Whitbread K Ales in the 1850's

We've got a good example here of the interaction between beer history and real history. You know, the political kind of history. Because between October 1853 and February 1856 there was a little thing called the Crimean War. The only serious European war involving Britain between Waterloo and WW I. And what always happened when Britain was at war? The tax on beer goes up. In many ways war has been the driving force behind the changes in British beers. The Napoleonic Wars changed Porter from a brown malt to a pale malt base. WW I and WW II created Britain's low-gravity beer culture.

What did the Crimean War do to beer? Nothing really permanent. Drove down gravities for a while. Oh, and made adulteration rife. Because while the wholesale price of beer went up, drinkers weren't prepared to pay more in the pub. The ludicrous situation arose where the retail price was the same as the wholesale price. Landlords had to water their beer if they wanted to earn a living. You can see a dip in the gravities of both KXX and KXXX during the period of the war. It did one other thing, the Crimean War. Government contracts to supply troops with beer led Truman to brew a "Crimea Export Porter".

In 1854 the tax on malt (there was no tax on beer itself between 1830 and 1880) increased from 2s 7d plus 5% to 4s*. Based on a price of 60s per quarter, that 5% amounts to about another 4.5d per bushel. So let's call it a round 3s. Which means the tax went up 1s per bushel. As I know how many bushels it took to brew a certain number of barrels, I can work out what that meant to KXX and KXXX. KXX took about 3 bushels of malt per barrel, KXXX about 3.5 bushels. This is dead easy. Sometimes the old imperial measures and money are simpler than that decimal crap. Three bushels times 1 shilling gives us a 36 pence tax rise for KXX. Which is exactly a penny a gallon. For KXX 1.67d per pint.

One thing is really obvious in the figures. The hopping rate was much higher than in the 1840's. Then KXX and KXXX both had about 10 lbs of hops per quarter of malt, which amounted to a little under 4 lbs of hops per barrel for KXX, a little over 4 lbs for KXXX. In the 1850's, the rate was about 50% higher - 15 lbs per quarter, 6 to 7 lbs per barrel. That's a very high level of hopping, getting close to IPA levels. While the rate for X Ales only increased from around 8 lbs to 9 lbs per quarter Why did Whitbread increase the hopping of their K Ales by so much? I'd really like to know, because I've frankly no idea.

It's not because hops became cheaper. As this table shows, in the first half of the 1850's the price of hops was on average 50% higher than in the 1840's. I'm not surprised they were expensive in 1854. It was a disastrous year for hop growing in Britain, with only 88,000 cwt grown, compared to 400,000 cwt in an average year**. You can see this reflected in the hops used. See how in 1855, the year when most of the 1854 crop would have been used, some of the beers have no English hops, just American and Belgian. 1856 was a bumper year for English hops, with almost 750,000 cwt produced***. Sure enough, in 1856 and 1857, the beers have all English hops.

London prices of hops
Year.	£ s. d.	shillings		shillings
1840	13 11 0	271
1841	6 6 0	126
1842	4 8 10	88.83
1843	6 0 9	120.75
1844	7 3 0	143
1845	6 10 0	82
1846	5 0 0	100
1847	3 10 0	70
1848	2 15 0	55
1849	7 10 0	150	average 1840's	120.66
1850	3 10 0	70
1851	6 10 0	130
1852	4 5 0	85
1853	11 11 0	231
1854	20 0 0	400	average 1850's	183.2
Source:
"A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.

There's been no real change in the degree of attenuation, which remains at around 66%. Likewise the fermentation temperatures remain quite high, hitting the high 70's or even 80º F. Which probably explains why the beers only took 5 or 6 days to ferment, despite having quite high gravities.

There's again not much to report in terms of the grists. All the beers in the tables below, both K and X Ales were 100% pale malt. typically simple 19th-century Ale recipes.

That's me done. Except to thromise that we'll be looking at Whitbread's K Ales from the 1860's next.

