Let's Brew Wednesday - 1915 Noakes Double Stout

The summer of Stout continues with a Double from one of London's less fashionable breweries.

They were located on White's Ground in Bermondsey. Right next to the railway viaduct that leads to London Bridge station. The same railway viaduct that currently houses the Kernel Brewery, but much closer to the station. Brewing ceased in 1921 with the brewery and its pubs ended up in the hands of Courage in 1930.

That's why the brewing record still exists. Because they were taken over by Courage. A single brewing book from 1915-1916 is part of the Courage Archive at the London Metropolitan Archives.

Noakes was one of a fairly large number of modestly-sized breweries that once operated in London. Many, like Noakes, were located in the more industrial bits of the South Bank. I've published lots of recipes from the big boys - Barclay Perkins, Courage, Whitbread, Truman - and this is a chance to look at what their smaller competitors were brewing.

As usual, I've made comparisons simple by slotting all the numbers into a handy table. You'll notice that there was a fair diversity in grists. All five beers only have two malts in common: brown and black. One note: for the purposes of this table I've assumed that all the malts were 336 lbs per quarter.

London Stouts 1905 - 1915
Date	19th May	17th Feb	17th Feb	7th Apr	3rd Jul
Year	1915	1915	1915	1911	1905
Brewer	Whitbread	Fuller, Smith & Turner	Courage	Barclay Perkins	Truman
Beer	SS	BS	Double Stout	BS Ex	SS
Style	Stout	Stout	Stout	Stout	Stout
OG	1075.0	1064.3	1078.95	1076.0	1074.8
FG	1018.0	1018.8	1033.24	1022.5
ABV	7.54	6.01	6.05	7.08
App. Attenuation	75.99%	70.69%	57.89%	70.39%
lbs hops/ qtr	7.12	6.33	7.20	12.00	6.1
hops lb/brl	2.42	1.96	2.37	4.07	2.39
pale malt	65.73%	57.73%	59.47%		75.81%
brown malt	13.29%	12.37%	19.47%	9.13%	6.50%
black malt	5.59%	6.19%	10.53%	8.79%	4.33%
amber malt	2.80%			13.53%
SA malt				54.11%
no. 2 sugar				14.43%
no. 3 sugar	12.59%
caramel		2.79%			1.81%
glucose		3.67%
other sugar		9.16%	10.53%		11.55%
oats		0.47%
flaked maize		3.44%
primings		4.18%
total	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/109
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/108

Spotted how Noakes Double Stout differs from these other London Stouts? It's the only one containing crystal malt. As I've said many times before, crystal malt wasn't used that much before WW I, except in Mild Ales.

The classic 19th-century London Stout was a mix of pale, brown, black and sometimes amber malt. After the Free Mash Tun Act of 1880, flaked maize and increasing amounts of different sugars appeared in Stout grists. Very few beers were all-malt after this date.






Can't think of anything else relevant so I'll make way for Kristen and all the technical detaily stuff . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

Notes: Another one of the ‘not much to say’. This baby is 100% malt focused. Choose your favorite brands and so on. The invert is 100% mandatory. You can do 100% invert 2 or 3 or the mix if you have it. The ‘3’ makes it more fruity is all. Won’t make a difference the first time along for you lot. Choose a yeast that doesn’t attenuate so much. The only thing is you might have to crash cool it to ensure it finishes high. Maybe not though…your call!