Saturday 16 January 2021

Let's Brew - 1922 Barclay Perkins BS

The domestic version of BS – I’m not sure if at this point it still stood for Brown Stout or if it had become Best Stout – was, at 1055º, more the gravity that you’d expect from a 1920s London draught Stout.

Most London breweries – especially the ones that had made their name brewing Porter – had similar beers. The gravity obviously being set by the last set of price controls. 1055º puts it at the minimum OG for a beer in the 9d per pint class.

Surprisingly, as Barclay Perkins were enthusiastic users of both, there’s neither adjuncts nor sugar in the grist. Well, apart from roast barley. Oh, hang on a minute. On the brewing record it says in red ink “Special all malt brew for yeast”. That explains it, then. I wonder if drinkers noticed anything special about this batch?

The hops were a little on the old side, but had all been kept in a cold store: Mid Kent from 1919 and 1920, Pacific  from 1920.

1922 Barclay Perkins BS
mild malt 9.00 lb 69.23%
brown malt 1.00 lb 7.69%
amber malt 1.00 lb 7.69%
crystal malt 60 L 1.00 lb 7.69%
roast barley 1.00 lb 7.69%
Cluster 120 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 1.75 oz
OG 1055
FG 1017
ABV 5.03
Apparent attenuation 69.09%
IBU 74
SRM 27
Mash at 154º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

 

The above is an excerpt from Armistice,  my wonderful book on brewing in WW I.






 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

With this many IBU, should this be aged for 6 months? Side question, what is the lowest ABV porter/stout to get 6 month aging?

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

I doubt this was aged for any length of time. No more than a few weeks, at most.

5.5% is about the weakest Porter or Stout that was meant to be aged.

StuartP said...

So this was a batch of 'good stuff' for a yeast harvest?

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

no, this was their standard draught Stout. By 1922 gravities had stabilised at their interwar level.