Let's Brew Wednesday - 1947 Shepherd Neame SS

Cause for celebration - this is the 501st recipe I've written for my upcoming book on beer in WW II. Hurrah!

Luckily, for my purposes of not boring the pants off you, there have been some changes to Shepherd Neame’s Single Stout. Still pathetically weak in terms of gravity, mind.

You may remember me mentioning that the presence of oats in the 1943 version had nothing to do with it being marketed as Oatmeal Stout. That’s not the case here. Brewed at a time when brewers didn’t have an obligation to use oats. In confirmation, there are post-war labels for Shepherd Neame Oatmeal Stout.

The rest of the grist is much the same as before. Though there’s a bit more sugar. Which remains CB (or CD) and JC. Not the slightest idea what either might be. My substitutions of No. 3 and No. 4 invert sugars are pure guesswork.

Three types of hops: unspecified English from the 1943 harvest, supplemented by ones from their own hop gardens Kent from 1945 and 1946. In addition, there was a hop concentrate called hopulon. Something which crops up quite a bit around the end of the war, being the only form of hops being imported for a while.

1947 Shepherd Neame SS
pale malt	3.25 lb	55.32%
black malt	0.50 lb	8.51%
oat malt	0.50 lb	8.51%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	8.51%
malt extract	0.125 lb	2.13%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	8.51%
No. 4 invert sugar	0.50 lb	8.51%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.33 oz
OG	1027
FG	1006
ABV	2.78
Apparent attenuation	77.78%
IBU	14
SRM	26
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	a Southern English Ale yeast