Fullers AK 1887 - 1920

Following on with my Light Bitter theme, I thought I'd take a closer look at Fullers AK.

Or, to be more accurate, its decline and fall.

Fullers AK started off with a classic gravity for the type or 1050º. Well, at the top end of a typical gravity.  This was chipped away a little in the years 1887 to 1914, but it was still a respecatable 1045º when WW I kicked off. What would count as a respectable Best Bitter nowadays. But at the time, the weakest of Fuller's Pale Ales.

The first couple of years of the war didn't have a huge amount of impact. The OG dropped less than one point bewteen 1914 and 1916. The years after that were far more cruel. By 1918, AK's gravity wasn't much more than half of what it had been at the start of hostilities.

Things pickled up again in 1919, but still left AK only a few decimal points above 1030º. Just two-thirds of its pre-war gravity. However, the hopping rate did increase during the war. Presumably to try and compensate for the fall in gravity.

Next we'll see what happened to AK between the wars.

Fullers AK 1887 - 1920
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
21st Apr	1887	1049.6	1014.1	4.69	71.51%	7.61	1.66
3rd Aug	1897	1049.9	1012.5	4.95	75.00%	9.47	2.85
20th Oct	1902	1046.3	1010.5	4.73	77.25%	8.43	1.68
14th Mar	1910	1045.0	1008.9	4.78	80.31%	6.90	1.43
18th Mar	1910	1044.9	1008.3	4.84	81.48%	7.29	1.43
20th Nov	1914	1044.3	1009.1	4.65	79.38%	7.33	1.34
2nd Jul	1915	1044.5	1009.7	4.61	78.22%	7.84	1.42
1st Jun	1916	1043.9	1009.7	4.53	77.93%	8.20	1.54
12th Jan	1917	1041.8	1007.8	4.50	81.44%	8.17	1.40
1st Nov	1917	1035.9	1007.8	3.73	78.41%	9.64	1.47
11th Apr	1918	1026.1	1005.5	2.73	78.81%	9.99	1.10
15th Apr	1919	1026.0	1004.4	2.86	82.98%	9.04	1.08
19th Jun	1919	1028.2	1004.7	3.10	83.28%	9.72	1.14
27th Aug	1919	1030.5	1006.9	3.12	77.31%	9.96	1.28
11th Feb	1920	1030.6	1007.5	3.06	75.59%	9.80	1.21
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery