Reid Porter and Stout grists in 1845

As promised, a look at the grists of Reid's Black Beers in 1845.

I'll warn you right at the start. They aren't all that exciting. Why? Because before 1880 London Porter brewers used a limited set of ingredients in their beers. Pale, brown and black malt were always present. Sometimes amber malt, too and, very rarely, a bit of sugar. It doesn't matter which brewery you look at, the grists are pretty similar.

About the only difference between the grists at Reid was that the stronger Stouts contained a touch less brown malt. I must admit that surprised me. I'd have expected the more expensive beers to contain more.

You know what might help here? If we looked at the Porter and Stout from another London brewery. How about Whitbread? I have a full set of their records so I know I can make a comparison on the same year.

Whitbread brewed a very similar range to Reid:

Whitbread Porter and Stout in 1845 - 1846
Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1845	Expt	Porter	1057.9	1019.4	5.09	66.51%	21.80	5.13
1845	K	Porter	1060.9	1019.4	5.50	68.18%	16.30	3.79
1845	P	Porter	1063.2	1022.7	5.35	64.04%	11.85	3.04
1846	S	Stout	1069.3	1018.6	6.71	73.20%	13.07	4.10
1845	S Expt	Stout	1072.3	1025.8	6.16	64.37%	22.20	7.21
1846	SS	Stout	1085.0	1030.5	7.22	64.17%	10.87	3.94
1845	SSS	Stout	1095.0	1028.3	8.83	70.26%	16.30	5.91
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metroploitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/039 and LMA/4453/D/09/040.

Note the similarity of the gravities to those at Reid.

Reid Porter and Stout grists in 1845
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	hops
Com Sea	Porter	1060.9	83.42%	12.02%	4.56%	English
Crs	Porter	1060.9	80.74%	15.15%	4.11%	English
Rg	Porter	1060.4	80.74%	14.85%	4.41%	English
S	Stout	1073.4	82.18%	13.92%	3.90%	English
S Crs	Stout	1074.8	80.74%	14.95%	4.31%	English
SS	Stout	1087.3	85.44%	11.15%	3.41%	English
SS Crs	Stout	1087.3	85.44%	11.15%	3.41%	English
SSS	Stout	1097.0	82.63%	13.49%	3.87%	English
Source:
Reid brewing record held at Westminster City Archives, document number 789/271.

But what about their grists?

Whitbread Porter and Stout grists in 1845 - 1846
Year	Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	brown malt	black malt
1845	Expt	Porter	1057.9	80.3%	16.80%	2.94%
1845	K	Porter	1060.9	80.3%	16.80%	2.94%
1845	P	Porter	1063.2	80.3%	16.80%	2.94%
1846	S	Stout	1069.3	76.6%	20.31%	3.05%
1845	S Expt	Stout	1072.3	80.3%	16.80%	2.94%
1846	SS	Stout	1085.0	76.6%	20.31%	3.05%
1845	SSS	Stout	1095.0	80.3%	16.80%	2.94%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metroploitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/039 and LMA/4453/D/09/040.

I can see very little difference, A little more brown and a little less black malt at Whitbread. But they aren't a million miles apart. My guess is that the beers from the two breweries would have tasted pretty similar.