Style guidelines 1909

Style guidelines, dontcha just love 'em? You can never have too many. Then I realised. Everyone's been so occupied writing ones for the present, they've forgotten about the past. Time to put that right.

Here are some style guidelines* for 1909. Handy for time-travelling home brewers who don't want to stand out.

AK
OG: 1040 - 1048
FG: 1008 - 1010
ABV: 4.5 - 5%
Hopping: 1.25 oz Cluster, 2.25 oz Goldings (for 5 gallons)
Grist: 55-80% pale malt, 0-15% maize or rice, 15-35% sugar
Colour: 20 - 25 EBC


X
OG: 1050 – 1057º
FG: 1009 - 1018º
ABV: 5 – 6%
Apparent attenuation: 70 – 85%
EBC: 40 - 90
lbs hops per barrel 1 – 1.5
Grist: English 2-row pale malt, foreign 6-row pale malt, English mild malt, crystal malt, No.3 invert sugar
Hops: Mid Kent, East Kent, Oregon, California.


PA
OG: 1055 - 1060º
FG: 1012 – 1020º
ABV: 5.5 – 6.6%
Apparent attenuation: 70 – 80%
EBC: 25 - 30
lbs hops per barrel 2.5 – 3.25
Grist: English 2-row pale malt, foreign 6-row pale malt, crystal malt, No.1 invert sugar
Hops: East Kent, Mid Kent.


IPA
OG: 1040 - 1050º
FG: 1010 - 1015º
ABV: 3.5 - 5%
Apparent attenuation: 65 - 75%
EBC: 20 - 25
lbs hops per barrel 2 – 2.75
Grist: English 2-row pale malt, foreign 6-row pale malt, crystal malt, No.1 invert sugar
Hops: East Kent, Mid Kent.



* These guidelines apply only to London.

Style guides

Say what you like about them, style guides have their place. Not, in the dustbin of history, as you might have expected. No, in its inbox.

There aren't too many style guides. There are too few. Think about it. The ones knocking around are incredibly unambitious. They only try to cover the present day. What about the rest of human (brewing) history? Where are the style guides to the 1930's or the 1850's? Or 1909, for that matter.

How am I ever going to set tests for the BHCP if there's no study text? It's a problem I need to address. And soon.

Disguised blessing

Events have overtaken my Bookcase Project. The tatty inaccessible shelves have been cleared away and replaced by a shiny new cabinet.

For you, it's a blessing in disguise. Why?

Before I answer that question, here are three vanished shelves.

An incomplete set of Good Beer Guides. I don't even have the one with a photo of my brother on the back.


More CAMRA publications. I'm such a loyal member. I have two life membership cards.

My favourite style books. I love them so much, I have some of them twice. Propped up with very outdated American guides. That's my excuse for the dust.

Disguised blessing. I hadn't forgotten. For the sake of completeness, I'll be including my new, new bookcase in the Project. Another chance to see the books from the three previous posts, arranged in a slightly different order. I've added a book to one of the other shelves. Perhaps I need to photograph that again, too. The Project may take longer than I anticipated.

Don't tell Dolores, but I ordered a German - English brewing dictionary yesterday. That will need to go somewhere. "Die Bierbrauerei der Neuzeit" that came last week hasn't got a place yet, either. I'd been meaning to translate the chapters "Obergäriges Braunbier oder Süssbier", "Berliner Weissbier" and "Lyoner Reisbier", but it's printed in gothic. I keep putting it off. So it's been lying on my "desk" for a week. That's not long at all. Some have stayed there for years.