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22-11-2013, 07:23
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Looking back through my old posts, I noticed that I'd started going through Whitbread's Ales from their inception in the 1830's, but had never finished. In fact I didn't get any further than the . . . . 1830's. So it's about time I went through their K Ales from the 1840's.
Whitbread only started brewing Ales a few years before this, in 1837. It was still very much a sideline for them. Their bread butter was Porter and Stout. Well Porter, really. In the years I have figures for in the 1840's, they brewed about 150,000 barrels of Porter and 10,000 barrels of Stout*. It makes the 34,000 Of Ale which Whitbread made in their most productive year of the 1840's look pretty feeble.
I wish I had separate output figures for the K and X Ales. But unfortunately Whitbread just lumped together XX and KXX, XXX and KXXX and XXXX and KXXXX. XXXX and KXXXX were discontinued in 1844. Not surprising, seeing as they only brewed 101 barrels in 1843 and 52 barrels in 1844. The output of XX/KXX and XXX/KXXX both increased as the decade progressed, but still lagged way behind the popular X Ale. A beer with no Stock Ale equivalent.
As you can see in the table below, there was a gradual downward drift in gravities, with KXX dropping from 1091.1 to 1087.5, and KXXX from 1102.5 to 1092. There was a similar trend among the X Ales. As you should have come to expect by now, the gravities of XX and KXX were the same, as were the gravities of XXX and KXXX.
Whitbread Ale output 1843 - 1847
X
XL
XX
XXX
XXXX
total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
1843
12,337
65.20%
1,695
8.96%
2,329
12.31%
2,459
13.00%
101
0.53%
18,921
1844
19,748
68.95%
1,220
4.26%
3,064
10.70%
4,559
15.92%
51
0.18%
28,642
1845
22,012
70.40%
1,023
3.27%
3,661
11.71%
4,571
14.62%
31,267
1846
23,441
70.14%
824
2.47%
4,427
13.25%
4,729
14.15%
33,421
1847
21,420
69.13%
971
3.13%
4,599
14.84%
3,997
12.90%
30,987
1848
20,651
59.60%
3,766
10.87%
5,304
15.31%
4,929
14.23%
34,650
1849
22,441
67.69%
2,245
6.77%
4,286
12.93%
4,180
12.61%
33,152
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/010, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
What does surprise me is that the K versions don't have that many more hops than the X equivalent. The average of the 8 examples of XX is s.88 lbs per barrel, not that much less than the 3.6 to 4.2 lbs of KXX. Usually K Ales had 50-100% more hops per barrel. This even more apparent in the case of XXX and KXXX, where, in some cases, there are XXX Ales with more hops than some KXXX Ales. The average hopping rate for the KXXX examples is 3.92 lbs per barrel - barely more than XXX's average of 3.77 lbs.
Whitbread K Ales in the 1840's
Date
Year
Beer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
max. fermentation temp
length of fermentation (days)
6th Apr
1841
KXX
1091.1
1038.8
6.93
57.45%
9.85
3.60
2
2
3
60º
79º
4 + 3
23rd Mar
1844
KXX
1090.6
1028.5
8.21
68.50%
9.56
3.81
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
3 + 3
5th May
1846
KXX
1086.7
1029.1
7.62
66.45%
10.05
4.22
1.5
2
3
63º
76º
3 + 4
21st Mar
1849
KXX
1087.5
1028.8
7.77
67.09%
10.91
4.21
1.5
2
2
60º
76º
3 + 3
22nd Apr
1841
KXXX
1102.5
1029.9
9.60
70.81%
5.96
2.55
2
2
3
60º
79º
4 + 4
16th Dec
1842
KXXX
1099.7
1030.7
9.12
69.17%
7.82
3.66
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
3 + 3
11th Feb
1843
KXXX
1100.3
1032.7
8.94
67.40%
9.09
3.94
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
4 + 3
4th Mar
1844
KXXX
1101.1
1029.9
9.42
70.41%
9.42
4.22
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
4 + 2
10th Feb
1845
KXXX
1097.5
1029.9
8.94
69.32%
9.67
3.95
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
29h Jan
1846
KXXX
1095.8
1029.9
8.72
68.79%
9.89
4.49
1.5
2
3
60º
75º
3 + 4
25th Oct
1847
KXXX
1093.1
1031.9
8.10
65.77%
9.13
3.77
1.5
2
2
60º
76º
3 + 2
8th Jan
1849
KXXX
1092.0
1031.6
7.99
65.66%
10.95
4.77
1.5
2
2
60º
78º
3 + 3
9th Mar
1844
KXXXX
1112.7
10.91
5.47
1.5
2
3
58º
78º
4 + ?