Whitbread K Ales in the 1850's
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)	comments
27th Sep	1850	KXX	1081.4	1030.5	6.74	62.59%	13.85	5.18	1.17	2	2	60º	75º	3 + 3	American and English hops.
18th Feb	1851	KXX	1082.3	1030.5	6.85	62.96%	12.52	4.55	1.5	1.5	2	60º	75º	3 + 3	American and English hops.
21st Dec	1853	KXX	1079.2	1022.7	7.48	71.33%	14.54	5.46	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	English and Poperingue hops.
3rd Mar	1853	KXX	1084.8	1029.4	7.33	65.36%	14.71	6.25	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 3	English hops.
31st Mar	1854	KXX	1078.1	1026.3	6.85	66.31%	15.04	5.65	1.5	2		60º	79.5º	3 + 2	English and Belgian hops.
6th Nov	1854	KXX	1082.5	1026.3	7.44	68.12%	15.19	6.23	1.5	2.5		60º	80º	3 + 1	American and Belgian hops.
18th Oct	1855	KXX	1079.5	1029.4	6.63	63.07%	15.04	6.17	1.5	2		60º	78º	3 + 3	English and Belgian hops.
26th May	1855	KXX	1085.6	1031.6	7.15	63.11%	15.05	6.69	1.5	3		60º	º	5	American and Belgian hops.
12th Mar	1856	KXX	1081.7	1027.7	7.15	66.10%	15.18	6.32	1.5	2.5		60º	78º	3 + 2	English hops.
7th Nov	1856	KXX	1084.8	1029.6	7.29	65.03%	15.51	6.57	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 3	English hops.
23rd Feb	1857	KXX	1084.8	1026.9	7.66	68.30%	15.38	5.86	1.5	2		60º	78º	3 + 2	English hops.
19th Oct	1857	KXX	1086.1	1029.4	7.51	65.92%	15.65	5.96	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	English hops.
20th Jan	1858	KXX	1080.3	1026.3	7.15	67.24%	16.92	6.25	1.5	2		60º	77º	2 + 4	English hops.
5th Oct	1859	KXX Expt.	1082.5	1030.5	6.89	63.09%	16.36	6.93	1.5	2		60º	71º	2 + 3	English hops.
3rd Oct	1850	KXXX	1083.9	1026.3	7.62	68.65%	13.36	6.02	1.17	2	2	60º	78º	3 + 3	American and English hops.
15th Feb	1851	KXXX	1090.9	1028.8	8.21	68.29%	12.50	5.25	1.5	2	2	60º	75.5º	3 + 3	American and English hops.
19th Dec	1853	KXXX	1087.8	1029.1	7.77	66.88%	14.98	6.55	1.5	2.5		60º	80º	3 + 2	English and Poperingue hops.
28th Mar	1853	KXXX	1092.2	1029.9	8.25	67.57%	15.46	7.50	1.5	3		60º	79º	3 + 2	English hops (Fuggle).
15th Feb	1855	KXXX	1084.8	1021.6	8.36	74.51%	15.03	7.16	1.5	3		60º	81º	3 + 2	American and Belgian hops.
10th May	1855	KXXX	1086.4	1033.8	6.96	60.90%	15.06	7.28	1.5	2.5		60º	78º	3 + 2	American and Belgian hops.
20th Nov	1856	KXXX	1087.0	1030.5	7.48	64.97%	15.51	6.36	1.5	2		60º	80º	3 + 3	English hops.
8th Feb	1858	KXXX	1087.3	1031.6	7.37	63.81%	15.61	6.61	1.5	2		60º	77.5º	3 + 3	English hops.
16th Feb	1858	KXXX	1089.7	1031.9	7.66	64.51%	15.71	6.55	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	English hops.
Sources
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/014, LMA/4453/D/01/016, LMA/4453/D/01/017, LMA/4453/D/01/018, LMA/4453/D/01/019, LMA/4453/D/01/020, LMA/4453/D/01/021, LMA/4453/D/01/022 and LMA/4453/D/01/024

