Monday 2 December 2013

Whitbread K Ales in the 1860's

No, I hadn't forgotten about this series. I just got a bit distracted, what with one thing and the other. Plus this type of post demands work. More than me just writing some bullshit.

On with the beers. There was one pretty obvious change in this period: the names changed from KXX and KXXX to KK and KKK. I can understand why. One less character to write on the barrel. The beers themselves didn't really change.

There's a slight downwards trend in gravity. The 1850's KXX averaged 1082.4, the equivalent beer in this set 1078.1. For KXXX, the fall was much smaller: from 1087.8 to 1087.5. Which means the gap in OG between KK and KKK has widened. Whereas the rate of attenuation has remained pretty much the same: about 65% for KXX/KK and 67% for KXXX/KKK.

Boil times, pitching temperature, max fermentation temperature and length of fermentation are also pretty much the same as in the 1850's. This is all sounding a little dull, isn't it? Don't worry. There is one are of relatively large change. That's what's coming next.

The hopping. Only three examples from the 1860's set had all English hops, while half the 1850's set did. The sources of foreign remains similar, principally America, Belgium and Bavaria, though this time with Austria and Brunswick thrown in. This was the period when large quantities of foreign hops started to flow into Britain. Partly due to the removal of import duty, but also because the British growers couldn't produce enough to meet demand.

Hop production and imports (cwt)
year Acreage UK production yield per acre Average price of English hops net imports of foreign hops exports of British hops
£ s d
1857 50,974 426,049 8.35 4 2 8 18,711
1860 46,271 99,667 2.15 17 5 0 68,918
1870 60,594 700,000 11.55 3 7 8 127,853 3,365
1880 66,698 440,000 6.60 4 6 0 195,987 7,218
1890 53,961 283,629 5.26 10 9 4 181,698 6,164
Source:
1928 Brewers' Almanack, page 119

It wasn't just the source of hops which had changed. The hopping rate had, too. Up from an average of 14.96 lbs per quarter in the 1850's to an average of 15.96 lbs in the 1860's (that's for both KXX/KK and KXXX/KKK), For the individual beers, the hopping rate per barrel of KXX/KK rose from an average of 5.93 lbs to 6.39 lbs and KXXX/KKK from 6.59 lbs to 6.79 lbs.

No point in saying much about the grists as they remained 100% pale malt.

Now to compare X and K Ales. I think another table might be useful. These are averages extracted from the tables at the end:

Beer OG App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
KK 1078.1 64.76% 15.98 6.39
KKK 1087.5 67.01% 15.91 6.79
XX 1081.6 63.79% 10.55 3.89
XXX 1091.6 60.42% 9.11 4.25

You cans see that the hopping rate of the K ales was about 50% higher, both per quarter and per barrel. Oddly, the average OG of the K Ales was a little lower than the X Ales. While KKK had a significantly higher degree of attenuation than XXX.

Nothing left but to show you the full tables:

First K Ales:

