Primings - real examples

Now we've been through a little of the theory of primings, let's take a look at some real examples. Courtesy of our old friends Barclay Perkins.

And what better way to present the examples than a nice, neat table. Here you go:

Barclay Perkins primings in the 1920's
date	year	beer	style	quarts/barrel	type	OG	FG	gravity points	addition to gravity	new OG	new FG
20th May	1924	RNS Raggett	Stout	3	sweet	1055.1	1019	112.5	3.13	1058.2	1022.1
20th May	1924	RNS BS Scotch	Stout	4	sweet	1055.1	1019	150	4.17	1059.3	1023.2
23rd May	1924	PA Export	Pale Ale	0		1059	1017	0	0.00	1059.0	1017.0
26th May	1924	BS c	Stout	3	invert @ 1150	1066	1020.5	112.5	3.13	1069.1	1023.6
5th Jun	1924	IBS	Stout	3	invert @ 1140	1061	1022	112.5	3.13	1064.1	1025.1
23rd Aug	1924	KKK	Strong Ale	0		1082	1028	0	0.00	1082.0	1028.0
4th Sep	1924	KK bottling	Strong Ale	0		1070.3	1023.5	0	0.00	1070.3	1023.5
17th Dec	1924	IBS ex	Stout	0		1103.4	1040	0	0.00	1103.4	1040.0
25th Feb	1925	XLK bottling	Pale Ale	0		1038.2	1007.5	0	0.00	1038.2	1007.5
16th Feb	1925	BS ex	Stout	0		1072.2	1025.5	0	0.00	1072.2	1025.5
31st Aug	1925	BBS ex	Stout	0		1079.7	1029.5	0	0.00	1079.7	1029.5
22nd Sep	1925	OMS	Stout	0		1050.9	1017.5	0	0.00	1050.9	1017.5
11th May	1926	KK	Strong Ale	0		1055.5	1015	0	0.00	1055.5	1015.0
13th Dec	1926	X	Mild	3		1042.9	1012	112.5	3.13	1046.0	1015.1
13th Dec	1926	X Special Dark	Mild	4		1041.5	1012.5	150	4.17	1045.7	1016.7
13th Dec	1926	Ale 4d	Mild	1		1028.7	1008	37.5	1.04	1029.7	1009.0
14th Dec	1926	PA trade	Pale Ale	0		1052.8	1019	0	0.00	1052.8	1019.0
14th Dec	1926	XLK trade	Pale Ale	0		1045.8	1013	0	0.00	1045.8	1013.0
14th Dec	1926	XLK bottling	Pale Ale	0		1037.6	1007	0	0.00	1037.6	1007.0
21st Dec	1927	KK trade	Strong Ale	2		1056.8	1015.5	75	2.08	1058.9	1017.6
10th Mar	1928	BS	Stout	5		1053.5	1020	187.5	5.21	1058.7	1025.2
10th Mar	1928	TT	Porter	6		1032.8	1012.5	225	6.25	1039.1	1018.8
Source: Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan archives

As you can see, not all their beers were primed. Confirming the theory, the Mild Ales (X, X Special Dark and Ale 4d) were primed. The four Pale Ales weren't.

The picture with K Ales was more complicated. KKK and the bottled version of KK weren't primed. The Draught KK trade (which would have been sold as Burton) was. Fascinating stuff, Burton. It mixes some of the characterisctics af Pale Ale with some of Mild's.

Porter and Stout take that complexity a level further. BS and TT, draught Stout and draught Porter, are the two most heavily primed beers. I calcualte that the priming for TT would have raised it's gravity by more than six points, or almost 20%. The full-strength Russian Stout, IBS ex, wasn't primed, but the weaker version was. Of the many other Stouts, the weaker ones were primed, except for Oatmeal Stout (OMS). A bit confusing.

I'd thought that I didn't have that many logs with priming details. But digging around has unearthed a few more. Noakes in particular, used masses of sugar as "Headings". Doubtless you'll be reading about that in great detail very soon.