Let's Brew - 1948 Lees “C” Ale

There a good geographical spread of the breweries featured in the recipe section of my new book. Scotland, the North, London, the Midlands, East Anglia and the West Country, to name a few. Lees is one of three breweries from the Northwest.

I was so delighted when I came across this beer in the Lees records. Finally, I’d find out for certain what a “C” Ale was.

It must have been 10 years ago when I first stumbled across a reference to “C” Ale in the history of a Manchester brewery. What the hell was it and why did it have that name? It turned out that several breweries in the Manchester area brewed one at one time or another. It was obviously some sort of strong bottled beer. But as to what the name signifies, I’ve no idea.

Stylistically, it’s much like a London Burton Ale, just bottled rather than draught.

The grist is surprisingly similar to Lees Bitter from the same year. Except here there’s some crystal malt and rather more black malt. I’ve had to do some interpretation on the sugars, which are listed as simply Invert and CWA. No. 2 invert is my choice.

The hops are rather vaguely described in the log. I just know that they were English and from the 1947 crop.

The initial mashing heat of 150º F was raised to 152º F by an underlet.

1948 Lees "C" Ale
pale malt	7.50 lb	75.34%
black malt	0.125 lb	1.26%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	5.02%
enzymic malt	0.25 lb	2.51%
glucose	0.33 lb	3.31%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	12.56%
Fuggles 105 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1050
FG	1014
ABV	4.76
Apparent attenuation	72.00%
IBU	21
SRM	13
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

Find more fun recipes like this in my new book:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/austerity/23181344