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.