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14-05-2014, 08:06
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It's taken rather longer than planned to get to the final instalment of this little series. I had to look and check if I'd done Courage's Strong Ales yet. I hadn't.

Courage were unusual in that they appear to have had not only a Burton, but a stronger KKK as well. I'm not sure whether it was a draught or bottled beer. I'd be inclined to pick the latter, given its strength. Though Barclay Perkin's KKKK was a draught beer, sold only in the winter. With a gravity of 1078º, it was a little stronger than Courage's KKK.

Hang on a minute. I've a label of KKK so it must have been bottled at some time in its life.

Fuller's Old Burton Extra was about exactly the same strength as Courage KKK and that, too, was a draught beer. Though one which was only made in tiny quantities - often just three or four barrels. I've included a table of these London Strong Ales for comparison purposes.

Fullers, just like Courage parti-gyled their Strong Ales with their Milds. Barclay Perkins didn't, making all three of their K Ales single gyle. It was probably a practical decision. They could brew small quatities single gyle because they had more than one brewhouse. In addition to their main plant churning out hundreds of barrels of Mild and Bitter they had a much smaller one, used for small-batch and experimental beers. Sometimes they brewed batches of only 20-odd barrels, a tiny quantity for a brewery of their size.

Getting back to Courage, their SA/XXX was a typical London Burton. A gravity in the mid-1050's and a bit over 5% ABV. Though it was more lightly hopped than the Barclay Perkins version. Not sure why they called their Burton XXX and not KK like most other London brewers. They had brewed something called KK up until 1917, a beer wjhich was discontinued in the later stages of the war.

While we're on hopping, you can see that the later versions of Courage KKK were relatively lightly hopped at around 7 lbs per quarter, compared to 11 lbs for Barclay Perkins stronger K Ales.

You can see that the boild times were a little shorter at Courage, but not by a huge amount




Courage Strong Ales 1920 - 1928


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
dry hops (oz / barrel)


1920
SA
1054.6
1015.5
5.17
71.57%
6.66
1.45
1.75
1.75
1
61º
6.76


1921
SA
1053.5
1014.4
5.17
73.06%
5.25
1.21
1.5
1.5
1
62º
5.03


1921
SA
1053.5
1014.7
5.13
72.54%
5.77
1.33
1.5
1.5
1
63º
5.17


1922
XXX
1054.3
1014.4
5.28
73.47%
5.43
1.30
1.5
1.5
1
62º
4.87


1923
XXX
1053.5
1011.9
5.50
77.72%
6.94
1.50
1.5
1.5
1
61º
5.28


1926
XXX
1053.5



6.84
1.44
2
1.5
1
61.5º
0.75


1927
XXX
1053.5



7.12
1.52
2
1.5
1
63.5º
0.00


1928
XXX
1053.5



6.79
1.51
1.5
1.5
1
61º
0.00


1922
KKK
1073.4
1024.9
6.41
66.04%
11.02
3.39
2
2
1.5
58º
7.65


1923
KKK
1073.4
1025.5
6.34
65.28%
11.00
3.28
2.5
2.5
2.5
60º
7.68


1926
KKK
1073.4



5.91
2.09
2
1.5
1
58.25º
8.32


1926
KKK
1073.4



6.92
1.97
2
1.5
1
59.5º
7.84


1927
KKK
1073.4



7.12
2.09
2
1.5
1
59º
9.82


1928
KKK
1073.4



7.48
2.26
2
1.5
1
60º
9.68


Source:


Courage brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/08/251, ACC/2305/08/253, ACC/2305/08/255 and ACC/2305/08/256.



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Other London Strong Ales


Year
Brewer
Beer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp


1928
Barclay Perkins
KKKK
1078.4
1025.5
7.00
67.49%
11.00
3.58
2.5

58º


1928
Barclay Perkins
KK bottling
1069.5
1020.0
6.55
71.21%
11.00
2.97
2.5
2
58.5º


1926
Barclay Perkins
KK
1055.5
1015.0
5.35
72.96%
9.00
1.91
1.75
1.5
58º


1925
Fullers
BO
1061.5
1018.8
5.65
69.40%
7.308
1.83
1.5
1.5
60º


1925
Fullers
OBE
1072.2
1021.1
6.77
70.85%
7.214
2.15
1.5
1.5
62.5º


Sources:


Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/611 and ACC/2305/01/614.


Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.



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xxxx



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