What about the boiling? Well, it’s a mixed bunch. The two Truman beers have very long boils. And lots of them. In total, they’re boiled for twelve hours. The Barclay Perkins example is not quite as bad, with boils of two and three hours.
The Whitbread and Fullers beers have rather shorter boils, mostly under two hours. Which is more typical for the period. Though beers of this strength, when brewed single-gyle, required some length of boil to concentrate the later wort.
As you would expect for beers of this gravity, the pitching temperature is mostly below 60º F. The only exception being the Barclay Perkins example, which was pitched at 60º F.
There’s a big variation in maximum fermentation temperatures. With the Fullers and Barclay Perkins beers are both well over 70º F. While the Truman examples are both just under 70º F. Which is a more typical maximum temperature.
Nothing very unusual about the length of fermentation. Which is between seven and nine days in all cases. About what you would expect for beers of this strength.
| London Burton Ale boiling and fermentation 1880 - 1899 | |||||||||
| Year | Brewer | Beer | boil time (hours) | Pitch temp | max. fermen-tation temp | length of fermen-tation (days) | |||
| 1892 | Barclay Perkins | KK | 2 | 3 | 60º F | 73.5º F | 7 | ||
| 1881 | Whitbread | KK | 1.75 | 2.25 | 56º F | 8 | |||
| 1897 | Fullers | XXK | 1.5 | 1.75 | 57º F | 76º F | 8 | ||
| 1887 | Truman (Burton) | C5 R | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 56º F | 69º F | 8 |
| 1887 | Truman (Burton) | S5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 56º F | 69º F | 9 |
| Average | 2.25 | 2.6 | 3 | 3 | 57º F | 71.9º F | 8 | ||
| Sources: | |||||||||
| Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/587. | |||||||||
| Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/047. | |||||||||
| Fullers brewing record held at the brewery. | |||||||||
| Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/BUR/11. | |||||||||
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