Sunday 24 November 2013

Whitbread K Ales in the 1850's

We've got a good example here of the interaction between beer history and real history. You know, the political kind of history. Because between October 1853 and February 1856 there was a little thing called the Crimean War. The only serious European war involving Britain between Waterloo and WW I. And what always happened when Britain was at war? The tax on beer goes up. In many ways war has been the driving force behind the changes in British beers. The Napoleonic Wars changed Porter from a brown malt to a pale malt base. WW I and WW II created Britain's low-gravity beer culture.

What did the Crimean War do to beer? Nothing really permanent. Drove down gravities for a while. Oh, and made adulteration rife. Because while the wholesale price of beer went up, drinkers weren't prepared to pay more in the pub. The ludicrous situation arose where the retail price was the same as the wholesale price. Landlords had to water their beer if they wanted to earn a living. You can see a dip in the gravities of both KXX and KXXX during the period of the war. It did one other thing, the Crimean War. Government contracts to supply troops with beer led Truman to brew a "Crimea Export Porter".

In 1854 the tax on malt (there was no tax on beer itself between 1830 and 1880) increased from 2s 7d plus 5% to 4s*. Based on a price of 60s per quarter, that 5% amounts to about another 4.5d per bushel. So let's call it a round 3s. Which means the tax went up 1s per bushel. As I know how many bushels it took to brew a certain number of barrels, I can work out what that meant to KXX and KXXX. KXX took about 3 bushels of malt per barrel, KXXX about 3.5 bushels. This is dead easy. Sometimes the old imperial measures and money are simpler than that decimal crap. Three bushels times 1 shilling gives us a 36 pence tax rise for KXX. Which is exactly a penny a gallon. For KXX 1.67d per pint.

One thing is really obvious in the figures. The hopping rate was much higher than in the 1840's. Then KXX and KXXX both had about 10 lbs of hops per quarter of malt, which amounted to a little under 4 lbs of hops per barrel for KXX, a little over 4 lbs for KXXX. In the 1850's, the rate was about 50% higher - 15 lbs per quarter, 6 to 7 lbs per barrel. That's a very high level of hopping, getting close to IPA levels. While the rate for X Ales only increased from around 8 lbs to 9 lbs per quarter Why did Whitbread increase the hopping of their K Ales by so much? I'd really like to know, because I've frankly no idea.

It's not because hops became cheaper. As this table shows, in the first half of the 1850's the price of hops was on average 50% higher than in the 1840's. I'm not surprised they were expensive in 1854. It was a disastrous year for hop growing in Britain, with only 88,000 cwt grown, compared to 400,000 cwt in an average year**. You can see this reflected in the hops used. See how in 1855, the year when most of the 1854 crop would have been used, some of the beers have no English hops, just American and Belgian. 1856 was a bumper year for English hops, with almost 750,000 cwt produced***. Sure enough, in 1856 and 1857, the beers have all English hops.

London prices of hops
Year. £ s. d. shillings shillings
1840 13 11 0 271
1841 6 6 0 126
1842 4 8 10 88.83
1843 6 0 9 120.75
1844 7 3 0 143
1845 6 10 0 82
1846 5 0 0 100
1847 3 10 0 70
1848 2 15 0 55
1849 7 10 0 150 average 1840's 120.66
1850 3 10 0 70
1851 6 10 0 130
1852 4 5 0 85
1853 11 11 0 231
1854 20 0 0 400 average 1850's 183.2
Source:
"A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.

There's been no real change in the degree of attenuation, which remains at around 66%. Likewise the fermentation temperatures remain quite high, hitting the high 70's or even 80º F. Which probably explains why the beers only took 5 or 6 days to ferment, despite having quite high gravities.

There's again not much to report in terms of the grists. All the beers in the tables below, both K and X Ales were 100% pale malt. typically simple 19th-century Ale recipes.

That's me done. Except to thromise that we'll be looking at Whitbread's K Ales from the 1860's next.

