Let's Brew - 1881 Whitbread Porter

Though in the wane elsewhere in the country, Porter was still a big deal in London. Though no longer Whitbread’s biggest seller – that honour had passed to X Ale – it was still number two. In 1881, they brewed 75,423 barrels of Porter.

Called simply “P” in the brewing records, it had originally been the Running Porter, i.e. the unaged version. By this time, “K”, the Keeping Porter, had been discontinued for around a decade and the giant vats used to mature it had been ripped out.

Ever since the invention of black malt in 1817, London Porter almost always had a grist of pale, brown and black malt. Though over time the proportion of the three varied. Most brewers outside the capital had switched to a simpler grist of just pale and black malt. Interestingly, Whitbread’s Porter was all malt, while their Stouts contained sugar.

Two types of hops were employed, both from the 1880 harvest. One was English and the other “Bavarian”, which probably means Hallertau.

1881 Whitbread Porter
pale malt	11.50 lb	86.79%
brown malt	1.00 lb	7.55%
black malt	0.75 lb	5.66%
Hallertau 90 mins	2.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1055
FG	1010
ABV	5.95
Apparent attenuation	81.82%
IBU	65
SRM	27
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale