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02-09-2012, 08:31
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/09/tennents-lager-1889-1890.html)


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Many thanks to Barm (http://refreshingbeer.blogspot.nl/) for sending me a couple of pictures from some early Tennent's Lager documents. They're what I've based this post on.

They aren't brewing records, but an overview of the quantity of Lager brewed and the materials used. They still contain plenty of useful information such as OG, hopping rate and grist. Plus they give an idea of how much Lager Tennent were brewing.

The records cover 1889-1890 and in the 6 months that they cover, Tennent brewed 2,418 barrels of Lager. Assuming that they brewed a similar amount every month of the year, that comes to an annual output of 4,836 barrels. Or bugger all. Large London brewers had single batches of Mild Ale of more than 1,000 barrels. Though this is before Tennent's shiny new Lager brewery first brewed in 1891. Presumably they upped production a bit then.

Let's move on to the beer itself. Its gravity was around 1056ยบ, about dead on average for the period. And a couple of points below a contemporary London X Ale. It's odd they way they changed the grist a few times: occasionally brewing it all malt, but mostly with about 25% maize. Though there were single brews that used either rice or sugar.




Tennent's Lager 1889 - 1890


Date
Year
Brewer
Beer
OG
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
barrels
lbs hops
total qtrs
qtrs malt
flaked maize
flaked rice


31st Oct
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1053.0
4.62
1.25
48
60
13
13




7th Nov
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1054.0
4.62
1.18
102
120
26
26




14th Nov
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1057.0
4.50
1.20
100
120
26.67
20
6.67



21st Nov
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1060.0
4.50
1.20
100
120
26.67
20
6.67



28th Nov
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1058.0
4.50
1.13
106
120
26.67
20
6.67



5th Dec
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1057.0
4.50
1.12
107
120
26.67
20
6.67



12th Dec
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.50
1.07
112
120
26.67
20
6.67



19th Dec
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.16
112
130
26.67
20
6.67



4th Jan
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.18
110
130
26.67
20
6.67



8th Jan
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.17
111
130
26.67
20
6.67



16th Jan
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.20
108
130
26.67
20
6.67



22nd Jan
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.13
115
130
26.67
20
6.67



29th Jan
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.14
114
130
26.67
20
6.67



6th Feb
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.13
115
130
26.67
20
6.67



13th Feb
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.14
114
130
26.67
20
6.67



27th Feb
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1054.0
4.87
1.10
118
130
26.67
20
6.67



15th Mar
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.13
115
130
26.67
20
6.67



20th Mar
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1056.0
4.87
1.13
115
130
26.67
20
6.67



28th Mar
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.13
115
130
26.67
20
6.67



3rd Apr
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1054.0
4.91
1.12
116
130
26.5
26.5




10th Apr
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1053.0
4.87
1.10
118
130
26.67
20
6.67



17th Apr
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1053.0
4.87
1.08
120
130
26.67
20
6.67



1st May
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1054.0
4.87
1.06
123
130
26.67
20

6.67


8th May
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1053.0
4.87
1.09
119
130
26.67
20
6.67



15th May
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1054.0
4.91
1.13
115
130
26.5
26.5




29th May
1888
Tennent
Lager Beer
1055.0
4.87
1.10
118
130
26.67
20
6.67



Source:


Record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive



The hopping rate is very low, way lower than even for Mild. Here's a table to show how it compares with London beers of the same period:




London beers 1889 - 1891


Date
Year
Brewer
Beer
Style
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenuation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl


7th Oct
1891
Barclay Perkins
BS
Stout
1077.0
1027.0
6.61
64.94%
8.56
2.98


19th Feb
1891
Barclay Perkins
KK
Stock Ale
1075.0
1020.2
7.25
73.04%
15.17
4.91


11th Mar
1891
Barclay Perkins
KKK
Stock Ale
1085.0
1021.6
8.39
74.58%
14.75
5.43


10th Jun
1890
Barclay Perkins
X
Mild
1058.0
1015.5
5.62
73.26%
7.92
1.98


8th Jan
1890
Whitbread
2KKK
Stock Ale
1075.3
1025.0
6.66
66.82%
14.29
4.90


10th Jan
1890
Whitbread
2PA
Pale Ale
1054.6
1011.0
5.76
79.84%
10.79
2.78


28th Oct
1889
Whitbread
FA
Pale Ale
1052.4
1008.0
5.87
84.72%
10.17
2.65


21st Oct
1889
Whitbread
KK
Stock Ale
1074.5
1020.0
7.21
73.16%
12.12
4.25


1st Nov
1889
Whitbread
KKK
Stock Ale
1086.4
1028.0
7.73
67.60%
14.00
5.87


23rd Oct
1889
Whitbread
PA
Pale Ale
1060.4
1012.0
6.40
80.13%
11.05
3.19


11th Oct
1889
Whitbread
X
Mild
1060.1
1016.0
5.84
73.38%
7.02
1.94


10th Oct
1889
Whitbread
XK
Mild
1066.8
1018.0
6.45
73.04%
6.99
2.23


12th Feb
1889
Whitbread
P
Porter
1057.1
1015.0
5.57
73.79%
8.04
2.00


29th Jan
1890
Whitbread
SS
Stout
1083.1
1025.0
7.69
69.92%
10.63
4.76


29th Jan
1890
Whitbread
SSS
Stout
1095.6
1037.0
7.75
61.28%
10.63
5.47


Sources:


Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/1/586


Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/055, LMA/4453/D/09/083, LMA/4453/D/09/084



In multiple 19th-century sources I'd read how much more lightly hopped Lager was than British beers. This confirms that. Tennent's Lager had about half as many hops per barrel as even running beer.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-2822759160840068144?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/09/tennents-lager-1889-1890.html)