Reid Porter and Stout in 1845

While I'm finally getting around to looking at Reid stuff, I may as well do their Porter and Stout, too.

Now I think about it, just like the Ales, these fall into two groups: Runners and Keepers. With Crs designating the latter. Obviously, the big difference between the two groups is the hopping, which is approximately 50% higher in the Keepers.

Other points of note are the crazily long boil times for the Stouts. That must have made for an extremely long brewing day. I don't think I've ever seen a boil of longer than 4 hours anywhere else. I'm not sure what point there is in boiling a beer with a gravity in the 1070's for six hours. Seems like a waste of coal.

The pitching temperature of 65º F for the Porter is quite high, but not that unusual for London Porter. They usually let it ferment quite warm, with peaks of over 80º F not unheard of. I guess they were keen on fermenting it quickly.

The Keepers would all have been aged in vats. Six months for the Porter and six to twelve months for the Stouts. The Runners, on the other hand, would have been sold no more than a few weeks after racking.

Next time we'll look at their grists.

Reid Porter and Stout in 1845
Beer	Style	OG	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp
Com Sea	Porter	1060.9	12.80	3.08	1.5	1.5	4.5	65º	76.75º
Crs	Porter	1060.9	15.67	3.76	1.5	1.5	4.5	65º	77º
Rg	Porter	1060.4	8.46	1.93	1.5	1.5	4.5	65º	76.5º
S	Stout	1073.4	12.05	3.76	3	6		58.5º	74.5º
S Crs	Stout	1074.8	15.00	4.94	3	6		58º	77º
SS	Stout	1087.3	11.62	4.55	3	6		57.5º
SS Crs	Stout	1087.3	14.92	6.15	3	6		58º
SSS	Stout	1097.0	12.61	5.94	3	6		56º	78.5º
Source:
Reid brewing record held at Westminster City Archives, document number 789/271.