Let's Brew Wednesday - 1906 Barclay Perkins KK

A decade and a half later and the trend to darken Burton Ales has reached its endpoint. With KK now very firmly in the dark camp.

The dark colour is mostly courtesy of a very healthy dose of caramel added to the copper. That and the No. 2 sugar. Strangely, there’s no crystal malt in this one. Though there are two base malts: pale malt and SA malt. I’ve substituted mild malt for the latter. SA (Strong Ale) malt was designed to produce a less fermentable wort, presumably to leave more for the Brettanomyces to munch on during secondary fermentation.

I know for certain that this beer was aged as there’s a note in the brewing record saying: “Oct. 28/06, Very Grey”. Which was 5 months after it was brewed.

Despite being fairly strong, this wasn’t a small speciality side-line: this batch was 1,027 barrels. As I’m pretty sure it was aged in trade casks, it must have taken up considerable cellar space in the brewery

A mix of English and American hops were use. Specifically, East Kent from the 1905 harvest, American from 1904 and Mid-Kent from 1904. And more East Kent from 1905 as dry hops.

1906 Barclay Perkins KK
pale malt	6.75 lb	45.38%
mild malt	4.00 lb	26.89%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	10.08%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.50 lb	16.81%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.125 lb	0.84%
Cluster 120 mins	1.50 oz
Fuggles 120 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.75 oz
OG	1073
FG	1020.5
ABV	6.95
Apparent attenuation	71.92%
IBU	107
SRM	23
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

This recipe is in my two new books, Strong! vols. 1 & 2 and Strong! vol.2.