Whitbread X Ales in the 1850's
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)	comments
25th Sep	1850	X	1077.3	1029.1	6.38	62.37%	8.36	2.76	2	2	2	64º	74º	3 + 2	American and English hops.
15th Feb	1851	X	1067.6	1024.9	5.64	63.11%	12.50	3.91	1.5	2	2	64º	74º	3 + 4	American and English hops.
16th Sep	1852	X	1078.9	1024.4	7.22	69.12%	9.43	3.49	1.67	2.5		64º	75º	3 + 3	English hops.
20th Aug	1853	X	1076.5	1027.7	6.45	63.77%	10.01	3.93	1.5	2		64º	75º	3 + 2	English hops.
29th Aug	1854	X	1073.7	1026.0	6.30	64.66%	10.11	3.51	1.5	2		64º	74º	3 + 1	English and Belgian hops.
30th Aug	1855	X	1067.9	1023.5	5.86	65.31%	9.27	2.99	1.5	2		64º	74.5º	3 + 3	American and Belgian hops.
11th Aug	1856	X	1067.3	1022.2	5.97	67.08%	9.13	2.98	1.5	2		64º	74º	3 + 2	English hops.
12th Oct	1857	X	1065.4	1020.8	5.90	68.22%	7.41	2.05	1.5	2		64º	74.5º	3 + 2	English hops.
20th Oct	1858	X	1069.0	1023.5	6.01	65.86%	8.59	2.15	1.5	2		64º	74.5º	3 + 2	English hops.
28th Sep	1859	X	1069.3	1019.4	6.60	72.00%	9.99	3.41	1.5	2		64º	74.5º	3 + 3	English hops.
9th Oct	1850	XL	1079.2	1033.2	6.08	58.04%	7.98	2.65	1.5	2	2	64º	75º	3 + 3	American and English hops.
26th Nov	1859	XL	1072.6	1027.1	6.01	62.60%	8.80	3.30	1.5	2		60º	69.5º	2 + 4	English hops.
7th Oct	1850	XX	1089.5	1031.9	7.62	64.40%	9.95	3.80	1.5	2	2	60º	75.5º	3 + 2	American and English hops.
29th Sep	1852	XX	1088.6	1030.2	7.73	65.94%	9.07	3.81	1.5	2.5		60º	79º	3 + 3	English hops.
20th Aug	1853	XX	1089.2	1030.5	7.77	65.84%	10.01	4.58	1.5	2		60º	80º	3 + 2	English hops.
29th Aug	1854	XX	1087.0				10.11	4.15	1.5	2		60º	80º	3 + ?	English and Belgian hops.
9th Jan	1855	XX	1082.0	1027.7	7.18	66.22%	1.11	0.49	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	Belgian hops.
18th Nov	1856	XX	1082.0	1029.9	6.89	63.51%	7.25	2.72	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 4
13th Aug	1858	XX	1080.6	1032.7	6.34	59.45%	10.74	3.96	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	English hops.
20th Oct	1858	XX	1081.4	1031.0	6.67	61.90%	8.59	2.54	1.5	2		60º	79º	3 + 2	English hops.
28th Sep	1859	XX	1083.1	1035.2	6.34	57.67%	9.99	4.10	1.5	2		60º	71º	3 + 3	English hops.
21st Dec	1859	XX xpt	1083.9	1029.1	7.26	65.35%	16.04	7.64	?	2		60º	78º	3 + 3	English hops.
25th Sep	1850	XXX	1098.1	1029.1	9.12	70.34%	8.36	3.50	2	2	2	60º	76º	3 + 2	American and English hops.
8th Sep	1852	XXX	1099.2	1041.6	7.62	58.10%	9.23	4.46	1.5	2.5		60º	79º	3 + 0	English hops.
16th Sep	1852	XXX	1099.2				9.43	4.38	1.67	2.5		60º	79º	5 + ?	English hops.
26th Sep	1853	XXX	1097.5	1034.6	8.32	64.49%	10.05	4.83	1.5	2		60º	80º	3 + 2	English hops.
22nd Feb	1854	XXX	1092.0	1030.5	8.14	66.87%	9.71	5.08	1.5	3		60º	80º	3 + 3	English, Bavarian and Belgian hops.
25th Apr	1855	XXX	1092.0	1030.5	8.14	66.87%	11.19	5.33	1.5	2		60º	78º	3 + 2	American and Belgian hops.
22nd Oct	1856	XXX	1087.8	1032.1	7.37	63.41%	9.99	4.23	1.5	2		60º	80º	3 + 3	English hops.
21st Jan	1857	XXX	1089.5	1032.7	7.51	63.47%	10.98	4.72	1.5	2		60º	79.5º	3 + 3	English hops.
Sources
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/014, LMA/4453/D/01/016, LMA/4453/D/01/017, LMA/4453/D/01/018, LMA/4453/D/01/019, LMA/4453/D/01/020, LMA/4453/D/01/021, LMA/4453/D/01/022, LMA/4453/D/01/023 and LMA/4453/D/01/024

* "Journal of the Institute of Brewing, volume 7" 1901, page 33.
** "A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.
*** "A Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing" by William Ford, 1862, page 289.