Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin Double Stout

Now here’s a surprise: Fremlin didn’t parti-gyle their Porter and Stout. Which, certainly by this late in the 19th century, is what I would have expected.

The recipes are also surprisingly different. There’s far more base malt in the Stout, 65% as opposed to just 43%. There’s about half as much of the two coloured malts, around 9% of the grist in total. Which leaves the Stout a bit paler than the Porter. The opposite of what I would have expected.

Fewer oats are also present. Again, around half of what’s in the Porter. It implies that Fremlin marketed two strengths of Oatmeal Stout. One based on the Porter and one on the Double Stout.

There’s less of the cane sugar, but it still makes up almost 20% of the grist. That’s an awful lot still. Especially for a Stout, which would be expected to be quite full-bodied.

A slightly higher hopping rate was employed than in the Porter, 7.5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, compared to 6.5 lbs. That, combined with the higher gravity, leaves the bitterness level of the finished beer quite a bit higher at 71 IBU.

Was this beer aged? I’ve no real idea. There’s no indication in the brewing record. I don’t think it was vatted. Maybe a couple of months in trade casks. 

1897 Fremlin Double Stout
pale malt	9.75 lb	66.87%
brown malt	0.75 lb	5.14%
chocolate malt	0.50 lb	3.43%
oat malt	0.50 lb	3.43%
brown sugar	2.75 lb	18.86%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	2.26%
Fuggles 120 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.00 oz
OG	1072
FG	1017.5
ABV	7.21
Apparent attenuation	75.69%
IBU	71
SRM	38
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale