Not that Barclay’s IPA had ever been that strong. Even in the 1920’s it only had an OG of around 1045º, which, at the time, was only very slightly above average OG.
The effect of the war is clear to see in the grist. Like most UK breweries, Barclays had used flaked maize in their beers after this became legal in 1880. The only times they didn’t, was when it wasn’t possible. Basically, at certain points during the two World Wars.
Maize wasn’t available for most of WW II and breweries were instructed to replace it with flaked barley. In addition to that, there’s pale malt and crystal malt, as you might expect, but also No. 3 invert sugar. That’s usually reserved for dark beers. Things like Mild Ale and Stout. Pale Ales usually contained either No. 1 or No. 2 invert.
There are four different copper hops: Mid-Kent Fuggles (1943, 1944 CS), Mid-Kent Goldings (1945), Mid-Kent Colgates (1944), plus East Kent Goldings (1945) dry hops. Though the Colgates are a guess. It just says “C’s” in the brewing record. One of the things I really like about Barclays brewing records is that they can be bothered to say what the hop variety was, not just where they were grown.
As with Whitbread’s, this IPA was an exclusively bottled beer.
| 1946 Barclay Perkins IPA | ||
| pale malt | 5.55 lb | 78.72% |
| crystal malt 60 L | 0.50 lb | 7.09% |
| flaked barley | 0.25 lb | 3.55% |
| No. 3 invert sugar | 0.75 lb | 10.64% |
| Fuggles 90 min | 0.75 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 min | 0.75 oz | |
| Goldings 30 min | 0.75 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.50 oz | |
| OG | 1031.5 | |
| FG | 1009 | |
| ABV | 2.98 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 71.43% | |
| IBU | 31 | |
| SRM | 9 | |
| Mash at | 151º F | |
| Sparge at | 165º F | |
| Boil time | 90 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 61º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale | |
Hey - crystal malt is in!
ReplyDeleteLow gravity, a bit of crystal, good dose of invert. We've got to bog standard 20th century English beer. Flaked barley is a bit odd, though.
BTW, are you still drinking the tittie beer, Ron?
I was just thinking of the problem beer!
DeleteWon't be Colgates - they were pretty much extinct by WWI. My first thought was Cluster, which would have been available again by 1946, but if they're specifying Mid-Kent then I'd guess Cobbs, or maybe one of the varieties named after Canterbury?
ReplyDeleteUnless it's something completely different like "C grade", or a grower name.
@StuartP - crystal had been around for a while, it was in that 1921 Adnams XXXX Ron published recently. It seems to have been included in an attempt to replicate the flavour of Chevallier which was the standard malt in the 19th century but gave way to better-yielding but less rich-tasting varieties in the early 20th century.
I've just recently had a beer made with Chevalier malt which I heard on a recent podcast was one of the main varieties years ago. Do the logs ever say what brand of pale malt it was?
ReplyDeleteAnt Rog,
ReplyDeleteno.
@Ant Rog
ReplyDeleteAt this time it was probably Plumage Archer or Spratt Archer - Chevallier was dominant in the 19th century but broadly PA and SA took over in the first half of the 20th century, Maris Otter arrived in the 1960s and is still grown as a premium barley but bulk malting barley has moved on to varieties like Propino and Flagon. Supposedly PA tastes quite similar to Otter, whereas Chevallier is much richer, a bit like Otter with some crystal. Apparently the new Greene King Chevallier beer doesn't really capture the true taste of it, but I've not had it yet.
StuartP,
ReplyDeletethe government made them use flaked barley.