Saturday 3 December 2022

Let's Brew - 1909 Truman Bottling Porter

Truman brewed quite an array of Black Beers, many of them confusingly similar to each other. Weakest of the bunch was Bottling Porter. Well, I assume that’s what it was. In the brewing record it just says “Bottling”.

Though who knows what was on the label. The presence of a small amounted of oat malt tells me that at least some of it was marketed as Oat Stout. Aa type of beer that really took off in the first decade of the 20th century.

Loads is going on in the grist.  In addition to the classic pale, brown black malt combination, there’s also some crystal and the aforementioned oats. Most are in pretty small amounts, which makes you wonder what the point was. Well, in the case of the oats I do: so they could legally sell it as Oat Stout.

The sugar is a guess. All I know about the original is that there were two types and they were manufactured by Fowler. No. 3 invert is my best guess.

Three types of hops were employed: two from Worcester, one from Oregon, all from the 1908 harvest. 

1909 Truman Bottling Porter
pale malt 7.25 lb 62.99%
brown malt 0.67 lb 5.82%
black malt 0.67 lb 5.82%
crystal malt 60 L 0.67 lb 5.82%
oat malt 0.25 lb 2.17%
flaked maize 0.25 lb 2.17%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.25 lb 10.86%
caramel 500 SRM 0.50 lb 4.34%
Cluster 105 mins 1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.25 oz
OG 1053
FG 1014
ABV 5.16
Apparent attenuation 73.58%
IBU 52
SRM 31
Mash at 151º F
Sparge at 175º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 60.5º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale


4 comments:

Dan Klingman said...

As a bottling porter I presume this would not have been aged but drunk fresh. With nearly 6% black malt it seems this would have had a roasty flavor, more so than a porter today. Would that have been the case in general back then since the line between porter/stout was up to the brewer?

Ron Pattinson said...

Dan Klingman,

it might have been aged before bottling. The higher hopping rate implies that.

In general, all that differentiated London Porter and Stout was the strength. Brewers used pretty much the same grist for both.

Michael Foster said...

Was there a stated reason at the time for adding oats? I haven't had an oat stout in possibly 20 years (I can't remember the last one I had), so I can't remember what oats give to the beer, if anything. I need to find an oat stout soon.

Dan Klingman said...

I think that adding 4 oz of oats to a 10 lb mash really wouldn't have any affect on the flavor or body. As Ron has said, it was probably added either as part of a parti-gyle or to be able to legally call it an oat stout. Generally oats are added to give the beer a more silky character.