Thursday 10 February 2011

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Barclay Perkins BS

Remember the last Let's Brew? God, you people have the attention span of goldfish. It was 1923 Barclay Perkins XLK. I included an image of a Barclay Perkins price list from the early 1940's. You can see it below.

I punted randomly downfield (that was usual tactic when playing rugby at school: get rid of the ball as quickly as possible before someone jumped on me) the idea of doing a set of recipes of the draught beers on the price list. Today is part one.

The range of beers is quite different from what you'd find in a pub today: two Milds, Bitter, Burton and Stout. It's a selection I dream of encountering in a pub one day. (Yes, that is a hint.) Today we're looking at the Stout.

Barclay Perkins had been brewing a beer called BSt or BS since, well, the earliest brewing records of theirs which survive (1804). That was a wee bit stronger than the 1940's version: 1070º. (Funnily enough, the recipes aren't that different. Except for the roasted barley.) I must point out, however, that, due to the Napoleonic Wars, that version was particularly weak. In the 1850's, it was over 1090º.

When Porter went into terminal decline after WW I, it seems many drinkers switched to Stout. Not so strange, as in the 1920's London Stouts were very similar to pre-war Porters. You could argue that beers like Barclay Perkins Best Stout were really Porters. Just with a different name.

Though the move had begun in the early 1900's. In 1902, for the first time ever, Whitbread had a Stout that outsold their Porter. As Porter sales slipped, those of Stout increased. By the outbreak of WW I, Whitbread were selling twice as much Stout as Porter.

Draught London Stout (the hand-pulled kind) made it through WW II and finally petered out in the late 1950's or early 1960's (I must try to pin a specific date on that). Burton lasted a little longer, struggling on until 1970 or so. (With the exception of Young's Winter Warmer, the last London Burton.)




That's me about ausgebullshitted. I guess it's time to hand over to Kristen . . . . . .




Barclay Perkins - 1941 - BS
General info: A low gravity stout that possess a remarkable complexity and 'feel good' nature. The grist is pretty straightforward and takes advantages of all the rich flavor of toasty malt and roasted barley. This is another instance where oats are used at a miniscule level. There is surprising little sugar compared to a lot of other stouts of the time. This is definitely a ‘house’ stout if there ever was one. Enjoy!
Beer Specifics

Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)
1.044

35.5% Mild malt
0.1% Flaked Oats
Gravity (FG)
1.015

34.1% English pale malt
0% 0
ABV
3.89%

9.1% Roasted Barley
0% 0
Apparent attenuation
66.07%

8.2% Amber malt
0.9% Lactose
Real attenuation
54.12%

5.2% Crystal malt
2.7% Invert No3
IBU
29.2

4.2% Brown Malt
00
SRM
69







EBC
135.7

Mash
90min@149°F

0.75qt/lb




90min@65°C

1.58L/kg












Boil
1.75 hours













Homebrew @ 70%
Craft @ 80%
Grist
5gal
19L
10bbl
10hl
Mild malt
3.10
lb
1.413
kg
168.33
lb
65.04
kg
English pale malt
2.98
lb
1.358
kg
161.86
lb
62.54
kg
Roasted Barley
0.79
lb
0.361
kg
43.01
lb
16.62
kg
Amber malt
0.72
lb
0.328
kg
39.12
lb
15.11
kg
Crystal malt
0.45
lb
0.207
kg
24.66
lb
9.53
kg
Brown Malt
0.36
lb
0.166
kg
19.73
lb
7.62
kg
Flaked Oats
0.01
lb
0.005
kg
0.61
lb
0.23
kg
Lactose
0.08
lb
0.036
kg
4.32
lb
1.67
kg
Invert No3
0.24
lb
0.109
kg
12.95
lb
5.00
kg





474.59



Hops








Goldings 4.5% 90min (22bu)
1.11
oz
31.5
g
68.85
oz
1.663
kg
Goldings 4.5% 30min (8bu)
0.55
oz
15.5
g
33.91
oz
0.819
kg
Goldings 4.5% dry hop
0.22
oz
6.2
g
13.55
oz
0.327
kg









Fermentation
68°F /20°C






Yeast
Whitbread dry yeast

1098 British Ale Yeast   - WLP007 English Dry









Tasting Notes: Its like drinking a nice coffee will your toast is going. Deep malty flavors with a definite dark fruit angle. Mouthfilling and rich and stays pretty sweet into the finish. The dry tannins really brighten it up and makes it taste much bigger than it is.

