It's time to brew again. If you can remember as far back as a week, you'll recall that last time the recipe was for Courage X Ale from 1915. Today it's the same beer, but three years later.In 1915, breweries were still producing beers that were essentially unchanged from the pre-war period. That was no longer true by 1918. The German U-boat campaign had dragged Britain to the edge of starvation and there was insufficent grain for brewing. Lack of raw materials and government restrictions had forced brewers to slash gravities.
In just three years, Courage X had changed dramatically. The OG was down from 1049.3 to 1034.7, though the colour and hopping rate were little altered. The grist was very different. Out went californian 6-row, replaced by English Mild Ale malt. In came black malt and the dark No. 3 brewing sugar.
These are Kristen's notes and a simplified version of the recipe.
Notes
The hops are now 4 years old and they use poperinge hops. My best guess is that these were hallertauers b/c it was about a year to soon for Brewers Gold. Salmon didnt release them from Wye college until 1919 and it took time to get there, grow, etc.
The finishing gravity is even lower giving about 80% apparently attenuation. The fermentation temp is now in the 'normal' range and you can see the use of attemperators when final gravity is reached.
Once again, notes for the recipe if different from the last ones.
*Grist* - pale, mild, black and crystal.
*Hops* - Two different varieties are used. Fuggles and hallertauer are
good substitutes for the Bligh and Poperinge, respectively.
*Ferment* - Normal 70F.
*Recipe sizing* - For those wishing to resize this recipe should go by the percentages from the logs. You all know your own efficiency and hop utilization rates. If you need any help just shoot me an email and we'll work out your problems.
Simplified recipe
5gals @ 80% efficiency
Grist (lbs)
English Mild malt (Taylor) 3.04
English Pale malt (Page) 1.5
English Crystal (75L) 0.63
English Black malt (525L) 1.25oz
Invert #2 syrup (Garton) 6.8oz
Invert #3 syrup (Garton) 2.25oz
Hops (original) Oz.
Fuggle @ 4.3% (Bligh - 1914) 0.5oz
Hallertauer @ 4.2% (Pops - 1914) 0.50oz
Total 1oz
Blend all of the hops together and then add:
Start of boil - 0.67oz
After 60min remainder
Boil - 90min
Water treatment (g/gal liquor)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom) 1.0
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) 0.57
Sodium Chloride (Salt) 0.43
Slightly off topic - I am just about to keg the 1849 BP EI Porter I have brewed and I was wondering what level of carbonation would be appropriate for draught? Have you come across any references in your readings? Cheers
ReplyDeleteBack on topic, and to today's Courage 'Best', here's a modern interpretation of what I tried on draught recently:
ReplyDeleteTake some sugar, and some malt (not too much mind), mash, boil etc and ferment. Add to the resulting watery brew some caramel for colouring and dodgy flavour, some 'hop extract' for bittering and dodgy flavour and stick it in a cask with a few bubbles.
Sell at half 'market price' to euphemistically entitled 'community' pubs and sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours.
"Not just any beer: S&N (Heineken) beer."
Apologies to our North American brethren who have no idea what utter bilge Courage Best is today in the UK.
'Best'? 'Best'? Utter shite more like. Trading standards have completely failed in allowing this tripe to pass for beverage let alone beer. I'd rather drink piss, really. Honestly. It isn't even funny. (Ok, it *is* funny, but I'm incensed by stuff).
(Sorry. It really doesn't deserve even mentioning.)
Stonch - get a cask in and lets see.
Oh, sorry Ron, I know you weren't actually talking about this present day version but some uncontrollable inner rage spewed forth upon sight of that 'artwork' of a pumpclip you've put up.
We are truly fortunate to be rid of S&N. In Edinburgh there is now the quite bizarre phenomenon of microbreweries creating clones of old McEwan's beers that S&N can't be bothered to brew any more. In the main they are excellent copies of beers which were terrible to begin with.
ReplyDeleteKorev, not read anything about carbonation levels, but something like cask-conditioned beer would seem a good guess.
ReplyDeleteFatman, I had a couple of pints of Courage Best in Folkestone at the weekend. Didn't recall it being as horrible as you describe. But I did drinkk it at 23:30 after a day on the lash.
ReplyDeleteWith respect, Fatman, you're out of date - Courage Best is now brewed by Wells & Youngs at Bedford, and is certainly vastly better now than it has been for many years. Try it in a pub that knows how to look after beer ...
ReplyDeleteThe 1915 Courage is conditioning in a cornie keg and will be brought online in a week or two. Anxious to see how it turns out but based on the hydrometer tube taste test it has potential to be a superb beer. The 1918 however is very interesting from a historical standpoint but I don't think I'll be brewing it soon. Maybe something from my new Durden Circle book. Now for my question. Was it typical for breweries to condition the kegs before delivery? I see conditioning times from days to months and I was curious who covered the inventory costs for this time period.
ReplyDeleteFirst Stater, yes, casks were conditioned in the brewery. There were cellars especially for this purpose. Casks were not sent out to pubs until the beer was sready to drink. As tax was paid upfront, the brewery bore the direct cost.
ReplyDeleteHowever, beers like Mild, ordinary Porter or Light Bitter wouldn't have had more than a couple of weeks consitioning at the brewery at most.
In metric:
ReplyDelete19L @ 80% efficiency
Grist (kg or g)
English Mild malt (Taylor) 1.38kg
English Pale malt (Page) 0.68kg
English Crystal (75L) 290g
English Black malt (525L) 35g
Invert #2 syrup (Garton) 193g
Invert #3 syrup (Garton) 64g
Hops (original) Oz.
Fuggle @ 4.3% (Bligh - 1914) 14.2g
Hallertauer @ 4.2% (Pops - 1914) 14.2g
Total 28.4g
Blend all of the hops together and then add:
Start of boil - 19g
After 60min remainder
Boil - 90min
Water treatment (mg/L liquor)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom) 26
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) 15
Sodium Chloride (Salt) 11
19L @ 80% efficiency
ReplyDeleteGrist (kg or g)
English Mild malt (Taylor) 1.38kg
English Pale malt (Page) 0.68kg
English Crystal (75L) 286g
English Black malt (525L) 35g
Invert #2 syrup (Garton) 193g
Invert #3 syrup (Garton) 64g
Hops (original) grams
Fuggle @ 4.3% (Bligh - 1914) 14.2g
Hallertauer @ 4.2% (Pops - 1914) 14.2g
Total 28.4g
Blend all of the hops together and then add:
Start of boil - 19g
After 60min remainder
Boil - 90min
Water treatment (mg/L liquor)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom) 26mg/L
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) 15mg/L
Sodium Chloride (Salt) 11mg/L
I know this is a really old post but I have a question since I'm brewing this tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that the OG dropped to 1.034 but the logs posted show 1.049 (once converted).
What is the OG and FG for the 1918 beer?
I brewed 6 gallons of this today.
ReplyDeleteI split the batch with wlp002 and wlp023.
Lady Luck,
ReplyDeleteOG 1034.6, FG 1006.9.