Let's Brew - 1838 Combe Keeping Brown Stout

Like their rivals, Combe brewed a Keeping version of their Stout. Though even the Runner was vatted.

Not much difference with the Runner in the grist. A bit less black malt, that’s all. Leaving a little bit less colour. As you’d expect. Otherwise, the same. Quite heavy on the brown malt.

Three mashes, again, but a couple of degrees warmer than for Runner. Deliberate? Looks like it, as the strike heats were higher as well as the tap heats.

There was a further mash and a sparge, both at 142º F, for a return wort.

Mash number	barrels	strike heat	time (mins)	tap heat	gravity
1	218	164º F	90	144º F	1105.1
2	125	190º F	50	160º F	1079.8
3	168	170º F	45	160º F	1042.3

Not a crazy larger quantity of hops: just 15% per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. East Kent from 1837 and Mid-Kent from 1836.

It went into vats nos, 19 and 22 for ageing. At least for 12 months. 

1838 Combe Keeping Brown Stout
pale malt	13.50 lb	77.81%
brown malt	3.25 lb	18.73%
black malt	0.60 lb	3.46%
Goldings 80 min	3.25 oz
Goldings 60 min	3.25 oz
Goldings 30 min	3.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.75 oz
OG	1072
FG	1020
ABV	6.88
Apparent attenuation	72.22%
IBU	105
SRM	30
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	80 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

This is one of the 277 recipes in my new book on London Stout. Get your copy now!