Saturday 22 January 2022

Let's Brew - 1909 Truman Imperial Stout

Even in the difficult Edwardian years, Truman persisted with their top-level Imperial Stout. It wouldn’t survive the war, mind.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that I keep banging on about the loyalty of London brewer to brown malt. Then Truman comes along and make me a liar. To add insult to injury, they’ve replaced it with roast barley. An Ingredient I keep saying isn’t a defining feature of Stout. The bastards. Trying to prove me wrong. I’m inclined to travel back in time and tell them exactly what I think.

The type of sugar, as is usual in this period, is just a guess. All I know for sure is that it was manufactured by Fowler.

All the hops were from the 1908 harvest. One from Oregon, the other two, I think, from Worcester. Definitely English. I’ve gone safe and plumped for Fuggles.

1909 Truman Imperial Stout
pale malt 15.25 lb 77.53%
black malt 0.50 lb 2.54%
roast barley 0.50 lb 2.54%
flaked maize 0.75 lb 3.81%
No. 3 invert sugar 2.00 lb 10.17%
caramel 0.67 lb 3.41%
Cluster 120 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 2.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 2.00 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1094
FG 1025
ABV 9.13
Apparent attenuation 73.40%
IBU 57
SRM 42
Mash at 157º F
Sparge at 175º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 60.5º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale


 

2 comments:

Michael Foster said...

I assume the American hops were used early on because they had higher alpha acids and not because the brewer wanted the character of the Cluster hops in the beer? Was this common in early 20th century British brewing?

Ron Pattinson said...

Michael Foster,

UK brewers used American hops for their high alpha content and their relative cheapness. 1860 to 1914, massive quantities of US hops were imported to the UK. 25% to 50% of the hops used in UK beer were American. Yes, UK brewers hated the flavour. But they were cheap, effective and the UK didn't grow enough hops to meet the brewing industry's needs.