Sugars and invert sugars are possibilities, up to about 10%. This may be counterproductive in the lower gravity ordinary style by thinning out the body too much.

- BYO magazine sugar resource

Bitterness

Enter the desired bitterness in international bittering units (IBUs).

Ordinary: 25 to 35 IBUs. The beer-analytics.com averages suggest a BU/GU of .79.

Best: 25 to 40 IBUs. Suggested BU/GU of .73.

Strong: 30 to 50 IBUs. Suggested BU/GU of .68.

Hops

Enter the hop name, IBU %, AA %, and boil minutes with comma separations.

British hops are the top suggestion: Kent Goldings, Fuggle, Challenger, Target, etc. The BJCP description says that any hops are "fair game." Most recipes have one or two late hop additions that add up to about 25% of the hops. The BJCP style guidelines state that emphasis should be on the bitter hop addition rather than late hops. Hop flavor is described as "moderate to low."

- Brew United hop database
- BYO magazine's hop resources

Late Boil Additions

Enter late boil additions like spices with the name and dosage (grams/liter), with a comma separation.

Spices are not typical.

Dry Hops

Enter dry hops with name and dosage (grams/liter), with a comma separation.

Dry hopping is possible, as in English cask conditioning. Use restaint because bittering is the primary hop quality.

- 0.5 to 0.9 g/l: Light
- 1.0 to 2.0 g/l: Moderate
- > 2.0 g/l: High

Yeast
Ale Lager

Select the yeast type, ale or lager.

British ale yeasts should be used. Posibilities are Wyeast 1968 (London ESB), White Labs wlp0002 (English Ale), Wyeast 1335 (British ale II), and similar ale strains. For dry yeast, try Fermentis S04, Lalbrew Nottingham, or Lalbrew London ESB.

← Click here when the data entry is done.

## Results

*** Waiting for results ***

## Notes

BJCP 2021 ordinary and best bitter characteristic ingredients: "Pale ale, amber, or crystal malts. May use a touch of dark malt for color adjustment. May use sugar adjuncts, corn, or wheat. English finishing hops are most traditional, but any hops are fair game; if American hops are used, a light touch is required. Characterful British yeast.

Ordinary bitter vital statistics: OG: 1.030 – 1.039, IBUs: 25 – 35, FG: 1.007 – 1.011, SRM: 8 – 14, ABV: 3.2 – 3.8%

Best bitter vital statistics: OG: 1.040 - 1.048, IBUs: 25 - 40; FG: 1.008 - 1.012, SRM: 8 - 16, ABV: 3.8 - 4.6%

BJCP 2021 strong bitter addition to the above: "Burton versions use medium to high sulfate water, which can increase the perception of dryness and add a minerally or sulfury aroma and flavor."

Strong bitter vital statistics: OG: 1.048 - 1.060, IBUs: 30 - 50, FG: 1.010 - 1.016, SRM: 8 - 18, ABV: 4.6 to 6.2%

Note that the key difference between these styles is the original gravity. A nuance is that the higher gravity versions are more likely to include sugar and dark malts for color.

## Sources

Beer-analytics.com ordinary bitter

Beer-analytics best bitter

Beer-analytics.com strong bitter

Strong, G. (2017, September). British bitter: A proper pint. Brew Your Own, 28 - 32.

Zainasheff, J. (2007, March-April). Ordinary bitter: It's not so ordinary after all. Brew Your Own, 19 - 22.

Zainasheff, J. (2008, March-April). Extra special bitter: (a.k.a. English pale ale). Brew Your Own, 19 - 22.

Zainasheff, J. (2014, November). Best bitter: An authentic English style. Brew Your Own, 23 - 27.

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