Fremlin malts in 1897

Let’s take a look at what went into all those Pale Ales. Starting off with the malts.

Of which there were five. Which is quite a lot for a brewery that specialised in Pale Ales. Unsurprisingly, most of it was pale malt. Though there was also some high-dried malt in a couple of beers. Not so odd in a dark beer like Cooper. More unusual in a Pale Ale like BB.

Interestingly, all three Black Beers have chocolate malt rather than black malt as the main roasted element. I have seen that elsewhere – for example at Whitbread – but it only started much later, after WW I. Fremlin definitely seem to have been early adopters.

Porter and Stout also both contain brown malt. That favourite London ingredient. Which means these beers must have been similar in character to the equivalent beers from the capital.

It’s fascinating to see how quickly Oat Stout spread. I assume that’s why malted oats turn up in the Porter and Stout. Compared to the Oatmeal Stouts brewed after WW I, the percentage of oats is quite high. Also, it malted form. Whereas later it was almost always in flaked form.

The malt percentage is fairly decent, mostly around 70%-75%.  

Fremlin malts in 1897
Beer	Style	pale malt	high dried malt	brown malt	choc. malt	malted oats	total malt
X	Mild	70.59%					70.59%
H	Pale Ale	72.00%					72.00%
BA	Pale Ale	69.77%					69.77%
BA C	Pale Ale	70.59%					70.59%
BA L	Pale Ale	75.00%					75.00%
BB	Pale Ale	35.29%	35.29%				70.59%
BB L	Pale Ale	75.00%					75.00%
PA	Pale Ale	70.59%					70.59%
PA L	Pale Ale	72.00%					72.00%
IPA	IPA	70.59%					70.59%
Pilsener	Pilsener	80.00%					80.00%
P	Porter	40.24%		14.63%	10.98%	7.32%	73.17%
Cooper	Porter	42.86%	18.37%		12.24%		73.47%
DS	Stout	63.91%		7.10%	5.33%	3.55%	79.88%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.