Whitbread K Ales in the 1850's
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 max. fermentation temp length of fermentation (days) comments
27th Sep 1850 KXX 1081.4 1030.5 6.74 62.59% 13.85 5.18 1.17 2 2 60º 75º 3 + 3 American and English hops.
18th Feb 1851 KXX 1082.3 1030.5 6.85 62.96% 12.52 4.55 1.5 1.5 2 60º 75º 3 + 3 American and English hops.
21st Dec 1853 KXX 1079.2 1022.7 7.48 71.33% 14.54 5.46 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 English and Poperingue hops.
3rd Mar 1853 KXX 1084.8 1029.4 7.33 65.36% 14.71 6.25 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 3 English hops.
31st Mar 1854 KXX 1078.1 1026.3 6.85 66.31% 15.04 5.65 1.5 2 60º 79.5º 3 + 2 English and Belgian hops.
6th Nov 1854 KXX 1082.5 1026.3 7.44 68.12% 15.19 6.23 1.5 2.5 60º 80º 3 + 1 American and Belgian hops.
18th Oct 1855 KXX 1079.5 1029.4 6.63 63.07% 15.04 6.17 1.5 2 60º 78º 3 + 3 English and Belgian hops.
26th May 1855 KXX 1085.6 1031.6 7.15 63.11% 15.05 6.69 1.5 3 60º º 5 American and Belgian hops.
12th Mar 1856 KXX 1081.7 1027.7 7.15 66.10% 15.18 6.32 1.5 2.5 60º 78º 3 + 2 English hops.
7th Nov 1856 KXX 1084.8 1029.6 7.29 65.03% 15.51 6.57 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 3 English hops.
23rd Feb 1857 KXX 1084.8 1026.9 7.66 68.30% 15.38 5.86 1.5 2 60º 78º 3 + 2 English hops.
19th Oct 1857 KXX 1086.1 1029.4 7.51 65.92% 15.65 5.96 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 English hops.
20th Jan 1858 KXX 1080.3 1026.3 7.15 67.24% 16.92 6.25 1.5 2 60º 77º 2 + 4 English hops.
5th Oct 1859 KXX Expt. 1082.5 1030.5 6.89 63.09% 16.36 6.93 1.5 2 60º 71º 2 + 3 English hops.
3rd Oct 1850 KXXX 1083.9 1026.3 7.62 68.65% 13.36 6.02 1.17 2 2 60º 78º 3 + 3 American and English hops.
15th Feb 1851 KXXX 1090.9 1028.8 8.21 68.29% 12.50 5.25 1.5 2 2 60º 75.5º 3 + 3 American and English hops.
19th Dec 1853 KXXX 1087.8 1029.1 7.77 66.88% 14.98 6.55 1.5 2.5 60º 80º 3 + 2 English and Poperingue hops.
28th Mar 1853 KXXX 1092.2 1029.9 8.25 67.57% 15.46 7.50 1.5 3 60º 79º 3 + 2 English hops (Fuggle).
15th Feb 1855 KXXX 1084.8 1021.6 8.36 74.51% 15.03 7.16 1.5 3 60º 81º 3 + 2 American and Belgian hops.
10th May 1855 KXXX 1086.4 1033.8 6.96 60.90% 15.06 7.28 1.5 2.5 60º 78º 3 + 2 American and Belgian hops.
20th Nov 1856 KXXX 1087.0 1030.5 7.48 64.97% 15.51 6.36 1.5 2 60º 80º 3 + 3 English hops.
8th Feb 1858 KXXX 1087.3 1031.6 7.37 63.81% 15.61 6.61 1.5 2 60º 77.5º 3 + 3 English hops.
16th Feb 1858 KXXX 1089.7 1031.9 7.66 64.51% 15.71 6.55 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 English hops.
Sources
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/014, LMA/4453/D/01/016, LMA/4453/D/01/017, LMA/4453/D/01/018, LMA/4453/D/01/019, LMA/4453/D/01/020, LMA/4453/D/01/021, LMA/4453/D/01/022 and LMA/4453/D/01/024


