Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Cairnes Single Stout

Moving forward a decade and a bit, there have been quite a few changes to Cairnes best-selling beer.  The most obvious being to the strength. Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s the gravity was slowly whittled down 1º at a time. Interestingly, Double Stout remained at the same strength.

Another change is the addition of a relatively small amount of flaked maize. The other elements – roast barley and caramel – remain the same. Though the proportions have been fiddled with a little. There’s almost double the amount of roast barley, but less caramel. A little less than a quarter of the roast barley was added to the copper rather than the mash tun. Presumably to boost the colour.

The rate of attenuation is even lower than in 1923, just 65%. Leaving it just over 3% ABV. Even weaker than a standard English Mild of the period. And similar to the slowly fading away London Porters.

A single type of hop was employed, Oregon from the 1943 harvest. The combination of higher-alpha American hops and a higher hopping rate leave the calculated bitterness much higher than in 1923, at 55 IBU. 

1935 Cairnes Single Stout
pale malt	7.00 lb	78.87%
roast barley	1.25 lb	14.08%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	5.63%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.41%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Cluster 60 mins	0.75 oz
Cluster 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1037
FG	1013
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	64.86%
IBU	51
SRM	33
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.75º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale