Saturday 1 January 2011

Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a table. It adds to the festive mood no end. For me, at least.

The table relates to one of my recurring themes, though it may not at first be that obvious. What theme is that? IPA was not a strong beer. It gives an insight into why IPA was the strength it was.

During the 1850's and 1860's Whitbread brewed a shitload of Porter under contract for the Indian market. I mean a shitload - 50,000 barrels in 1860. Out of a total of 174,929 barrels of Porter. Or 29% of the Porter they brewed.

So was their Contract Porter brewed stronger than their standard Porter to help it survive the voyage? Not really. As you'll be able to see below:

Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter (for India)
Date
Year
Beer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
pale malt
brown malt
black malt
10th Jul
1855
P
1059.0
1015.5
5.75
73.71%
10.81
2.79
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
6th Nov
1855
P
1059.8
1018.3
5.50
69.44%
3.78
0.91
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
7th Jul
1856
P
1054.8
1013.0
5.53
76.26%
10.99
2.95
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
25th Nov
1857
Contract
1059.8
1015.5
5.86
74.07%
20.28
5.29
1.5
1.5
2
63º
141
50
9
25th Nov
1857
Contract
1059.8
1015.5
5.86
74.07%
20.28
5.29
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
9th Dec
1857
Contract
1058.7
1016.1
5.64
72.64%
20.14
5.18
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
21st Aug
1857
P
1054.0
1013.3
5.39
75.38%
12.21
3.17
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
9th Mar
1858
Contract
1061.2
1020.8
5.35
66.06%
20.33
5.36
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
16th Oct
1858
Contract
1058.2
1017.2
5.42
70.48%
20.43
5.54
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
6th Nov
1858
Contract
1062.6
1018.8
5.79
69.91%
20.26
5.96
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
29th Nov
1858
Contract
1060.7
1016.6
5.83
72.60%
20.02
5.70
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
6th Mar
1858
P
1052.9
1016.1
4.87
69.63%
3.33
0.79
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
24th Mar
1858
P
1056.0
1014.4
5.50
74.26%
3.27
0.80
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
22nd Jan
1858
P
1054.0
1015.2
5.13
71.79%
3.03
0.74
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
5th Jul
1858
P
1053.7
1016.9
4.87
68.56%
11.65
2.68
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
25th Nov
1858
P
1054.6
1014.7
5.28
73.10%
9.95
2.45
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
7th Sep
1858
P
1055.7
1018.8
4.87
66.17%
12.93
2.78
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
24th Sep
1858
P
1053.2
1016.6
4.84
68.75%
12.25
3.00
1.5
1.5
2
64º
120
40
8
19th Oct
1859
Contract
1060.1
1019.7
5.35
67.28%
20.43
5.67
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
9th Nov
1859
Contract
1059.8
1018.3
5.50
69.44%
20.50
6.02
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
25th Jan
1859
P
1056.8
1016.1
5.39
71.71%
3.56
0.91
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
28th Jul
1859
P
1057.9
1018.3
5.24
68.42%
11.51
2.97
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
10th Nov
1859
P
1052.1
1015.2
4.87
70.74%
1.64
0.42
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
11th Apr
1860
Contract
1056.5
1015.5
5.42
72.55%
20.31
5.93
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
9th Aug
1860
P
1054.0
1015.8
5.06
70.77%
11.19
3.02
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
7th Nov
1860
P
1055.4
1015.0
5.35
73.00%
9.84
2.58
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
30th Dec
1861
Contract
1059.8
1016.6
5.72
72.22%
20.82
5.56
1.5
2
2
64º
140
50
10
8th Jul
1861
P
1053.5
1015.8
4.98
70.47%
10.37
2.63
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
25th jul
1861
P
1052.6
1015.2
4.95
71.05%
10.74
2.63
1.5
1.5
2
64º
141
50
9
2nd Jan
1862
Contract
1058.2



20.54
5.35
1.5
2
2
64º
140
50
10
8th Apr
1862
P
1054.6
1015.5
5.17
71.57%
10.03
2.25
1.5
2
2
64º
131
40
9
Source:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Documents:
LMA/4453/D/09/049
LMA/4453/D/09/050
LMA/4453/D/09/051
LMA/4453/D/09/052
LMA/4453/D/09/053
LMA/4453/D/09/054
LMA/4453/D/09/055

The Contract Porter was sometimes a tad stronger, but that was caused by a drop in the strength of the domestic Porter during the 1850's. The two versions were pretty much identical, but for one significant difference: the Indian one had about twice as many hops.

See how standard Porter sometimes dropped below 1055, but the Contract Porter never did.  There's a reason for that, as I explained not long ago:

"Ale, Pale or Bitter ; brewed chiefly fur the Indian market and for other tropical countries.—It is a light beverage, with much aroma, and, in consequence of the regulations regarding the malt duty, is commonly brewed from a wort of specific gravity 1055 or upwards; for no drawback is allowed by the Excise on the exportation of beer brewed from worts of a lower gravity than 1054."
"Ures' dictionary of arts, manufactures and mines, Volume 1" by Andrew Ure, 1867, page 306.
Simple - Whitbread wouldn't get the tax back if the gravity of Contract Porter fell below 1055.

If you're wondering about the standard Porter entries that have less than a pound per barrel of hops, I think I have an explanation. In the winter months, when most of the Contract and Keeping Porter was brewed, far fewer hops were used in standard Porter. It seems they were re-using some of the tons (literally) of the hops used in Keeping and Contract Porter.

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