Whitbread K Ales in the 1860's
Date Year Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermen-tation temp length of fermen-tation (days) comments
2nd Apr 1860 KXX 1077.6 1028.8 6.45 62.86% 17.04 7.57 1.5 2 60º 71º 2 + 4 English hops.
7th May 1861 KXX 1075.9 1028.8 6.23 62.04% 16.96 6.75 1.5 2 60º º 8 Austrian, Brunswick and English hops.
10th Jan 1862 KXX 1077.6 1028.3 6.52 63.57% 16.99 6.97 1.5 2 60º º 7 Bavarian and English hops.
21st Oct 1862 KXX 1080.9 1029.4 6.82 63.70% 16.91 6.94 1.5 2 60º 74º 5 American and English hops.
9th Nov 1863 KXX 1078.9 1027.1 6.85 65.61% 16.96 6.46 1.5 2 60º º 5 Bavarian and English hops.
21st Nov 1864 KK 1084.2 1026.3 7.66 68.75% 15.08 6.28 60º º 5 American and English hops
29th Nov 1865 KK 1082.3 1024.7 7.62 70.03% 16.86 6.36 60º º 6 American and English hops
19th Nov 1866 KK 1070.6 1029.1 5.50 58.82% 13.90 5.18 58º º 5 English hops
22nd Oct 1867 KK 1077.6 1027.1 6.67 65.00% 14.39 6.01 58º º 8 Bavarian and English hops
18th Nov 1868 KK 1075.1 1024.7 6.67 67.16% 14.73 5.37 58º º 6 American and English hops
16th May 1861 KXXX 1085.9 1031.6 7.18 63.23% 16.38 7.44 1.5 2 60º º 6 American, Brunswick and English hops.
9th Jan 1862 KXXX 1089.5 1033.2 7.44 62.85% 16.23 7.16 1.5 2 60º º 5 Bavarian, American and English hops.
17th Nov 1863 KXXX 1089.2 1027.7 8.14 68.94% 15.99 7.05 1.5 60º º 5 Bavarian, American and English hops.
23rd Feb 1864 KXXX 1089.2 1031.9 7.59 64.29% 16.10 6.59 1.5 2 60º 75.5º Bavarian, American and English hops.
26th Jan 1865 KKK 1088.6 1022.2 8.79 75.00% 16.21 6.63 60º 76º 3 + 3 English hops
14th Oct 1867 KKK 1082.5 1026.6 7.40 67.79% 14.55 5.87 58º º 6 Bavarian and English hops
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/024, LMA/4453/D/01/025, LMA/4453/D/01/026, LMA/4453/D/01/027, LMA/4453/D/01/028, LMA/4453/D/01/029, LMA/4453/D/01/030 , LMA/4453/D/01/031, LMA/4453/D/01/033 and LMA/4453/D/01/034.

Then X Ales:

