Primings

Looking at Courage's records has got me thinking about primings. And how they were used. But not in every type of beer.

I think it explains something. Why Barclay Perkins X always has a higher OG in the Whitbread Gravity Book than in the brewing records.

Shit. And Whitbread's totals include a column for primings.

I should have thought of this before.

Why does everything have to be so bloody complicated?

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1839 Barclay Perkins XXX

It's Mild month. I keep telling myself that in case I forget. "Mild March is Month." I mutter as I stand at the tram stop. At least it gains me plenty of personal space.

First, forget everything you think you know about Mild. Things like colour and strength. Mild isn't necessarily meek. Or dark. Or lightly-hopped even. All of those characteristics are 20th century innovations. We're going back to a proper Mild. Beers brewed when Queen Victoria was still a randy teenager.

Barclay Perkins, like the other large London Porter breweries, for a while only brewed Porter and Stout. But sometime around 1830 they moved into the Ale market. Just as well. By the middle of the 19th century Ale, mostly Mild Ale, was all the rage and beginning to make a serious dent in Porter sales.

There were three Mild Ales, imaginatively named X, XX and XXX. Let's take a look at them more closely.

Barclay Perkins Ales in 1839
Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp
1839	X	Mild	1071.5	1012.3	7.83	82.79%	9.09	3.16	59º
1839	XX	Mild	1087.3	1015.5	9.49	82.24%	9.00	4.08	58º
1839	XXX	Mild	1104.4	1018.3	11.39	82.48%	8.58	5.31	58º
Source: Barclay Perkins brewing records

The weakest was more than double the strength of a typical modern Mild. The strongest was, well, not for the faint-hearted. To give you an idea of how these beers fitted into the strength hierarchy of the day, here are the typical gravities of some other styles:

Porter: 1060-1065
IPA: 1055-1065
Stout: 1070-1075
Double Stout: 1080-1090

X Ales were, even comparatively, strong beers. Unlike IPA, which was, if anything, below average strength.

I think that's about all I have to say for the moment. Except this: "Drink more Mild!".



It's now Kristen's turn . . . .

Barclay Perkins - 1839 - XXX ale
General info: Mild. Simple right? Dark, weak, no hops. We've been over how wrong that statement is for sometime now. Here is another cog in the wheel of illumination. This beer resembles almost nothing of the current mild as we know it. Its huge. Its very high in alcohol. Its very hoppy. Its nothing like you've ever had before. This is truely history in a glass. This is something that everyone should try. For all of you that don't like mild, we salute you!
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.104		100% Mild malt			0%
Gravity (FG)	1.018		0%			0%
ABV	11.43%		0%			0%
Apparent attenuation	82.40%		0%
Real attenuation	67.51%
IBU	75.7		Mash	120min@151°F		0.763076923076923qt/lb
SRM	12			120min@66.1°C		1.6L/kg
EBC	23.6
			Boil	4 hours
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 80%
Grist	5gal		19L		10bbl		10hl
Mild malt	19.80	lb	9.016	kg	1074.37	lb	415.10	kg
	19.804		9.016		1074.3682
Hops
Goldings 4.5% 240min	5.66	oz	160.5	g	350.96	oz	8.479	kg
Goldings 4.5% dry hop	0.26	oz	7.3	g	15.96	oz	0.386	kg
Fermentation	76°F /24.4°C
Yeast	Nottingham ale yeast
	1028 London Ale Yeast  - WLP013 London Ale Yeast
Tasting Notes: Big. Very big. Lots of booze and spice. Layers and layers of biscuity malt blended with hop tannins and bitterness. A round sweetness in the middle that is full of fruity hop resins and malt. The bitterness, tannins and spice really dry out the end which lasts well after is is swallowed.

Ingredients and technique

Grist & such
How many times have we seen simple milds with 5, 6 or 7 ingredients. 3 different sugars with a caramel addition and some colored priming sugar. This, sorry to disappoint, is made up of a single malt. One. Single. Pale. Malt. To get as close as possible to the original version I would use mild malt. Paul’s Mild, if you can find it, is the best you can buy.

Hops
The hops were all very fresh, barley being a year old. Per the usual for BP beers they were all middle Kentish. One single addition at makeup was the extent of the kettle hopping. That being said, the single hop addition totaled a whopping 75-80 BU’s. Just as important as the BU count is the huge amount of tannins this much hop material would deliver. Using anything other than low alpha acid hops in this recipe will significantly change the flavor profile of this beer. A small amount of dry hops were added that would have given just a slight hint of the spicy Goldings.

Mash & Boil
Per the norm, a simple single infusion along with a single underlet kept the mash right in the middle ‘sweet’ spot. The boil is an entirely different story. FOUR hours. The long boil would have added another layer of complexity for this big beer.

Fermentation, Conditioning & Serving
This is another point where this beer has strayed into the unusual. The fermentation was allowed to rise to extraordinary temperatures. For a beer this size this would have meant a completely different profile. The high temperatures would have surely made this beer less smooth and fruity and more harsh, phenolic, spicy and hotly alcoholic. It would have been conditioned for a few weeks and served with about 2.0 volumes of CO2.

Gyling & Blending
Another interesting thing with this beer is that there was no gyling. With such a huge beer it would only make sense to gyle or one would lose a huge amount of sugars and was a lot of the malt. That being said, when you go over the log in detail there was a huge amount of ‘return’ that they took from this beer. Another neat way to save money!

