Boddington AK grists 1901 - 1917

More AK fun. It's always good for me when I get into a theme like this. It saves me having to think up something to write about every day. As I've remarked many times before, I'm a deeply lazy person. Just ask Dolores.

If I'm honest, they aren't exactlky the most interesting or complex grists. The vast bulk of every version is pale malt. The lowest proportoin is 85% and in most beers it's well over 90%. With the eception of the 1913 version where there's a spot of caramel, I can't see anything that would be adding much colour. Though I don't know exactly what sort of invert sugar was being used.

You can see that Boddington were late in their use of adjuncts. They picked up the habit sometime between 1903 and 1913. Whereas the majority of breweries adopted adjuncts pretty much immediately after they were allowed in 1880. The disappearance of flaked maize from the grist in 1915 and 1916 was almost certainly the result of not being able to obtain supplies.

It looks like initially flaked maize was being substituted for some of the invert sugar.  I'm guessing on cost grounds. Though the percentage is remarkably constant from 1913 to when AK was discontinued in 1917.

Oddly, the hopping is much more varied. As we'll find out next time.

Boddington AK grists 1901 - 1917
Date	Year	OG	pale malt	PA malt	flaked maize	Invert	caramel
12th Dec	1901	1046	91%			9.3%
9th July	1902	1046	91%			9.3%
7th May	1903	1046	42%	49%		9.3%
29th Jan	1913	1042	88%		10%	2.5%	0.2%
9th Jul	1914	1044	85%		13%	2.8%
5th May	1915	1039	98%			2.5%
16th May	1916	1040	98%			2.3%
1st Feb	1917	1039	92%		5.0%	2.6%
Sources:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/127.