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D7VRwmy8v-E/UooVq6PTSfI/AAAAAAAASZE/1b9cljkN1Jc/s320/Whitbread_K_Ales_1840s.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D7VRwmy8v-E/UooVq6PTSfI/AAAAAAAASZE/1b9cljkN1Jc/s1600/Whitbread_K_Ales_1840s.jpg)
Whitbread X Ales in the 1840's
Year
Brewer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
1841
X
1077.0
1030.7
6.12
60.07%
7.45
2.36
1842
X
1073.7
1028.0
6.05
62.03%
7.31
2.44
1843
X
1079.8
1029.1
6.71
63.54%
7.35
2.48
1844
X
1078.7
1026.6
6.89
66.20%
7.93
2.74
1845
X
1078.1
1029.6
6.41
62.06%
8.44
2.86
1846
X
1077.6
1028.8
6.45
62.86%
9.89
3.63
1847
X
1064.0
1027.1
4.87
57.58%
9.13
2.59
1848
X
1074.5
1028.3
6.12
62.08%
8.25
2.98
1849
X
1075.3
1027.7
6.30
63.24%
7.25
2.35
1841
XL
1081.2
1029.9
6.78
63.14%
7.27
2.47
1844
XL
1082.3
1027.7
7.22
66.33%
7.78
2.71
1845
XL
1082.3
1029.1
7.04
64.65%
7.33
2.45
1846
XL
1081.7
1026.6
7.29
67.46%
8.55
3.18
1847
XL
1064.5
1026.3
5.06
59.23%
9.63
2.80
1849
XL
1076.7
1028.8
6.34
62.45%
7.25
2.39
1841
XX
1091.7
1031.6
7.95
65.56%
7.29
2.68
1843
XX
1089.2
1029.9
7.84
66.46%
6.42
2.37
1844
XX
1072.0
1029.6
5.61
58.85%
9.56
3.03
1845
XX
1089.7
1029.1
8.03
67.59%
7.85
2.64
1846
XX
1088.1
1026.3
8.17
70.13%
8.55
3.35
1847
XX
1072.9
1028.3
5.90
61.22%
8.64
3.09
1848
XX
1084.8
1029.1
7.37
65.69%
8.73
3.29
1849
XX
1084.5
1029.4
7.29
65.25%
8.47
3.44
1841
XXX
1101.4
1030.7
9.34
69.67%
7.45
3.11
1842
XXX
1100.3
7.31
3.32
1843
XXX
1100.3
1032.7
8.94
67.40%
6.44
2.81
1844
XXX
1099.4
1027.7
9.49
72.14%
7.11
3.00
1845
XXX
1098.3
1027.7
9.34
71.83%
8.29
3.56
1846
XXX
1094.5
1029.1
8.65
69.21%
8.55
3.87
1847
XXX
1086.7
1032.1
7.22
62.94%
9.37
3.65
1848
XXX
1093.1
1027.7
8.65
70.24%
8.62
3.77
1842
XXXX
1112.2
8.38
4.19
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/010, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
Let's look in more detail at the K Ales. I've not bothered with a grist table because all of these beers were brewed from 100% pale malt. The hopping isn't much more exciting, with all the hops English, except for the KXXX of 1847 which also had some American ones. There was one difference in recipe between the X and K Ales. In 1847, the year in became a legal ingredient in beer, Whitbread experimented with using sugar. But only in X Ales. At about 20% of the grist, the proportion of sugar to malt was quite high.
The degree of attenuation at 65 to 70% isn't great, but I've seen worse. And it would presumably have fallen during maturation. Especially as there would almost certainly have been Brettanomyces involved in the secondary fermentation. Many of William Younger's strong Shilling Ales of the 1840's had an apparent attenuation of below 60%, some barely over 50%.
The extended boil for the later worts is almost certainly to concentrate them to get to the required gravity. With even the X Ale over 1070º, these were all powerful beers.
Intriguingly, the Ales were pitched at a cooler temperature than their Porter and Stouts. Which were pitched at 63 or 64º F, even SSS with a gravity over 1090º. I don't have the maximum fermentation temperature, unfortunately, but I imagine they were at least as high as for the Ales. Over the century it would fall to a more reasonable temperature in the low 70's.
Next time - the 1850's.
* Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/033, LMA/4453/D/09/034, LMA/4453/D/09/035, LMA/4453/D/09/036, LMA/4453/D/09/037, LMA/4453/D/09/038, LMA/4453/D/09/039, LMA/4453/D/09/040, LMA/4453/D/09/041, LMA/4453/D/09/042 and LMA/4453/D/09/043.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/whitbread-k-ales-in-1840s.html)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25SHQt520oA/UooW2Lh8t4I/AAAAAAAASZU/g77w19UUCLI/s400/Fremlins_Stock_Bitter_Ale_2.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25SHQt520oA/UooW2Lh8t4I/AAAAAAAASZU/g77w19UUCLI/s1600/Fremlins_Stock_Bitter_Ale_2.jpg)
Looking back through my old posts, I noticed that I'd started going through Whitbread's Ales from their inception in the 1830's, but had never finished. In fact I didn't get any further than the . . . . 1830's. So it's about time I went through their K Ales from the 1840's.