Whitbread X Ales in the 1860's
Date Year Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermen-tation temp length of fermen-tation (days) comments
7th Apr 1860 X 1065.6 1024.9 5.39 62.03% 8.93 3.07 1.5 2 64º º 6 English hops.
9th Sep 1861 X 1067.6 1023.5 5.83 65.16% 9.64 3.20 1.33 2 64º 75º 3 + 2 Bavarian and English hops.
18th Sep 1862 X 1067.6 1020.8 6.19 69.26% 9.43 3.09 1.5 2 64º 74.5º 2 + 3 Bavarian and English hops.
25th Aug 1863 X 1064.0 1021.1 5.68 67.10% 10.47 3.49 1.5 2 64º 74º 3 + 2 Bavarian and English hops.
19th Oct 1863 X 1065.6 1021.1 5.90 67.93% 8.38 2.75 1.5 2 64º º Bavarian and English hops.
11th Aug 1863 X 1065.9 1021.6 5.86 67.23% 10.32 3.44 1.5 2 64º º 5 Bavarian and English hops.
21st Jul 1864 X 1066.5 1019.4 6.23 70.83% 10.14 3.32 64º º 6 Bavarian, English and Belgian hops
19th Oct 1865 X 1067.0 1019.4 6.30 71.07% 9.46 2.67 64º 74º 3 + 4 English hops
7th Jul 1865 X 1067.6 1022.7 5.94 66.39% 9.94 3.35 64º 74º 3 + 2 English hops
17th Aug 1866 X 1070.4 1027.1 5.72 61.42% 9.43 3.36 60º º 6 English hops
16th May 1867 X 1067.9 1019.9 6.34 70.61% 5.47 1.79 64º 74º 3 + 4 English hops
6th Feb 1868 X 1061.8 1015.8 6.08 74.44% 5.35 1.49 64º º 7 Belgian and Brunswick hops
31st Jul 1869 X 1054.3 1016.1 5.06 70.41% 9.67 2.50 ? 2 64º º 6 Bavarian, Belgian and English hops.
22nd May 1861 XL 1072.0 1027.7 5.86 61.54% 8.92 3.07 1.5 2 64º 72.5º 3 + 3 English hops.
26th Jul 1861 XL 1073.1 1027.7 6.01 62.12% 9.55 3.33 1.5 2 60º º 5 Brunswick and English hops.
20th Oct 1862 XL 1074.5 1027.1 6.27 63.57% 8.75 3.09 1.5 2 60º 74º 4 + 1 Bavarian and English hops.
8th Aug 1863 XL 1069.5 1022.2 6.27 68.13% 10.47 3.88 1.5 2 60º º 5 Bavarian and English hops.
6th Aug 1864 XL 1076.7 1026.0 6.71 66.06% 10.24 3.92 60º 74º 3 + 3 American, English and Bavarian hops
14th Jul 1865 XL 1074.2 1027.4 6.19 63.06% 10.42 3.68 60º º 5 English hops
1st Sep 1866 XL 1072.6 1025.8 6.19 64.50% 9.37 3.47 60º 71.5º 3 + 3 English hops
16th May 1867 XL 1071.2 1026.0 5.97 63.42% 9.01 3.05 60º 74º 3 + 3 English hops
25th Aug 1868 XL 1070.4 1020.8 6.56 70.47% 9.61 3.08 60º º 5 Belgian, English and Bavarian hops
6th Aug 1869 XL 1062.0 1018.3 5.79 70.54% 10.01 4.14 1.5 2 60º º 5 American, Belgian and English hops.
7th May 1860 XX 1081.4 1029.9 6.82 63.27% 10.01 4.39 1.5 2 60º º 5 English hops.
14th May 1861 XX 1077.0 1032.1 5.94 58.27% 8.45 3.52 1.5 60º º 6 English hops.
20th Oct 1862 XX 1081.7 1029.9 6.85 63.39% 8.75 3.38 1.5 2 60º 73.5º 4 + 1 Bavarian and English hops.
26th Oct 1863 XX 1084.5 7.75 3.24 1.5 2 60º º 5 Bavarian and English hops.
19th Aug 1864 XX 1084.2 1028.8 7.33 65.79% 10.19 3.92 60º 74º 3 + 3 American, English and Bavarian hops
1st Sep 1866 XX 1083.9 1032.7 6.78 61.06% 9.37 4.02 60º 73º 3 + 3 English hops
3rd Jun 1867 XX 1082.3 1031.3 6.74 61.95% 9.09 3.21 60º 74º 3 + 1 English hops
25th Aug 1868 XX 1080.9 1027.1 7.11 66.44% 9.61 3.54 60º º 4 Belgian, English and Bavarian hops
27th Oct 1869 XX 1078.7 1028.5 6.63 63.73% 14.47 5.81 1.5 2 58º º 6 American, Bavarian and English hops.
7th Apr 1860 XXX 1092.8 1038.5 7.18 58.51% 8.93 4.34 1.5 2 60º º 6 English hops.
14th May 1860 XXX 1093.6 1038.2 7.33 59.17% 9.90 4.95 1.5 2 60º º 6 English hops.
9th Sep 1861 XXX 1089.5 1036.6 7.00 59.13% 9.64 4.24 1.33 2 60º 72º 3 + 2 Bavarian and English hops.
2nd Nov 1863 XXX 1090.9 8.04 3.78 1.5 2 60º º 5 Bavarian and English hops.
2nd Nov 1864 XXX 1091.4 1032.1 7.84 64.85% 9.03 3.96 60º º 5 American and English hops
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/024, LMA/4453/D/01/025, LMA/4453/D/01/026, LMA/4453/D/01/027, LMA/4453/D/01/028, LMA/4453/D/01/029, LMA/4453/D/01/030 , LMA/4453/D/01/031, LMA/4453/D/01/032, LMA/4453/D/01/033, LMA/4453/D/01/034 and LMA/4453/D/01/035.

Where next? 1870's, perhaps.

No comments: