Let's Brew - 1916 Courage Double Stout

WW I and WW II went very differently when it comes to beer. In the second conflict gravities fell gradually until 1942, then stabilised until the end of the war. In the first war, therewere only minimal gravity reductions in the first couple of years. But after 1917 gravities were progressively slashed.

Which explains why Courage Double Stout still had a prettty decent gravity halfway through the war.

Parti-gyled with the Porter was Double Stout. A two beer parti-gyle, as Imperial Stout had been discontinued in 1915.

Like the Porter, the gravity of Double Stout has taken a hit. It’s now 10 gravity points weaker than in 1914. Though the grist was much the same.

The grist is near identical in terms of percentages: 60% pale malt, 20% brown malt, 10% black malt and 10% black invert. Which produces a pretty black beer.. So it makes you wonder the reasoning behind the one change, the addition of caramel.

The hops have changed a little. Unsurprisingly, the German hops have been dropped. There are still foreign hops, in the form of Poperinge (1915) and Californian (1914) as well as English (1914).

1916 Courage Double Stout
pale malt	9.50 lb	60.98%
brown malt	3.00 lb	19.26%
black malt	1.50 lb	9.63%
No. 4 invert sugar	1.50 lb	9.63%
caramel 500 SRM	0.08 lb	0.51%
Strisselspalt 120 mins	0.75 oz
Cluster 120 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1069
FG	1025
ABV	5.82
Apparent attenuation	63.77%
IBU	43
SRM	58
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	159º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

The above is an excerpt from Armistice,  my wonderful book on brewing in WW I.

There's now also a Kindle version.