Wednesday 25 April 2018

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1921 Boddington Stout

Boddington Stout fared better than some of their other beers gravity-wise during the war years. Even at its nadir in early 1919, it still had an OG of 1037º. When some of their beers were below 1030º.

By 1921, Stout was almost back to its pre-war level of 1054º, being just 3 gravity points lower. Interestingly, this left it at a similar gravity to London Stouts, while before the war it had been considerably weaker. It’s another example of the war erasing regional variations in strength.

There’s been quite a substantial change to the grist. In 1920 the amber malt was dropped and replaced by more pale malt. Surprisingly, this hasn’t had an impact on the beer’s colour. Otherwise, the grist is identical to previous versions.

Surprisingly, the hops are all foreign: Saaz (1918), Alost (1920) and Pacific (1920). And mostly reasonably fresh. Which was a change from the final years of the war, when their hops were becoming increasingly older.


1921 Boddington Stout
pale malt 5.75 lb 50.00%
black malt 0.25 lb 2.17%
high dried malt 4.25 lb 36.96%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.00 lb 8.70%
caramel 2000 SRM 0.25 lb 2.17%
Cluster 120 mins 0.75 oz
Strisselspalt 90 mins 0.75 oz
Saaz 30 mins 0.75 oz
OG 1051
FG 1015
ABV 4.76
Apparent attenuation 70.59%
IBU 26
SRM 38
Mash at 149º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 61.5º F
Yeast Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

5 comments:

A Brew Rat said...

Ron, would you consider Tate & Lyle's black treacle to be a reasonable substitute for the Invert No. 3 and caramel specified in your recipe?

John said...

What does it mean by high dried malt ~ would Munich or Vienna be a possible substitute do you think?

Kevin said...

@A Brew Rat: I have never been satisfied with treacle. It's easy enough to make invert so I make my own. It's a simple enough process, it just takes time.

Start with "Sugar in the raw" which can be found at most grocery stores. Citric acid, again found in the grocery store usually in the section of supplies used for preserving or canning food. And water. Those are the ingredients.

I use a pound of the sugar in the raw... a cup of water... and a quarter teaspoon of citric acid.

Mix the sugar and water in a sauce pan. Stir in the citric acid and heat the whole mixture to bout 260 degrees F or a little more (I try to stay under 280F). Stir continuously to keep from scorching.

It takes 20 to 30 minutes to invert the sugars and if you stop there you will be close to invert #1.

For invert #2 you should keep heating for 90 to 120 minutes or until you reach about 35 SRM. (go by the color and not the time. When you reach 30 to 35 SRM stop)

Invert #3 will take two hours or more. The color you want is 60 to 70 SRM.

Anonymous said...

My sense from making brewers syrup is that treacle by itself would be too intense. You could try cutting the treacle with Golden Syrup, or as a quick substitute turbinado or demerara sugar melted with a little water to make a syrup.

A Brew Rat said...

Thanks for the advice, Kevin. I tried making invert sugar today, and believe I got to No. 1 after 45 minutes. Had a nice toffee flavor, I immediately dumped it into a brew kettle with a bitter I am brewing. One thing I learned from the process is that I need a new candy thermometer. :)