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1915 Courage X

Welcome to the very first Let's Brew Wednesday. Brought to you by Barclay Perkins in association with Kristen England of the BJCP. I do the bullshitting, Kristen does the work of actually putting the recipes together.

Today's recipe is an Courage X Ale from the early years of WW I. The original was brewed in the Horsleydown brewery, situated right next to Tower Bridge on the south bank of the Thames. The brewery building is still there, though nowadays it contains fancy flats rather than brewing kettles.

The war, other than making beer more expensive through tax increases, had little effect on brewing before 1917. Beers remained at pretty much their pre-war strength. At around 5% ABV, Courage X was considerably stronger than later Milds. Note that the darkest malt in the grist is crystal. Which is why the colour is a dark amber rather than brown.




These are Kristen's notes on the recipe:

Grist - 1 pale, 1 mild, 1 6-row and 1 crystal. Whomever you like to use, do so. I would have to say that the three base malts are all quite a bit different so do your best to mimic that.

Sugars - #3 invert syrup. If you dont have it you can mimic it by using dark brown sugar and inverting it. Invert sugar is made by mixing two parts table sugar to one part water, and adding two teaspoons lemon juice (1/4tsp tartaric acid) per pound of sugar. The mixture is brought almost to a boil and then reduced to a vigorous simmer for about 30 minutes.

Hops - Three different varieties are used. Fuggles and EKG are good substitutes for the UK ones but really any hop can be used that has an extended pedigree (read old). The ubiquitous Cluster American hops are a must.

Mash - Underlet the mash if at all possible (adding liquor to the bottom). If not, then a direct infusion will work just fine. You want a rate of 1.03qt/lb strike ratio. Do the two step infusion...if you aren't able, do a single infusion at 149F.

Liquor treatment - Salts are to be added to each gallon used.

Yeast - Any English will do well. One that particularly finished dry is one you want. Timothy Taylors yeast started at Courage so if you can get it, do so.

Ferment - This beer is a bit different in that its fermented at quite a high temperature. It averages right around 74-75F which is really quite high.


Here is a simplified version of just the recipe for 5 gal:

5gals

Grist (lbs)
English Pale malt (Hutchinson) 3.06
English Mild malt (Hilton) 3.06
American 6-row malt (California) 0.90
English Crystal (75L) 0.44
Invert #3 syrup (Garton) 0.99

Hops (original) Oz.
EKG @ 4.1% (Scott - 1914) 1.00
Cluster @ 5.2% (California - 1914) 0.33
Fuggle @ 4.2% (Prichett - 1913) 0.50
Total 1.83oz

Blend all of the hops together and then add:
Start of boil 1.25oz
After 90min remainder

Boil - 2 hours

Water treatment (g/gal liquor)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom) 1.26
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) 0.85
Sodium Chloride (Salt) 0.60

Back in New Jersey

The last 36 hours have been some of the most knackering in a long time. And almost beer-free. Work, dontcha just love it?

But my spirits rose as soon as I entered my room. When I saw The Box on the desk. (This sounds like a reading primer: the box sat on the desk. The box is full of beer. Ron is happy.)

It's full of beer. Not just any beer. Fuller's 1910 X, AK and Porter. A couple of versions of Barclay Perkins X from WWI. Lichtenhainer. Graezer. 1850 Salvator. Barclay Perkins IBSt. And much more. I'm so excited.

There's a glass of Fuller's AK in front of me. I'm raising it in a toast to Kristen. Thanks mate. I don't owe you one. Not even a couple. I owe you several.

Unused

Not everything I write makes it into the blog. About a quarter of the posts I write remain unused. This one will almost certainly join the "don't bother" pile. Which means that you won't read it and will remain unaware of my profligacy. Unless I've already mentioned it.

You know how elderly relatives tell you the same tale over and over again? I fear I'm, about to start doing the same. More than 12 months into this blogging lark and I'm forgetting what I've already posted. Remember, the thing to do when I repeat myself is to nod your head and feign interest. On no account remind me of my forgetfulness. Just think of me as the uncle who always slips you a few bob whenever we meet. You don't want to ruin everything by pointing out I'm a boring, repetitive prat. Not if you want any more half-crowns.

I've forgotten where I was. Not to worry, on to my next point. On no account comment when I duplicate an earlier post accidentally. No-one likes to be reminded of their failing mental faculties. I certainly don't. Just ignore it and hope that I don't repeat the mistake too often.

Most of what I don't use is just rambling bollocks. Or repetitive. Or both. But please don't point out either. It might upset me so much I forget to take my pills. And we wouldn't want that, would we?

Barclay Perkins X Ale. Will I ever get it brewed? That reminds me. I must look up the log for the decoction version.

New poll

I'm pleased to see how well 1914 Barclay Perkins X Ale is doing in my new poll. It's beer I've always wanted to try.

There's just one snag. About the recipe. I had a hard enough time persuading Menno to use sugar in the Whitbread beers. I'm not so sure I'll be as lucky with raw maize. So, would you find it really terrible if I dropped the maize from the recipe? Not 100% authentic. But I'm sure the finished beer would be better for the change.

Is this acceptable, or should I stick to the letter of the original recipe?


. . . . . .



What was I thinking when I wrote that? I was missing the whole point. Apologies for bothering you with such stupid thoughts. It's been a long week.

Barclay Perkins 1914 X Ale wasn't a great beer. I'm sure of that. It was typical. A mainstream, mass-produced beer, brewed slightly on the cheap. It's what most people drank. In a way, isn't that more fascinating than Russian Stout?

Not sure if that will be enough to convince Menno.