AK Light Bitter

Due to public demand - well, one person requested it - here's a short discussion of AK. One of my many beery obsessions.

 

Let's Brew - 1893 Cannon AK 10d

I have so many AK recipes now. It’s so wonderful. 

This is a pretty typical example: light, in both senses of the word. A pretty high degree of attenuation must have left it pretty dry. As well as a relatively high, for the OG, alcohol content.

I am struggling to see how this differs from X in any significant way. Slightly lower OG, slightly higher hopping rate. Hardly enough for them to be in different styles.

Excitement on the recipe front. There are two whole malts. One unnamed, the other called “Queen St.”. That being the address of the brewery, I assume that they malted it themselves.

Two types of hops, both Worcester, one from 1892 and one from 1893.

No ageing. 

1893 Cannon AK 10d
pale malt	10.50 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 min	1.33 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.33 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1045
FG	1007
ABV	5.03
Apparent attenuation	84.44%
IBU	34
SRM	4
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Let's Brew - 1897 Fremlin H

We now embark on a long trek through Fremlin’s many Pale Ales. With the rather oddly named “H”.  Not sure what that might stand for.

It’s pretty weak for the 19th century. Even for a Light Bitter, which would usually be at least 1045º.  In a price list from 1897, the weakest Pale Ale is described as “No. 5 Light Family Pale Ale”. I assume that’s what this is. Costing 1s per gallon or 2s 6d per dozen pint bottles.   Which seems a little pricey for a beer of this strength. 10d per gallon would be more reasonable.

Not much to the recipe. Three types of base malt, one from Chilean and two from English barley. Along with a little flaked barley. All pretty dull. There are also two types of sugar: dextro-maltose and “cane”. For the former, I’ve substituted No. 2 invert, the latter, raw cane sugar.

No fewer than seven types of English hops were used in the copper. From the 1896 and 1897 harvests. Plus two more types from the 1897 season as dry hops. The quantities of dry hops aren’t given in the brewing records. But they do appear in the totals. And average over 8 oz per barrel – over 1 oz for batches the size of this recipe.

No way this was aged. 

1897 Fremlin H
pale malt	5.75 lb	71.88%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	6.25%
raw cane sugar	1.75 lb	21.88%
Fuggles 135 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 105 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 75 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1040
FG	1010.5
ABV	3.90
Apparent attenuation	73.75%
IBU	47
SRM	3
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Let's Brew - 1884 W.E. & J. Rigden AK

And here we are with another AK. You may now be getting an idea of just how common this name once was. I can never get me too many AKs.

The recipe is very similar to Mild Beer. The only real difference being the use of No. 2 rather than No. 3 invert. The hopping is a little heavier, but that is rather cancelled out by a quarter of the hops being spent. Leaving the level of bitterness around the same. Resulting in beers that are pretty much the same, other than the colour.

The hops themselves were two squiggles again and I’ve had to guess what types they were.

No ageing for this baby as it is a classic Light Bitter. And by definition a Running Beer. 

1884 W.E. & J. Rigden AK
pale malt	6.00 lb	61.54%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	15.38%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.25 lb	23.08%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1050
FG	1013
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	74.00%
IBU	50
SRM	9
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1893 Tomson & Wotton AK

I can remember how excited I was when I came across my first AK brewing record. (Fullers, if you’re interested.)  Now I have literally dozens of them. That’s how common AK was before WW I.

This is on the strong side for AK, which usually tops out at around 1050º. And indicates that this was the more expensive of the brewery’s two AKs.

Not much to discuss about the recipe. Which is as simple as they come: just a single malt and a single hop. All their Pale Ales were brewed all-malt. Only the Mild Ale contained sugar. And no adjuncts at all were used.

Just one type of Worcester hops from the 1892 harvest. Which, given that this beer was brewed in March, meant that they were pretty fresh. Another type of Worcester hops, also from the 1892 season, were used as dry hops.

1893 Tomson & Wotton AK
pale malt	12.00 lb	100.00%
Fuggles 90 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1052
FG	1015
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	71.15%
IBU	43
SRM	4.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1912 Crowley AK

You’re probably starting to realise just how common the name AK was before WW I. Being brewed by dozens of breweries across England. It was only after the gravity reductions of the two world wars WW I that the style began dying out.

This looks like a pretty typical example, with a gravity in the mid 1040ºs, light body and relatively modest hopping (for the time). A classic Light Bitter.

The recipe is wonderfully simple. Just two types of pale malt along with some No. 3 invert sugar. Oh, and a ting amount of malt extract, which I’ve omitted as the quantity was so small. I assume that it was included to add extra enzymes.

Not much complication with the hopping, either. There are two types of English hops, both from the 1911 harvest.
 

1912 Crowley AK
pale malt	9.50 lb	92.68%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	7.32%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1046
FG	1010
ABV	4.76
Apparent attenuation	78.26%
IBU	36
SRM	8
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ale

 

Let's Brew - 1904 Tetley K

I’m pretty convinced now that this is a type of Pale Ale. Specifically, a Light Bitter. It does, after all, have the classic 1045º

There have been a couple of changes to K since 1888. For a start, it’s lost 4º of gravity. Which is sort of what you would expect. There was a general downward trend in gravities in this period.

The grist has also changed, moving away all malt by including some No. 2 invert sugar. Though the malts remain a combination of pale and mild malt.

For a Pale ale, the hopping rate was relatively light, at 7.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs). Which was slightly less than the strongest Mild Ales, X3 and XX.

As for the hops, they were all English. Worcester from the 1902 harvest and Kent from 1902 and 1903. 

1904 Tetley K
pale malt	5.25 lb	55.26%
mild malt	3.00 lb	31.58%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	13.16%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1045
FG	1008
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	82.22%
IBU	38
SRM	7
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale Timothy Taylor

AK! on Kindle

Following a request, I've created a Kindle version of AK!

 Someone better buy the bugger now I've made the effort.

 

Let's Brew - 1909 Truman London Keeper

While the classier Pale Ales – P1 and P2 – the weakest, London Keeper, was produced in London. Along with X, it was the only Ale made at Brick Lane.

Despite the name, it was a Running Bitter. What today would be classed as an Ordinary Bitter. Though, especially in bottled form, back in the day it would probably been described as a Light Bitter.

The grist is dead simple: base malt and invert sugar. There aren’t even any adjuncts. Something which, by this time, was pretty standard. Especially in Pale Ales. Of course, there were multiple types of pale malt. Four in total, with one made from Californian barley.

Just the three types of hops: Worcester from the 1908 harvest cold stored, Hallertau from 1908 and Oregon from 1908. 

We brewed a slightly later version of this beer at Goose Island just a couple of days ago. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever get to taste it as it won't be bottled.

1909 Truman London Keeper
pale malt	6.50 lb	83.87%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	16.13%
Cluster 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1046
FG	1012
ABV	4.50
Apparent attenuation	73.91%
IBU	40
SRM	7
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

What was AK?

Put briefly, AK was the classic “Running Bitter”, that is, a Pale Ale which was intended to be drunk young.

The original 19th-century Pale Ales had all been Stock Ales, aged for a considerable period before sale. Big, heavy beers, they needed a long maturation to knock off the rough edges and to give the beer time to spontaneously drop bright, without the need for fining. A beer such as Bass Pale Ale was usually at least 12 months old before it was sold.

Around the middle of the 19th century a new type of Pale Ale appeared. Lighter in alcohol and intended to be drunk almost immediately after brewing. Such beers were particularly favoured for private use. That is casks of beer bought to be consumed at home. As this was primarily intended to be drunk with meals, something light and easily digestible was preferred.

Its expected use in a domestic setting is why the word “family” pops up so often in the description of AK in price lists. Also the words “light” and “dinner” were much used in relation to it. As we’ll see a little later in this book.

Dr. Edward Ralph Moritz, a brewing scientist, giving evidence to a parliamentary committee, defined the maturation times for different types of beer.

