I think he's not interested in the 3pm bottle because of the amount he's had at the previous feed. You need to keep all bottles until he is about 9/10 months, that's when bottle fed babies drop to 3 bottles.
I think he would pick up on the 3 pm bottle if you do milk before solids and swap back to ordinary rice cereal, or better yet offer fruits/ veggies instead. I think someone posted on your thread about the brown rice to say that it's not recommended for babies because of the issues you are finding, it's too filling and it's hard to digest so gives them issues like gas, it's healthy for adults but not babies and toddlers. You don't need to start with rice at all, there is enough iron in the formula so starting with fruits/ veg is a better option. Rice cereal is very constipating and bland, veg etc offers better flavour for him!
So, I would
1. Offer the 11 am milk feed first (this also gives better spacing of milk feeds that doing solids first).
2. Offer a smaller portion of food about 30mins/ 1 hour after the milk feed (4 tablespoons is a very large portion for his age, that amount would be a total over the whole day for most babies of 7/8 months really). You can offer a sippy with a small amount of water with food too.
3. Offer the next feed as normal
He needs the fat, calories and nutrients from the milk much more than he needs solids - early solids will not keep him growing well or help to sleep through the night. Remember that food until 1 is just for fun and it's about tastes and textures and exploring. It needs to be a supplement to his normal milk intake which will gradually reduce as he gets closer to 1 as solids gradually increase.
Laura