W.E. & J. Rigden sugars in 1884/85

Continuing with the fermentables, it's time for sugar. Several different types of lovely sugar.

In most cases, it’s one of the classic invert sugars, No. 2 or No. 3. With the cheap beers using No. 3, the posher beers No. 2. Though this wasn’t consistent in the case of AK. When brewed single-gyle, No. 2 was used. When it was parti-gyled with Beer or Table Ale, it was No. 3. Which must have had some impact on the colour of the beer. But was anyone looking that closely?

The Black Beers, however, have something completely different. Described simply as “sugar” in the brewing records. What the hell was that? Simply raw cane sugar? That would probably be my guess. But there’s no way to be certain. Rather randomly, this type also appears in the Stock version of AK.

Pretty high, is how I would describe the sugar content. Which for most of Rigden’s range is above 20%. In many cases, above 25%. Note that it’s the highest in three of the most expensive beers, Special Ale, XXK and XXX. And lowest in Beer, the Mild Ale. 

W.E. & J. Rigden sugars in 1884/85
Beer	Style	no. 2 sugar	no. 3 sugar	other sugar	total sugar
Beer	Mild		17.39%		17.39%
AK	Pale Ale		22.47%		22.47%
AK Stock	Pale Ale			22.86%	22.86%
Special Ale	Pale Ale	25.00%			25.00%
XXK	Pale Ale	27.59%			27.59%
TA	Table Ale		22.47%		22.47%
XXX	Stock Ale	26.23%			26.23%
P	Porter			17.39%	17.39%
DS	Stout			15.63%	15.63%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/GBR/BX2/1/9.