Wednesday 4 August 2021

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1887 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout

Another recipe from my upcoming book - who knows when exactly it will appear - to provide some relief from all my Heineken and WW II stuff.

The standard Stout of Barclay Perkins in the late 19th century was called BS. Which I’m pretty sure at this point stood for Brown Stout. Whereas after WW I it was Best Stout. Brown Stout being the original name for the style way back in the 18th century.

At this point Brown Stout was mostly a draught product, though it was also available in bottled form. A format which would become increasingly important in the 20th century.

There’s lots going on in the grist, where no fewer than five malts are fighting for supremacy. In addition to the standard London triumvirate of pale, brown and black, there’s also amber and crystal. And, just to round things off, a stack of No. 3 invert. Incredibly complicated when you compare it to the Ales in Barclay’s portfolio. Which only have a couple of ingredients.

Most of the hops were pretty fresh, Mid-Kents from the 1886 harvest. Backed up by some East Kents from 1885.

1887 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout
pale malt 6.50 lb 43.33%
brown malt 2.00 lb 13.33%
black malt 1.50 lb 10.00%
amber malt 1.75 lb 11.67%
crystal malt 60 L 0.50 lb 3.33%
No. 3 invert sugar 2.75 lb 18.33%
Fuggles 120 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins 1.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1071
FG 1019
ABV 6.88
Apparent attenuation 73.24%
IBU 56
SRM 50
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 160º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 58º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen a good explanation that spelled out why crystal malts were used for beers like this but took so long to accepted for pales?

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

because they were designed for use in Mild Ales, Porters and Stouts, not Pale Ales. They wanted Pale Ales to be light in both colour and body. It's only when Pale Ale graviites fell under 1040º that they needed crystal malt yo beef up the body.