Whitbread X Ales in the 1850's
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 max. fermentation temp length of fermentation (days) comments
25th Sep 1850 X 1077.3 1029.1 6.38 62.37% 8.36 2.76 2 2 2 64º 74º 3 + 2 American and English hops.
15th Feb 1851 X 1067.6 1024.9 5.64 63.11% 12.50 3.91 1.5 2 2 64º 74º 3 + 4 American and English hops.
16th Sep 1852 X 1078.9 1024.4 7.22 69.12% 9.43 3.49 1.67 2.5 64º 75º 3 + 3 English hops.
20th Aug 1853 X 1076.5 1027.7 6.45 63.77% 10.01 3.93 1.5 2 64º 75º 3 + 2 English hops.
29th Aug 1854 X 1073.7 1026.0 6.30 64.66% 10.11 3.51 1.5 2 64º 74º 3 + 1 English and Belgian hops.
30th Aug 1855 X 1067.9 1023.5 5.86 65.31% 9.27 2.99 1.5 2 64º 74.5º 3 + 3 American and Belgian hops.
11th Aug 1856 X 1067.3 1022.2 5.97 67.08% 9.13 2.98 1.5 2 64º 74º 3 + 2 English hops.
12th Oct 1857 X 1065.4 1020.8 5.90 68.22% 7.41 2.05 1.5 2 64º 74.5º 3 + 2 English hops.
20th Oct 1858 X 1069.0 1023.5 6.01 65.86% 8.59 2.15 1.5 2 64º 74.5º 3 + 2 English hops.
28th Sep 1859 X 1069.3 1019.4 6.60 72.00% 9.99 3.41 1.5 2 64º 74.5º 3 + 3 English hops.
9th Oct 1850 XL 1079.2 1033.2 6.08 58.04% 7.98 2.65 1.5 2 2 64º 75º 3 + 3 American and English hops.
26th Nov 1859 XL 1072.6 1027.1 6.01 62.60% 8.80 3.30 1.5 2 60º 69.5º 2 + 4 English hops.
7th Oct 1850 XX 1089.5 1031.9 7.62 64.40% 9.95 3.80 1.5 2 2 60º 75.5º 3 + 2 American and English hops.
29th Sep 1852 XX 1088.6 1030.2 7.73 65.94% 9.07 3.81 1.5 2.5 60º 79º 3 + 3 English hops.
20th Aug 1853 XX 1089.2 1030.5 7.77 65.84% 10.01 4.58 1.5 2 60º 80º 3 + 2 English hops.
29th Aug 1854 XX 1087.0 10.11 4.15 1.5 2 60º 80º 3 + ? English and Belgian hops.
9th Jan 1855 XX 1082.0 1027.7 7.18 66.22% 1.11 0.49 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 Belgian hops.
18th Nov 1856 XX 1082.0 1029.9 6.89 63.51% 7.25 2.72 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 4
13th Aug 1858 XX 1080.6 1032.7 6.34 59.45% 10.74 3.96 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 English hops.
20th Oct 1858 XX 1081.4 1031.0 6.67 61.90% 8.59 2.54 1.5 2 60º 79º 3 + 2 English hops.
28th Sep 1859 XX 1083.1 1035.2 6.34 57.67% 9.99 4.10 1.5 2 60º 71º 3 + 3 English hops.
21st Dec 1859 XX xpt 1083.9 1029.1 7.26 65.35% 16.04 7.64 ? 2 60º 78º 3 + 3 English hops.
25th Sep 1850 XXX 1098.1 1029.1 9.12 70.34% 8.36 3.50 2 2 2 60º 76º 3 + 2 American and English hops.
8th Sep 1852 XXX 1099.2 1041.6 7.62 58.10% 9.23 4.46 1.5 2.5 60º 79º 3 + 0 English hops.
16th Sep 1852 XXX 1099.2 9.43 4.38 1.67 2.5 60º 79º 5 + ? English hops.
26th Sep 1853 XXX 1097.5 1034.6 8.32 64.49% 10.05 4.83 1.5 2 60º 80º 3 + 2 English hops.
22nd Feb 1854 XXX 1092.0 1030.5 8.14 66.87% 9.71 5.08 1.5 3 60º 80º 3 + 3 English, Bavarian and Belgian hops.
25th Apr 1855 XXX 1092.0 1030.5 8.14 66.87% 11.19 5.33 1.5 2 60º 78º 3 + 2 American and Belgian hops.
22nd Oct 1856 XXX 1087.8 1032.1 7.37 63.41% 9.99 4.23 1.5 2 60º 80º 3 + 3 English hops.
21st Jan 1857 XXX 1089.5 1032.7 7.51 63.47% 10.98 4.72 1.5 2 60º 79.5º 3 + 3 English hops.
Sources
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/014, LMA/4453/D/01/016, LMA/4453/D/01/017, LMA/4453/D/01/018, LMA/4453/D/01/019, LMA/4453/D/01/020, LMA/4453/D/01/021, LMA/4453/D/01/022, LMA/4453/D/01/023 and LMA/4453/D/01/024



* "Journal of the Institute of Brewing, volume 7" 1901, page 33.
** "A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.
*** "A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.

No comments: