You could call this the lost AK. From a brewing record I forgot I had, and whose origin I can’t remember.
I’ve a single photograph of their brewing book. Two beers: AK on the left, PA on the right. I can’t remember who sent it to me and why. It must have been a while ago. The photograph is dated January 2005. Get in touch if it was you who sent it.
I keep finding stuff I’ve forgotten I had. Could be old age catching up with me. Or perhaps it’s on account of having just so much stuff.
A bit of background on the brewery. They first brewed in Northampton in 1817. It merged with the Northampton Brewery in 1957 to form Phipps Northampton. Bought by Watney Mann in 1960, closed 1972 and replaced by a Carlsberg plant. *
The recipe shouts AK, with its combination of pale and crystal malt plus sugar. I’m not totally sure the last is No. 2 invert, in this case. The record isn’t clear, the description being simply “V.2”. That could be No. 2 from a supplier beginning with a letter V. Or it could be something else entirely. I’ve plumped for the former.
All English hops Kent from the 1936 and 1937 harvests, the former cold stored, and Worcester from 1937, also cold stored.
| 1938 Phipps AK | ||
| pale malt | 5.50 lb | 81.00% |
| crystal malt 60 L | 0.75 lb | 11.05% |
| No. 2 invert sugar | 0.50 lb | 7.36% |
| caramel 1000 SRM | 0.04 lb | 0.59% |
| Fuggles 120 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Goldings 30 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.25 oz | |
| OG | 1030.5 | |
| FG | 1007.5 | |
| ABV | 3.04 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 75.41% | |
| IBU | 21 | |
| SRM | 10 | |
| Mash at | 156º F | |
| Sparge at | 190º F | |
| Boil time | 120 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60º F | |
| Yeast | WLP002 English Ale | |
* "A Century of British Brewers plus plus" by Norman Barber, 2012, page 117.
Ron, have you done a post on the history of crystal malts in British beers? This seems to be the first AK beer in this series that has C60 in it, which I'm assuming is because it's post-WWI?
ReplyDeleteMichael Foster,
ReplyDeletebefore WW I, crystal malt was only really used in Mild Ales, Porter and Stout. I've seen it in some Pale Ales between the wars, but it only became common after WW II.
You could argue that the toffeeish, under-hopped Bitters laden with crystal sold by some brewers are really Milds. It would increase Mild's market share at a stroke!
ReplyDelete