Whitbread only started brewing Ales a few years before this, in 1837. It was still very much a sideline for them. Their bread butter was Porter and Stout. Well Porter, really. In the years I have figures for in the 1840's, they brewed about 150,000 barrels of Porter and 10,000 barrels of Stout*. It makes the 34,000 Of Ale which Whitbread made in their most productive year of the 1840's look pretty feeble.
I wish I had separate output figures for the K and X Ales. But unfortunately Whitbread just lumped together XX and KXX, XXX and KXXX and XXXX and KXXXX. XXXX and KXXXX were discontinued in 1844. Not surprising, seeing as they only brewed 101 barrels in 1843 and 52 barrels in 1844. The output of XX/KXX and XXX/KXXX both increased as the decade progressed, but still lagged way behind the popular X Ale. A beer with no Stock Ale equivalent.
As you can see in the table below, there was a gradual downward drift in gravities, with KXX dropping from 1091.1 to 1087.5, and KXXX from 1102.5 to 1092. There was a similar trend among the X Ales. As you should have come to expect by now, the gravities of XX and KXX were the same, as were the gravities of XXX and KXXX.
Whitbread Ale output 1843 - 1847
X
XL
XX
XXX
XXXX
total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
barrels
% of total
1843
12,337
65.20%
1,695
8.96%
2,329
12.31%
2,459
13.00%
101
0.53%
18,921
1844
19,748
68.95%
1,220
4.26%
3,064
10.70%
4,559
15.92%
51
0.18%
28,642
1845
22,012
70.40%
1,023
3.27%
3,661
11.71%
4,571
14.62%
31,267
1846
23,441
70.14%
824
2.47%
4,427
13.25%
4,729
14.15%
33,421
1847
21,420
69.13%
971
3.13%
4,599
14.84%
3,997
12.90%
30,987
1848
20,651
59.60%
3,766
10.87%
5,304
15.31%
4,929
14.23%
34,650
1849
22,441
67.69%
2,245
6.77%
4,286
12.93%
4,180
12.61%
33,152
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/010, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
What does surprise me is that the K versions don't have that many more hops than the X equivalent. The average of the 8 examples of XX is s.88 lbs per barrel, not that much less than the 3.6 to 4.2 lbs of KXX. Usually K Ales had 50-100% more hops per barrel. This even more apparent in the case of XXX and KXXX, where, in some cases, there are XXX Ales with more hops than some KXXX Ales. The average hopping rate for the KXXX examples is 3.92 lbs per barrel - barely more than XXX's average of 3.77 lbs.
Whitbread K Ales in the 1840's
Date
Year
Beer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
max. fermentation temp
length of fermentation (days)
6th Apr
1841
KXX
1091.1
1038.8
6.93
57.45%
9.85
3.60
2
2
3
60º
79º
4 + 3
23rd Mar
1844
KXX
1090.6
1028.5
8.21
68.50%
9.56
3.81
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
3 + 3
5th May
1846
KXX
1086.7
1029.1
7.62
66.45%
10.05
4.22
1.5
2
3
63º
76º
3 + 4
21st Mar
1849
KXX
1087.5
1028.8
7.77
67.09%
10.91
4.21
1.5
2
2
60º
76º
3 + 3
22nd Apr
1841
KXXX
1102.5
1029.9
9.60
70.81%
5.96
2.55
2
2
3
60º
79º
4 + 4
16th Dec
1842
KXXX
1099.7
1030.7
9.12
69.17%
7.82
3.66
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
3 + 3
11th Feb
1843
KXXX
1100.3
1032.7
8.94
67.40%
9.09
3.94
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
4 + 3
4th Mar
1844
KXXX
1101.1
1029.9
9.42
70.41%
9.42
4.22
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
4 + 2
10th Feb
1845
KXXX
1097.5
1029.9
8.94
69.32%
9.67
3.95
1.5
2
3
60º
78º
29h Jan
1846
KXXX
1095.8
1029.9
8.72
68.79%
9.89
4.49
1.5
2
3
60º
75º
3 + 4
25th Oct
1847
KXXX
1093.1
1031.9
8.10
65.77%
9.13
3.77
1.5
2
2
60º
76º
3 + 2
8th Jan
1849
KXXX
1092.0
1031.6
7.99
65.66%
10.95
4.77
1.5
2
2
60º
78º
3 + 3
9th Mar
1844
KXXXX
1112.7
10.91
5.47
1.5
2
3
58º
78º
4 + ?