Kristen’s Version:
I’ve gotten a lot of requests for me to add my own brewing notes so you can get a better idea of how to go about these beers. What to use, what not to, how to think about them.

For this BS stout, or stouts in general, I really like Optic malt as it is deeply malty. As for mild malts, do your best. There are very few out there Paul’s being my favorite. The choice of roasted barley is very important as you want some that is pretty dark so I prefer Fawcett's version. Simpson's dark crystal is my preferred, 75L crystal, as it seems to give the best dark fruit flavor with the ubiquitous 'caramel' character imparted. I’ve had a lot of problems with batch color and fluctuation with other brands. I left out the flaked oats because they are a joke at this level. I've made this with and w/o the lactose and find it more smooth with the lactose. The invert No3 on the other hand seems to get lost with all the dark flavors so it’s not absolutely necessary. However, I found that golden syrup adds a roundness that white sugar lacks for this one. This one had a very heavy dose of caramel. I made it with and without. If you want to add it, you’ll want about 35SRM. Do your own calculations with your own caramel.

Instead of Goldings I chose to use First Gold hops throughout this beer, including dry hop. It lends more of a harsher bitterness to stand up to the sweeter finish and the more pungent First Gold cut through the dark aromas. I’ve added more info for the hop additions so you know have the exact IBU so always be sure to calculate your own hop additions based on your hops current alpha acid percentage.

I'm really not a fan of the dry Whitbread strains in stouts as they tend to dry the beer out too much for my taste. That being said, some people swear by it and it’s very easy to get and keep around in the freezer. For lower gravity stouts/porters and milds I really like to use Young's or Fuller's strains to get a baseline of flavor. For this beer, I wanted to make sure it finished with a little more body so I used the Boddington's strain which is quite round and fruity. I fermented it a little cooler at about 64F for about 6 days and then racked and cleared it. It was done well within 2 weeks. I put this in cask, keg and bottle and all worked well, just different. I would say the cask was probably my favorite of the lot although the bottle conditioned stout was very nice also.

11 comments:

Oblivious said...

Looks like a lovely stout, I would with the oats and lactose did try also try to sell it as a Oatmeal stout and Milk stout too

Ron Pattinson said...

Oblivious, it was often parti-gyled with London Stout which I think was also sold as Oatmeal Stout.

Anonymous said...

I notice that on the price list next to X it says "Special Dark" pasted over and next to XX it says "Light" , any comment as to why this was done?
So Porter never really died in the UK, it was simply badged as Stout?

Ron Pattinson said...

Marquis, not sure why that was covered up.

Pre-WW II, Barclay Perkins brewed 5 different Milds: XX, X (dark), X (light), RA (Royal Ale), A (or Ale).

I've just added another post to show the difference in colour between them.

Rob said...

I love the brewing notes Kristen keep it up! Can we also get some pictures? Oh and will you marry me?

Kristen England said...

RIP,

Nice. I do have pictures of some stuff but its not the gratuitous individual pictures of the beers at 'pin ups'. More of people drinking them.

Glad you like the notes and we'll keep it up for sure.

Joe Gerteis said...

RIP Big L,

make sure you realize the difference between kristen (en) and kristin (in). It's like thinking you're set up for a date with maid marian and realizing you're getting marion barry instead. That picture REALLY IS kristen (en).

Joe

Adrian Avgerinos said...

Great post. I love the preceding historical commentary coupled with the technical commentary that follows the recipe. Great idea.

Malt question for Kristen: Can continental malts be substituted if that’s all we have available locally? For example, can one use Briess Vienna in place of Paul’s Mild and achieve favorable results? Briess Victory, Dingemans Biscuit, or Dingemans Aromatic in place of amber malt?

Kristen England said...

When i think continental I think the Continent of Europe. When in doubt of mild use pale. Briess makes ashburne mild which is ok but not near as elegant. Amber and brown malt are two that are nearly impossible to mimiic. They keep very well so i would say find them and order them keep them about. Northern brewer has them and has a flat ship charge.

Jerry Cornelius said...

Kristen, The notes are great, just what I need to help me with the recipe. That's the kind of detail I find will help us not-so-experienced brewers. Keep 'em up.

Kristen England said...

Jerry

I'm glad you like it. I'll be adding advanced mash details also in the upcoming logs. Ron and I will be putting together an FAQ for let's brews also.