Saturday 18 July 2020

Let's Brew - 1885 Kirkstall KKK

Here’s another brewery I remember and whose beers I drank. Kirkstall is part of Leeds and the like-named brewery was still operating when I lived in the city.

The brewery was bought by Dutton’s in 1936. They fell into Whitbread’s hands in 1953, when they in turn purchased Dutton’s. It finally closed in 1983.

I didn’t initially drink their beers as they produced no cask. They did bring it back in their later years and very pleasant it was, too.

A new Kirkstall brewery was established a few years back. They own one of my favourite pub, The Cardigan Arms.

KKK has a quite interesting grist, with a reasonably high percentage of brown malt. I’ve seen brown malt in other K Ales in this period. For example, from Whitbread.

It’s a good bit weaker than a London KKK. Whitbread’s had an OG almost 20º higher.

All English hops from the 1883 and 1884 harvests. No indication of variety. The dry hops are a guess, as they weren’t recorded. While I’m at it, the FG is a  guess, too.



1885 Kirkstall KKK
mild malt 14.50 lb 90.63%
brown malt 1.50 lb 9.38%
Fuggles 150 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins 1.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1069.5
FG 1020
ABV 6.55
Apparent attenuation 71.22%
IBU 58
SRM 12.5
Mash at 155º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 150 minutes
pitching temp 57º F
Yeast Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale


3 comments:

Dan Klingman said...

How long do you think this would have been aged before sending out to the pubs?

Edd The Brew said...

Hi Ron ,
Whitbread purchased the Kirkstall Brewery from Duttons of Blackburn well before the purchase of Duttons by Whitbread (1960s)
Edd

Ron Pattinson said...

Dan Klingman,

probably at least 6 months.