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D7VRwmy8v-E/UooVq6PTSfI/AAAAAAAASZE/1b9cljkN1Jc/s320/Whitbread_K_Ales_1840s.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D7VRwmy8v-E/UooVq6PTSfI/AAAAAAAASZE/1b9cljkN1Jc/s1600/Whitbread_K_Ales_1840s.jpg)
Whitbread X Ales in the 1840's
Year
Brewer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
1841
X
1077.0
1030.7
6.12
60.07%
7.45
2.36
1842
X
1073.7
1028.0
6.05
62.03%
7.31
2.44
1843
X
1079.8
1029.1
6.71
63.54%
7.35
2.48
1844
X
1078.7
1026.6
6.89
66.20%
7.93
2.74
1845
X
1078.1
1029.6
6.41
62.06%
8.44
2.86
1846
X
1077.6
1028.8
6.45
62.86%
9.89
3.63
1847
X
1064.0
1027.1
4.87
57.58%
9.13
2.59
1848
X
1074.5
1028.3
6.12
62.08%
8.25
2.98
1849
X
1075.3
1027.7
6.30
63.24%
7.25
2.35
1841
XL
1081.2
1029.9
6.78
63.14%
7.27
2.47
1844
XL
1082.3
1027.7
7.22
66.33%
7.78
2.71
1845
XL
1082.3
1029.1
7.04
64.65%
7.33
2.45
1846
XL
1081.7
1026.6
7.29
67.46%
8.55
3.18
1847
XL
1064.5
1026.3
5.06
59.23%
9.63
2.80
1849
XL
1076.7
1028.8
6.34
62.45%
7.25
2.39
1841
XX
1091.7
1031.6
7.95
65.56%
7.29
2.68
1843
XX
1089.2
1029.9
7.84
66.46%
6.42
2.37
1844
XX
1072.0
1029.6
5.61
58.85%
9.56
3.03
1845
XX
1089.7
1029.1
8.03
67.59%
7.85
2.64
1846
XX
1088.1
1026.3
8.17
70.13%
8.55
3.35
1847
XX
1072.9
1028.3
5.90
61.22%
8.64
3.09
1848
XX
1084.8
1029.1
7.37
65.69%
8.73
3.29
1849
XX
1084.5
1029.4
7.29
65.25%
8.47
3.44
1841
XXX
1101.4
1030.7
9.34
69.67%
7.45
3.11
1842
XXX
1100.3
7.31
3.32
1843
XXX
1100.3
1032.7
8.94
67.40%
6.44
2.81
1844
XXX
1099.4
1027.7
9.49
72.14%
7.11
3.00
1845
XXX
1098.3
1027.7
9.34
71.83%
8.29
3.56
1846
XXX
1094.5
1029.1
8.65
69.21%
8.55
3.87
1847
XXX
1086.7
1032.1
7.22
62.94%
9.37
3.65
1848
XXX
1093.1
1027.7
8.65
70.24%
8.62
3.77
1842
XXXX
1112.2
8.38
4.19
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/004, LMA/4453/D/01/006, LMA/4453/D/01/007, LMA/4453/D/01/008, LMA/4453/D/01/009, LMA/4453/D/01/010, LMA/4453/D/01/011 and LMA/4453/D/01/012.
Let's look in more detail at the K Ales. I've not bothered with a grist table because all of these beers were brewed from 100% pale malt. The hopping isn't much more exciting, with all the hops English, except for the KXXX of 1847 which also had some American ones. There was one difference in recipe between the X and K Ales. In 1847, the year in became a legal ingredient in beer, Whitbread experimented with using sugar. But only in X Ales. At about 20% of the grist, the proportion of sugar to malt was quite high.
The degree of attenuation at 65 to 70% isn't great, but I've seen worse. And it would presumably have fallen during maturation. Especially as there would almost certainly have been Brettanomyces involved in the secondary fermentation. Many of William Younger's strong Shilling Ales of the 1840's had an apparent attenuation of below 60%, some barely over 50%.
The extended boil for the later worts is almost certainly to concentrate them to get to the required gravity. With even the X Ale over 1070º, these were all powerful beers.
Intriguingly, the Ales were pitched at a cooler temperature than their Porter and Stouts. Which were pitched at 63 or 64º F, even SSS with a gravity over 1090º. I don't have the maximum fermentation temperature, unfortunately, but I imagine they were at least as high as for the Ales. Over the century it would fall to a more reasonable temperature in the low 70's.
Next time - the 1850's.
* Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/033, LMA/4453/D/09/034, LMA/4453/D/09/035, LMA/4453/D/09/036, LMA/4453/D/09/037, LMA/4453/D/09/038, LMA/4453/D/09/039, LMA/4453/D/09/040, LMA/4453/D/09/041, LMA/4453/D/09/042 and LMA/4453/D/09/043.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/whitbread-k-ales-in-1840s.html)