Wednesday 15 August 2018

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1946 Shepherd Neame AK

I've still not finished pushing my new book, Austerity!.  Hurry up and get your copy or I'll be bombarding you with this crap for the rest of the year.

Weakest of all Shepherd Neame’s Pale Ales was AK. Even before WW II it was pretty watery, with a gravity of just 1031º. By 1942 it was down to a mere 1027º. And from there, there was nowhere down left to go.

This must be one of the last brews, because by 1947 it had disappeared. Like most other AKs. Always a relatively light style, it had been one of the weakest Pale Ales at a brewery. When world wars caused gravities to fall, it was often an early victim. As beers higher up in the Pale Ale hierarchy fell to a similar strength, AK inevitably got the chop. Most didn’t make it past WW I. Almost none past WW II.

Just for a change, there’s a little black malt in this one. And the BA and BB it was parti-gyled with, obviously. Other than that, it’s the same as their other Pale Ale recipes. All use exactly the same hops in the same proportions.



1946 Shepherd Neame AK
pale malt 5.25 lb 84.00%
black malt 0.125 lb 2.00%
flaked barley 0.75 lb 12.00%
malt extract 0.125 lb 2.00%
Fuggles 120 mins 0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins 0.375 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.125 oz
OG 1027
FG 1006
ABV 2.78
Apparent attenuation 77.78%
IBU 12
SRM 8
Mash at 152º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 62º F
Yeast WLP007 Dry English Ale

My new book is available is packed with watery recipes like this:

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




No comments: