Wednesday 31 October 2018

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1918 Whitbread Imperial Stout

I'm almost done with my new book. Just polishing off the last few recipes. Then there are a few other bits that need finishing. And I'm done. Hopefully.

Here's a recipe from it . . . 

Whitbread tinkered with their range of beers during the war. Mostly dropping beers. But there was one new arrival, Imperial.

Imperial was a replacement for Whitbread’s two strong Stouts, SS and SSS. This beer, brewed in March 1918, was one of the last brews, with only four coming after it. It was the end of really strong Stouts at Whitbread.

The grist has the same components as all Whitbread’s Black Beers: pale, brown and black malt plus No. 3 invert sugar. The proportion of roasted malts is slightly smaller than in London Stout, but not drastically so.

The hops used are exactly the same as in their Porter: Mid-Kent (1915 Cold Store, 1916) and Pacific (1913). Not that surprising as this beer was parti-gyled with Porter. Given the age of the hops, I’ve reduced the quantity in the recipe by quite a lot.

1918 Whitbread Imperial Stout
pale malt 10.75 lb 65.43%
brown malt 2.50 lb 15.22%
black malt 1.43 lb 8.70%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.75 lb 10.65%
Cluster 105 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 1.50 oz
OG 1073
FG 1028
ABV 5.95
Apparent attenuation 61.64%
IBU 57
SRM 47
Mash at 146º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 57º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

12 comments:

Raoul Duke said...

ah - new book..!! what's that going to be..? the "big thing"..? cheers Peter

Ron Pattinson said...

Raoul Duke,

I would have though the theme was obvious, given the date of the recipe and the fact that it will appear in November. If you call 600 pages big, then it will be big.

Raoul Duke said...

Ron,

revolutionary - keep us posted..!!

StuartP said...

The malt bill is a bit different from the one in Porter!
More malt but same gravity?

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

that's an old recipe in Porter! I calculate the malt bill differently now.

Martyn Cornell said...

It will be the Beer Book to End All Beer Books ...

StuartP said...

Can you update the recipes in my book, please?
Ta.

StuartP said...

More seriously, how do I correct the malt quantities in Porter! to get them right?

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

for the recipes in Porter, I just scaled down the quantities in the records. Of course, Whitbread would have got way better efficiency than you do. Probably around 90%. Just adjust that down to whatever your efficiency is.

StuartP said...

It has gone a bit weird - the increase in pale malt is much less than in the increase in brown malt and black malt.

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

I suspect then that I used volume quarters in the first recipe (around 250 lbs for brown and black malt) and weight quarters (336 lbs) in the second.

StuartP said...

So, gone all to cock, then?