Let's Brew Wednesday – 1948 Whitbread Extra Stout

English Stout. A topic I’ve banged on about at great length. This looks like another good opportunity for a little frothing at the mouth.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Whitbread brewed three Stouts after WW II. Porter and Stouts were where the roots of its success lay. In the first half of the 20th century, Black Beers were a large percentage of Chiswell Street’s output. As late as 1939, 22% of the beer brewed there was Porter or Stout. Clearly an important product line for Whitbread.

Based on adverts I’ve seen, Whitbread sold their bottled Stout all over the UK before WW II. Then there was Mackeson. Which was a huge brand in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Not originally from Whitbread, but a beer they embraced. And parti-gyled with their existing Stouts. Remember I said there were three Stouts? Mackeson was at end of the line-up next to Whitbread Stout and Extra Stout.

I suspect Whitbread Extra Stout might have been an export beer. I’m really not sure. What I do know, is that it looks eerily similar to the pre-war version of another Extra Stout produced by an obscure Dublin brewery:

Guinness Stouts 1939 - 1948
Year	Beer	Price per pint	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour	Acidity
1939	Extra Stout	10d	1054.5	1013.7	5.30	74.86%	1 + 10	0.07
1939	Extra Stout	10d	1054.5	1013.7	5.30	74.86%	1 + 10	0.07
1946	Extra Stout		1047	1016.1	4.00	65.74%	0.5 R  + 20.5 B	0.09
1946	Extra Stout		1041.7	1010.8	4.01	74.10%	11 Brown	0.08
1947	Extra Stout	1/7d	1041.8	1010.5	4.06	74.88%	1 + 6	0.07
1947	Extra Stout	1/7d	1042.5	1009.6	4.27	77.41%	1 + 7.5	0.10
1948	Extra Stout	1/3.5d	1047.2	1012	4.57	74.58%	1 + 6.5	0.12
1948	Export Stout		1072	1019.1	6.89	73.47%	1 + 10	0.07
1948	Extra Stout	2/-	1045.2	1012.6	4.23	72.12%	1 + 9	0.04
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I won’t get into a long discussion of the grist and that crap. As this is the same basic recipe as Whitbread Stout. That’s what parti-gyling is all about. For Mackeson, just add lactose at racking.

Almost forgot. English Stout rant. Not low-gravity, not sweet, no lactose. And that Guinness – a bit acidic. 0.04 – 0.05 was the usual level.



Over to me again for the recipe . . . .

1948 Whitbread Extra Stout
pale malt	5.75 lb	50.00%
mild malt	2.75 lb	23.91%
brown malt	0.75 lb	6.52%
chocolate Malt	0.75 lb	6.52%
no. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.52%
no. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.52%
Fuggles 60 min	1.50 oz
Saaz 30 min	1.50 oz
OG	1055.3
FG	1018.5
ABV	4.87
Apparent attenuation	66.55%
IBU	32
SRM	50
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale