Wednesday 3 October 2018

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1914 Boddington AK

Here's another classic AK for you, this time from Manchester. Which is a long way North for the style.

At the outbreak of WW I Boddington produced three Pale Ales, of which AK was the weakest.

I have a bit of an obsession with AK, you might recall. It’s strange to think now of just how excited I was when I saw my first AK brewing record (Fullers, if you’re interested). Even now, after seeing dozens of AKs from several different breweries, it still sends a certain frisson down my spine when I spot one.

The grist is pretty damn simple, just pale malt, flaked maize and a little sugar. Though there were two different types of pale malt, 20 quarters from UK barley, 3 quarters from foreign barley. As you can see, this grist produces a very pale beer.

I’ve knocked down the hopping by about a fifth because some hops were from the 1910 and 1912 season. Not that there were a great deal of hops to start with. Weirdly, AK is less bitter than most of Boddington’s Milds. The hops were a combination of English and Bohemian in the copper and English and Californian in the cask. I’ve interpreted them as Fuggles, Saaz and Cluster.

Not really much else to say about this very light beer.

1914 Boddington AK
pale malt 8.50 lb 85.00%
flaked maize 1.25 lb 12.50%
No. 2 invert sugar 0.25 lb 2.50%
Fuggles 165 mins 0.25 oz
Fuggles 90 mins 0.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 0.25 oz
Saaz 30 mins 0.25 oz
Cluster dry hops 0.125 oz
Fuggles dry hops 0.125 oz
OG 1044
FG 1013
ABV 4.10
Apparent attenuation 70.45%
IBU 13
SRM 5
Mash at 156º F
Sparge at 168º F
Boil time 165 minutes
pitching temp 63º F
Yeast Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

1 comment:

Mr Beer said...

I am going to brew this one this week-end. Beersmith gives me a 1,055 OG...let's see...

Gambrinus ESB PALE MALT
MAIZE
Invert sugar No2.

Hops: UK fuggle, Saaz, Galena

Yeast Lallemand ESB