Let's Brew Wednesday - Barclay Perkins 1923 XLK

Continuing with our Barclay Perkins theme, today we've got an XLK from the 1920's. What fun.

I'm indebted to Derek Prentice of Fuller's for explaining what XLK stands for. LK = London Keeping. X just means base-level strength. To you and me, it's ordinary Bitter. The pumpclip just said Bitter.

My first sighting of XLK is in 1886. The same year as PA, their Best Bitter appeared. Neither had been around in 1880, so I assume they were introduced sometime in the early 1880's. The first version had an OG of 1053º (compared to PA's 1058º). By 1906, that had dropped to 1050º. It fared better than many other beers during WW I, only dropping to a low of 1040º. Though that was only the draught version. Two weaker, bottled versions were spun off during the war, one of which fell to the depths of 1028º.

As you'll see below, in the 1920's it returned to almost its pre-war strength. Which is quite an achievement. At the outbreak of WW II, it was, at 1046º, pretty much unchanged. XLK didn't fare quite so well in this war, ending it at 1035º.



Er, that's about All I have to say. So over to Kristen . . . .

Barclay Perkins - 1923 - XLK
General info: Delicious and wholesome light ale. Doesn't really sound right. This beer is very much like a lot of the AK's we have done. This one is somewhere between the start of the 'bitter' family of beers and the AK's. Lots of older hops, new malt and dark invert sugars. Made it vast quantities and quite a cheap pint for the time. A very simple and straightforward bitter that gets a lot of its character from the quality of pale malts and dark invert sugars.
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.047		39.1% English Pale malt			8.7% Invert No2
Gravity (FG)	1.009		24.8% American 6-row			5.2% Invert No3
ABV	5.01%		9.1% Mild malt			0%
Apparent attenuation	80.69%		13% Flaked maize			0%
Real attenuation	66.10%
IBU	26.3		Mash	120min@153°F		0.81qt/lb
SRM	9			120min@67.2°C		1.69L/kg
EBC	17.2
			Boil	2.25 hours
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 80%
Grist	5gal		19L		10bbl		10hl
English Pale malt	3.47	lb	1.580	kg	188.32	lb	72.76	kg
American 6-row	2.20	lb	1.001	kg	119.27	lb	46.08	kg
Mild malt	0.81	lb	0.369	kg	43.94	lb	16.98	kg
Flaked maize	1.16	lb	0.527	kg	62.77	lb	24.25	kg
Invert No2	0.77	lb	0.351	kg	41.85	lb	16.17	kg
Invert No3	0.46	lb	0.211	kg	25.11	lb	9.70	kg
					481.26
Hops
Goldings 4.5% 120min	1.10	oz	31.3	g	68.42	oz	1.653	kg
Goldings 4.5% 15min	0.54	oz	15.4	g	33.71	oz	0.814	kg
Goldings 4.5% dry hop	0.34	oz	9.6	g	21.09	oz	0.510	kg
Fermentation	65°F /18.3°C
Yeast	Nottingham ale yeast
	1028 London Ale Yeast  - WLP013 London Ale Yeast
Tasting Notes: Pomme fruit with a biscuity fruit tart character on the end. Herbaceous, resinous hops in the nose. Corn flakes and green tea in the middle. Lots of biting tannins as there was a vast quantity of old hops chucked in. The finish is very drying and very minerally making this end fresh and crisp.