Maturation times of different types of beers in the 1890s
(a.) Stock ale, kept 4 to 12 months before delivery:—
Fine English malt	66	66
Fine foreign malt	25	34
No. 1 invert sugar or glucose	9	0
	100	100
(b.) Semi-stock pale bottling beers, kept about three months before delivery:—
Fine English malt	60
Foreign malt	25
No. 2 invert sugar or glucose	15
	100
(cJ Light pale ales (A.K.), kept about 2 to 4 weeks before delivery:—
Good to fine English malt	55
Good to fine foreign malt	25
No. 2 invert sugar or glucose	20
	100
(d.) Mild ale (X. or XX.—fourpenny) kept four to ten days before delivery :—
Good English malt	50
Good ordinary foreign malt	25
No. 2, invert or glucose	25
	100
Source:
Minutes of evidence taken before the Departmental Committee on Beer Materials, 1899, pages 190 - 191.

There was a big difference between the months which Stock Pale Ale was matured and the coupe of weeks a Running Bitter received. As tastes changed in the second half of the 19th century, Stock Pale Ales began to fade away and after WW II they had virtually disappeared, save for a few examples brewed in Burton-on-Trent.

Running Bitter reigned supreme in the 20th century. It’s what all modern cask Bitters are. By deliberately brewing a lighter beer, bringing it more quickly into condition by priming with sugar at racking time and clearing it with finings, brewers were able to create a palatable product much more quickly and cheaply.

The use of sugar, and to some extent adjuncts, such as flaked maize, made such beers possible. An all-malt, higher gravity Stock Pale Ale took much longer to condition that a lighter gravity bee3r with lots of readily-fermentable sugars.
 

Let's Brew - 1916 Crowley AK

I've managed to dig out another AK recipe. Mo, you don't have to thank me. Really.

A trend in the middle war years was for the more popular beers to have their gravities reduced, while posher beers were mostly unaffected. That’s clear in the case of Crowley AK, where the gravity dropped four points between 1914 and 1916. Things were only going to get worse.

The big change to the recipe is the addition of CDM – caramelised dextro-maltose. That’s the caramel that you can see in the recipe. There’s also a quantity of a sugar called laevuline, for which I’ve substituted more No. 3 invert.

The hops in this example were all pretty old, English from the 1914 harvest, Oregon from 1912. In the later war years more and more ancient hops appeared, presumably emergency stocks that were being raided.

1916 Crowley AK
pale malt	8.50 lb	88.31%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	10.39%
caramel 500 SRM	0.13 lb	1.30%
Cluster 120 mins	0.25 oz
Fuggles 120 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1043
FG	1011
ABV	4.23
Apparent attenuation	74.42%
IBU	24
SRM	13
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.75º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ale

The above is an excerpt from Armistice,  my wonderful book on brewing in WW I.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Fullers AK

I may have been a little premature in announcing I'd finished with AK. I just can't resist banging out another recipe.

I do have an ulterior motive. As I'm now done with recipes for Blitzkrieg, there's no work to be done there. But I don't want to just bang out a recipe for no reason. Better to create one that can be useful, say in a future book. Which is exactly what I've done. This will appear in "Free!", my book after next. Whose manuscript is already 15,000 words long.

The gravity of Fullers AK continued to have a little shaved off its gravity as WW I approached. At just 1045º, it was the weakest beer Fullers brewed and about as watery as London beer got.

As the OG has fallen, the grist has become more complex and now proudly sports five ingredients. Only one of them a type of malt. Though that is split between malt made from English and malt made from Chilean barley. Chile being a big supplier, along with California, of malting barley to the UK.

There’s also some flaked maize, but quite a modest amount. Much less than would later appear in Fullers beers.

Amongst the sugars, the largest proportion consists of something called “pale Trivert”, for which I’ve substituted No. 1 invert. Well, it’s relatively pale and ends in “-vert”. In addition to the No. 2 invert there’s a dash of caramel, doubtless for colour adjustment.

Four types of hops were employed: Oregon from the 1907 season, English from 1908, Mid-Kent from 1909 and East Kent from 1908. The first two were in tiny quantities – just 14 lbs each out of a total of 203 lbs.

Unlike versions from after WW I, which were always a small part of a Pale Ale parti-gyle, this beer was brewed single-gyle and it a reasonably-sized batch – 142 barrels. 

1910 Fullers AK
pale malt	7.75 lb	81.41%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	5.25%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.75 lb	7.88%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.50 lb	5.25%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.02 lb	0.21%
Cluster 105 mins	0.13 lb
Fuggles 105 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1045
FG	1008
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	82.22%
IBU	34
SRM	8
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Let's Brew - 1984 Eldridge Pope BAK

And here we are at the end of our AK journey with the most recent recipe I have for the style. It’s much the same as the 1964 version, though there have been a couple of changes.

