Sunday 2 June 2019

London Porter grists in the 1920s

To say that there was diversity in post-WW I Porter great understatement. There’s only one constant in this set: black malt.

They don’t even all use pale malt as a base. SA – Stock Ale – malt was specifically designed to produce a less readily fermentable wort. Which is a desirable feature in a beer intended to undergo a secondary fermentation with Brettanomyces. There’s a reason why it’s present in such a light beer as TT: it was parti-gyled with Russian Stout. A beer that underwent a long secondary.

I’m slightly surprised to see flaked maize only in one example. Whitbread, of course, were malt and sugar only. Barclay Perkins, while big fans of maize in their Ales, didn’t use any in their Porter and Stout. The same was true at Courage. Leaving Fullers as the only adjunct users.

The sugars employed were as equally varied. There are several different types of invert, what looks like raw cane sugar, caramel and a proprietary sugar.

All four of these beers were only ever brewed parti-gyled with a Stout of some description. And, unlike before the war, Porter was always the junior partner. Meaning the Porter recipe was determined by the demands of the Stout.


London Porter grists in the 1920s
Year Brewer Beer OG pale malt brown malt black malt amber malt SA malt flaked maize oats
1922 Whitbread P 1028 63.96% 14.15% 13.02% 0.57%
1928 Barclay Perkins TT 1032.6 12.08% 6.99% 16.53% 50.85%
1925 Fullers P 1041.5 64.15% 8.44% 0.00% 8.44% 0.66%
1923 Courage Porter 1032.7 66.21% 6.90% 10.34% 0.00%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/115.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number ACC/2305/01/614.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Courage  brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number ACC/2305/08/253.


London Porter sugars in the 1920s
Year Brewer Beer OG no. 2 sugar no. 3 sugar black invert Mauritius Sp Dark caramel
1922 Whitbread P 1028 8.30%
1928 Barclay Perkins TT 1032.6 13.56%
1925 Fullers P 1041.5 13.50% 4.80%
1923 Courage Porter 1032.7 4.60% 5.75% 6.21%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/115.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number ACC/2305/01/614.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Courage  brewing record held at the London Metropolitan archives, document number ACC/2305/08/253.


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1 comment:

Martyn Cornell said...

It looks pretty clear that - Fullers apart - by the 1920s porter had become a cheap drink for old men. (Rather like mild in the 1980s …)