Though it was something I'd planned to do a few years back. Updating my book "Strong!" to include recipes. I'm aiming for at least 120. Realistically, more like 150. I should be done in a few days. Unless I run out of crystal meth.*
A useful process, writing a large number of themed recipes in a short space of time. It's helped me to notice some patterns in recipe formulation. Also, as I don't want to repeat recipes I've used in other books, it's spurred me to further research.
William Younger being a good example. I've published so many of their recipes. How to stop repeating recipes? Easy. Harvest the brewing records I'd left lying fallow. I'd done nothing with the 1888 records. Which I'd not bothered with because I'd done the 1885 and 1898 ones.
Big mistake. The 1888 records have already been teaching me stuff. Which I'll reveal later.
For now, enjoy this Barclay's Burton Ale.
In the middle of the 18th century, London Stock Ales were monsters of beers. High gravity and ridiculously heavily hopped.
Of course, they need all those hops to keep them healthy between primary fermentation and sale. Because they would have been aged for a long period – probably at least 12 months. Though, unlike Porter and Stout, which were aged in vats, Stock Ales were aged in trade casks, most likely hogsheads.
There’s nothing much to the recipe. Just one type of pale malt and two types of hops. East Kent and Mid-Kent from the 1867 harvest, to be specific. The hops, I mean.
The FG is just a guess. It could well have been considerably lower as there would have been a secondary Brettanomyces fermentation during the ageing process.
Barclay Perkins also brewed a Mild version, XX. It had the same OG as KK, but was hopped at around two-thirds the rate.
| 1869 Barclay Perkins KK | ||
| Mild malt | 19.50 lb | 100.00% |
| Goldings 90 min | 4.50 oz | |
| Goldings 60 min | 4.50 oz | |
| Goldings 30 min | 4.50 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 1.50 oz | |
| OG | 1085.5 | |
| FG | 1020 | |
| ABV | 8.67 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 76.61% | |
| IBU | 148 | |
| SRM | 8 | |
| Mash at | 155º F | |
| Sparge at | 190º F | |
| Boil time | 90 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 58º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale | |
* I really run on Yorkshire Tea and vitamin D tablets.
Hi Ron,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know this is the exact same recipe you posted the previous Saturday. You may need some sleep to go with all that crystal meth. ;)
148 IBU... American brewpubs eat your hearts out!
ReplyDeleteJust picking up on a small typo: Mid-19th Century.
Why the difference in aging vessels? Size of the production runs, something to do with blending, or something else?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteprobably batch size. In 1869 Barclay Perkins brewed 2,937 barrels of KK, 6,199 barrels of KKK and 1,062 barrels of KKKK. Not enough to fill large vats.
Another barrel question,
ReplyDeleteRon were trade casks topped up during aging? In the wine world barrels are usually topped up every two to four weeks due to evaporation loses.
Thank you,
Worth mentioning that farmers produced a right hodge-podge of hops at this time, to bump up yield and spread out the harvest. Mid Kent was mostly Canterbury Grape with some Goldings, Jones and Colgate - more Goldings towards Maidstone, more of the lesser ones as you went west. East Kent was a mix of roughly equal amounts of Goldings, Grape and Jones at this time, which would have had less alpha than pure Goldings.
ReplyDeleteDavid Harris,
ReplyDeletethat's a very good question. I don't know, to be honest. I know that during cleansing casks were topped up. No idea about during ageing, though.
qq,
ReplyDeletethe problem is that most of those varieties are no longer commercially available. Which is why I mostly end up going for Goldings.
Oh I understand that, it's just something for others to understand. A Bushel of Hops has a few packets of things like Colgate and White Grape each autumn but unfortunately Dorothy did a bit of a writeup on Colgate so it sold out quickly :
ReplyDeletehttps://abushelofhops.co.uk/news/british-heritage-hop-varieties/