Mid-19th century London Stout

You’ll note that, for once gravities have increased over time. There’s a reason for that: in the early part of the 19th century the Napoleonic Wars meant that the taxes on beer and malt were high. Which in turn drove down gravities.

As the century progressed, a set of Stout styles evolved. Differentiated not just by strength but also by conditioning time. That is, into Keeping and Running. As well as Single, Double and Tripel.

In the table, you can see that most London brewers were sticking to those categories. With Single Stout at an OG of about 1075º, Double Stout at 1088º and Triple 1098º. You could argue that Barclay’s Russian Stout (IBSt) was in a fourth strength category, which I guess you could call Imperial. If only Truman didn’t have a beer in the Triple Stout category called just that. The confusing bastards.

There are a couple of outliers in the Single Stouts. Barclay’s FSt looks like a Porter. In fact, its OG is only 1º higher than their Porter. The other is Truman Running Stout, which looks more like a Double Stout.

Keeping versions are significantly more heavily hopped than the Runners. In the case of Reid, there are around 25% in the stock versions (Crs. Whatever that stands for).  While at Whitbread the difference wasn’t far short of 100%. Though it’s all relative. Every single one of the beers, including Runners, is heavily hopped.

The rate of attenuation is fairly high, especially when many of these beers would have undergone a long secondary Brettanomyces fermentation. Leaving the FG when served much lower than the raking gravity in the table. 

Mid-19th century London Stout
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1849	Barclay Perkins	FSt	1061.5	1016.0	6.02	73.98%	17.06	4.38
1850	Truman	M Keeping Stout	1073.1	1028.5	5.90	60.98%	11.84	3.87
1845	Reid	S	1073.4				12.05	3.76
1845	Reid	S Crs	1074.8				15.00	4.94
1850	Whitbread	KS	1074.8	1025.8	6.49	65.56%	21.63	6.91
1850	Whitbread	S	1075.1	1027.1	6.34	63.84%	11.83	4.03
1850	Truman	Running Stout	1081.7	1027.1	7.22	66.78%	12.65	4.26
	Average		1073.5	1024.9	6.39	66.23%	14.58	4.59
1845	Reid	SS	1087.3				11.62	4.55
1845	Reid	SS Crs	1087.3				14.92	6.15
1850	Truman	Export Stout	1088.6	1023.0	8.68	74.06%	19.34	8.15
1850	Truman	Double Stout	1088.9	1026.3	8.28	70.40%	14.18	7.63
	Average		1088.0	1024.7	8.48	72.23%	15.01	6.62
1850	Whitbread	SSS	1092.0				11.84	4.31
1849	Barclay Perkins	BSt BI	1093.2	1028.0	8.63	69.96%	16.79	7.40
1850	Barclay Perkins	BSt Expt	1096.3	1028.0	9.04	70.93%	15.34	7.14
1845	Reid	SSS	1097.0	1034.6	8.25	64.29%	12.61	5.94
1850	Truman	Imperial	1099.2	1029.1	9.27	70.67%	13.42	8.20
1850	Barclay Perkins	IBSt	1109.0	1031.0	10.32	71.57%	15.69	9.31
	Average		1097.8	1030.1	9.10	69.48%	14.28	7.05
Sources:
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/052.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/043 and LMA/4453/D/09/044.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/540.
Reid brewing record held at the Westminster City Archives, document number 789/271.