For drinkers, the happiest change is an increase of a few degrees in the gravity. Which has now attained the dizzying heights of 1033º. That, along with quite a bump in the degree of attenuation, have boosted the ABV to a heady 3.7%. Pretty decent for a Light Ale. Most barely crawled above 3% ABV.

Over at the grist, the big change is the dropping of the small amount of malt extract. There’s also been an increase in the percentage of crystal malt, which leaves this iteration slightly darker than that from 1964. There remains quite a lot of wheat flour, which I can only assume was for head retention purposes.

The brewing log doesn’t give away much about the hops. Not harvest year or variety is given. Four are English and another is described as “Styrian”. I assume that by the last they mean Styrian Goldings. The amount is pretty small, however.

1984 Eldridge Pope BAK
pale malt	5.50 lb	74.12%
crystal malt 60 L	0.75 lb	10.11%
wheat flour	0.50 lb	6.74%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.67 lb	9.03%
Fuggles 85 min	0.50 oz
Styrian Goldings 85 min	0.125 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1033
FG	1005
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	84.85%
IBU	15
SRM	8
Mash at	144º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	85 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	WLP099 Super High Gravity Thomas Hardy

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1964 Eldridge Pope BAK

Just for a change, here's an AK recipe. Just what you've been waiting for, I'm sure.

At the bottom of the Pale Ale pile ay Eldridge Pope was BAK, which presumably stands for Bottling AK. Effectively, it was their Light Ale and was marketed as Crystal Ale.

Light certainly describes BAK well. It’s not quite 3% ABV and under 20 (calculated) IBUs.

There's nothing very exciting about the grist. It's fairly typical of post-war Light Bitter recipes, with pale malt, crystal malt and invert sugar doing most of the heavy lifting.Backed up by a little wheat flour and some malt extract.

Four types of hops were used: Kent (1962), Worcester (1962), Sussex (1962) and Styrian hops (1962). This beer was brewed in January 1964, meaning all the hops were a little more than one season old. 

1964 Eldridge Pope BAK
pale malt	4.75 lb	73.08%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	7.69%
wheat flour	0.33 lb	5.08%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.85%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.67 lb	10.31%
Styrian Goldings 90 mins	0.13 oz
Fuggles 90 min	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1030
FG	1008
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	73.33%
IBU	16
SRM	7
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP099 Super High Gravity Thomas Hardy

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1945 Shepherd Neame AK

Even the biggest fan of Light Bitter must be getting fed up of AK by now. Not me. Once I get started on something, I find it hard to stop.

Here's another watery wartime recipe to enthrall you.  From a brewery that stuck brewing AK longer than most, Shepherd Neame.

I’m surprised that it survived this long. Down at the minimum practical (economically) since 1943, there was nowhere down for it to go. With another Pale Ale just a few degrees stronger, any further reduction in the IG of BB would spell doom for AK. Yet it manged to stumble on until the early 1950s.

As Shepherd Neame didn’t record primings, the effective OG could have been a little higher. Low-gravity draught beers were often primed to make sure there were enough fermentables to condition the cask.

Just one type of pale malt, flaked barley and a tiny bit of malt extract. Not exciting at all. The gravity also remains exactly the same as in the last two years.

There is a little excitement in the hopping, where American hops have made a comeback. Very few hops were imported after 1941, except for 1943 when 3,254 cwt. were brought in.  I’m guessing from the USA, most other prominent hop regions being under Nazi control. 10 lbs, out of a total of 242 lbs, were Oregon from the 1942 harvest. The quantity is so small, I haven’t included it in the recipe.

The remaining hops were all English, from the 1941, 1943 and 1944 seasons, 50% being from the earliest year. In response to which I’ve reduced the rate a fair bit in the recipe.

1945 Shepherd Neame AK
pale malt	6.50 lb	88.68%
flaked barley	0.75 lb	10.23%
malt extract	0.080 lb	1.09%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1027
FG	1006
ABV	2.78
Apparent attenuation	77.78%
IBU	15
SRM	3
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	a Southern English Ale yeast