Just after war’s end Lees introduced that most intriguing of beers, a “C” Ale.
It’s a name which only seems to have been used by breweries in Greater Manchester and refers to a strong, dark beer. Roughly equivalent to a London Burton, “C” Ale was, however, an exclusively bottled product.
It wasn’t a very long-lived product. It was replaced in 1954 by a stronger beer, Golden Brew, with an OG of 1078º.
The grist bears more than a passing resemblance to Best Mild. It contains exactly the same five elements: Pale and black malt, flaked barley, glucose and invert sugar. Not totally sure which type of invert they were using. No. 3 seems a reasonable guess.
The logs are a little vague when it comes to hops. All I know is that they were English and from the 1944 and 1945 harvests. I’ve gone with a Fuggles and Goldings combination, as they were by far and away the two most grown varieties at the time.
| 1946 Lees "C" Ale | ||
| pale malt | 8.50 lb | 74.73% |
| black malt | 0.125 lb | 1.10% |
| flaked barley | 1.25 lb | 10.99% |
| glucose | 0.50 lb | 4.40% |
| No. 3 invert sugar | 1.00 lb | 8.79% |
| Fuggles 105 mins | 0.75 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 mins | 0.75 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 mins | 0.75 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.33 oz | |
| OG | 1052 | |
| FG | 1012 | |
| ABV | 5.29 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 76.92% | |
| IBU | 27 | |
| SRM | 13 | |
| Mash at | 147º F | |
| After underlet | 150º F | |
| Sparge at | 170º F | |
| Boil time | 105 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons) | |
Seems like it's on its way to a modern stout. A pale stout if you will. Closer to that description than craft types of that name.
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteit looks far more like Burton Ale to me. Where was it going? Who knows, as it wasn't around for long.