Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Barclay Perkins BS

Remember the last Let's Brew? God, you people have the attention span of goldfish. It was 1923 Barclay Perkins XLK. I included an image of a Barclay Perkins price list from the early 1940's. You can see it below.

I punted randomly downfield (that was usual tactic when playing rugby at school: get rid of the ball as quickly as possible before someone jumped on me) the idea of doing a set of recipes of the draught beers on the price list. Today is part one.

The range of beers is quite different from what you'd find in a pub today: two Milds, Bitter, Burton and Stout. It's a selection I dream of encountering in a pub one day. (Yes, that is a hint.) Today we're looking at the Stout.

Barclay Perkins had been brewing a beer called BSt or BS since, well, the earliest brewing records of theirs which survive (1804). That was a wee bit stronger than the 1940's version: 1070º. (Funnily enough, the recipes aren't that different. Except for the roasted barley.) I must point out, however, that, due to the Napoleonic Wars, that version was particularly weak. In the 1850's, it was over 1090º.

When Porter went into terminal decline after WW I, it seems many drinkers switched to Stout. Not so strange, as in the 1920's London Stouts were very similar to pre-war Porters. You could argue that beers like Barclay Perkins Best Stout were really Porters. Just with a different name.

Though the move had begun in the early 1900's. In 1902, for the first time ever, Whitbread had a Stout that outsold their Porter. As Porter sales slipped, those of Stout increased. By the outbreak of WW I, Whitbread were selling twice as much Stout as Porter.

Draught London Stout (the hand-pulled kind) made it through WW II and finally petered out in the late 1950's or early 1960's (I must try to pin a specific date on that). Burton lasted a little longer, struggling on until 1970 or so. (With the exception of Young's Winter Warmer, the last London Burton.)




That's me about ausgebullshitted. I guess it's time to hand over to Kristen . . . . . .

Barclay Perkins - 1941 - BS

General info: A low gravity stout that possess a remarkable complexity and 'feel good' nature. The grist is pretty straightforward and takes advantages of all the rich flavor of toasty malt and roasted barley. This is another instance where oats are used at a miniscule level. There is surprising little sugar compared to a lot of other stouts of the time. This is definitely a ‘house’ stout if there ever was one. Enjoy!

Beer Specifics

Recipe by percentages

Gravity (OG)

1.044

35.5% Mild malt

0.1% Flaked Oats

Gravity (FG)

1.015

34.1% English pale malt

0% 0

ABV

3.89%

9.1% Roasted Barley

0% 0

Apparent attenuation

66.07%

8.2% Amber malt

0.9% Lactose

Real attenuation

54.12%

5.2% Crystal malt

2.7% Invert No3

IBU

29.2

4.2% Brown Malt

00

SRM

69

EBC

135.7

Mash

90min@149°F

0.75qt/lb

90min@65°C

1.58L/kg

Boil

1.75 hours

Homebrew @ 70%

Craft @ 80%

Grist

5gal

19L

10bbl

10hl

Mild malt

3.10

lb

1.413

kg

168.33

lb

65.04

kg

English pale malt

2.98

lb

1.358

kg

161.86

lb

62.54

kg

Roasted Barley

0.79

lb

0.361

kg

43.01

lb

16.62

kg

Amber malt

0.72

lb

0.328

kg

39.12

lb

15.11

kg

Crystal malt

0.45

lb

0.207

kg

24.66

lb

9.53

kg

Brown Malt

0.36

lb

0.166

kg

19.73

lb

7.62

kg

Flaked Oats

0.01

lb

0.005

kg

0.61

lb

0.23

kg

Lactose

0.08

lb

0.036

kg

4.32

lb

1.67

kg

Invert No3

0.24

lb

0.109

kg

12.95

lb

5.00

kg

474.59

Hops

Goldings 4.5% 90min (22bu)

1.11

oz

31.5

g

68.85

oz

1.663

kg

Goldings 4.5% 30min (8bu)

0.55

oz

15.5

g

33.91

oz

0.819

kg

Goldings 4.5% dry hop

0.22

oz

6.2

g

13.55

oz

0.327

kg

Fermentation

68°F /20°C

Yeast

Whitbread dry yeast

1098 British Ale Yeast   - WLP007 English Dry

Tasting Notes: Its like drinking a nice coffee will your toast is going. Deep malty flavors with a definite dark fruit angle. Mouthfilling and rich and stays pretty sweet into the finish. The dry tannins really brighten it up and makes it taste much bigger than it is.

Kristen’s Version:
I’ve gotten a lot of requests for me to add my own brewing notes so you can get a better idea of how to go about these beers. What to use, what not to, how to think about them.

For this BS stout, or stouts in general, I really like Optic malt as it is deeply malty. As for mild malts, do your best. There are very few out there Paul’s being my favorite. The choice of roasted barley is very important as you want some that is pretty dark so I prefer Fawcett's version. Simpson's dark crystal is my preferred, 75L crystal, as it seems to give the best dark fruit flavor with the ubiquitous 'caramel' character imparted. I’ve had a lot of problems with batch color and fluctuation with other brands. I left out the flaked oats because they are a joke at this level. I've made this with and w/o the lactose and find it more smooth with the lactose. The invert No3 on the other hand seems to get lost with all the dark flavors so it’s not absolutely necessary. However, I found that golden syrup adds a roundness that white sugar lacks for this one. This one had a very heavy dose of caramel. I made it with and without. If you want to add it, you’ll want about 35SRM. Do your own calculations with your own caramel.

Instead of Goldings I chose to use First Gold hops throughout this beer, including dry hop. It lends more of a harsher bitterness to stand up to the sweeter finish and the more pungent First Gold cut through the dark aromas. I’ve added more info for the hop additions so you know have the exact IBU so always be sure to calculate your own hop additions based on your hops current alpha acid percentage.

I'm really not a fan of the dry Whitbread strains in stouts as they tend to dry the beer out too much for my taste. That being said, some people swear by it and it’s very easy to get and keep around in the freezer. For lower gravity stouts/porters and milds I really like to use Young's or Fuller's strains to get a baseline of flavor. For this beer, I wanted to make sure it finished with a little more body so I used the Boddington's strain which is quite round and fruity. I fermented it a little cooler at about 64F for about 6 days and then racked and cleared it. It was done well within 2 weeks. I put this in cask, keg and bottle and all worked well, just different. I would say the cask was probably my favorite of the lot although the bottle conditioned stout was very nice also.