Let's Brew Wednesday - 1954 Barclay Perkins Sparkling Beer

Lager doesn't get enough love amongst beer geeks, apparently. So here's a Lager recipe to try to perk up your interest.

Barclay Perkins took the plunge into Lager brewing immediately after the end of WW I. In the interwar years, it was one of only six UK breweries that produced Lager. The others were the Alloa Brewery, Jeffreys, Red Tower, Tennant and the Wrexham Lager Brewery. Of those, only Red Tower was in England (Manchester).

Of the several Lagers that Barclay Perkins brewed, Sparkling Beer was the oddest. Introduced just before WW II, it seems to have been exclusively brewed for export. Much seems to have been consumed either by the military or aboard ships. It was also one of the first beers to be canned.

It’s difficult to say what style it’s meant to be. The label makes no mention of the fact it’s a Lager. Based on its amber colour, I guess you could call it a Vienna Lager.

Barclay Perkins certainly went the whole hog when brewing Lager, employing a complicated mashing scheme with multiple rests. Interestingly, their Lagers were their only beers to contain grits. They usually used flaked maize. The grist is pretty simple with, in addition to the grits, just pilsner malt and crystal malt.

East Kent Goldings may seem an odd choice of hops for a Lager. They did sometimes use a mixture of Goldings and Saaz, but I know from earlier brewing records that Saaz were double the price of Goldings.

In addition to the main mash, there was also a cereal mash for the grits:

mash in	122º F	stand 20 minutes
raise to	154º F	stand 20 minutes
boil	212º F	for 5 minutes

Main mash:

mash in	122º F
raise to	154º F	stand 30 minutes
raise with grits to	168º F
hold at	168º F	45 minutes
Sparge at	165º F

1954 Barclay Perkins Sparkling Beer
pilsner malt	7.50 lb	71.29%
crystal malt 60 L	1.50 lb	14.26%
grits	1.50 lb	14.26%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.02 lb	0.19%
Goldings 120 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1046
FG	1008
ABV	5.03
Apparent attenuation	82.61%
IBU	24
SRM	11
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	47.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 2042 Danish lager