Let's Brew Wednesday - 1952 Lees Stout

I may as well complete the Lees set with their Stout. In case any of you feels like recreating a 1950’s Manchester pub.

This would have been a purely bottled product. London brewers were still producing draught Stouts, but in most of the country they didn’t make it past WW II. The change in packaging seems to have changed the type of Stouts being brewed. Ones with lower gravities and sometimes, but not always, rather sweet. And it was becoming a pensioners’ drink.

London brewers stuck with relatively complicated Stout grists in the 20th century, going for a combination of pale, brown and black malt, plus sugar. Lees went even further, having five malts, oatmeal and sugar in their Stout. With around 15% roasted malt, this must have been quite a thick and tasty beer, despite the modest gravity.

As usual, the recipe employs some guesswork. There was no FG, which is particularly frustrating in the case of a 1950’s Stout. Because the rates of attenuation were all over the shop, from 45% to 95% with everything inbetween. So when I say the FG is a guess, it’s a big guess.

The hop variety is another guess. All I know for sure is that they were English. As 75% of the hops grown in England at the time were Fuggles, that seems a good enough choice. Plus you wouldn’t waste classy Goldings in a Stout like this. No point with all that roast going on.

On the plus side, the logs do include the mashing heat, not just strike and tap heat. The initial mash temperature was 146º F, raised to 148º F by an underlet.

That’s all I have to say. Time for the recipe.

1952 Lees Stout
pale malt	4.25 lb	54.84%
brown malt	0.25 lb	3.23%
black malt	0.25 lb	3.23%
chocolate malt	0.50 lb	6.45%
crystal malt	0.50 lb	6.45%
oatmeal	0.50 lb	6.45%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	19.35%
Fuggles 90 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1038
FG	1010
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	73.68%
IBU	27
SRM	29
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)