Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Session Imperial Stout grists
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Bet you thought I’d forgotten about this. And you’d be right. I did forget, distracted by more German top-fermenting stuff.
That’s my biggest problem: I’m interested in too much. I really have try hard to keep my focus, which is British and, to a lesser extent, German beer. If I didn’t, I’d be off all over the place. Believe me, it’s a real struggle.
Back to the beer I’m supposed to be discussing, Barclay Perkins Session Imperial Stout. There are a couple of interesting points about the grist. The use of roast barley is the most obvious. London brewers mostly preferred black malt. And the amount – around 10%.
The versions from the 1920’s have a crazy proportion of dark malts: around 35%. I was so surprised that I went back and checked the brewing records. And it is correct. There’s less than 50% base malt. Though that did decline after WW II started, with the brown malt percentage in particular declining. All those dark malts must have produced quite a thick beer, despite not being massively strong. And a very roasty one.
The amount of flaked maize is quite low. 10-15% was typical of other Barclay Perkins beers of the time. The oats, in this case, aren’t a wartime thing. Look at the tiny quantity. It’s because it was being part-gyled with London Stout, some of which was sold as Oatmeal Stout, requiring a tiny amount of oats for legal purposes.
| Barclay Perkins Session Imperial Stout grains 1921 - 1941 |
| Year |
OG |
MA malt |
SA malt |
brown malt |
amber malt |
crystal malt |
roast barley |
oats |
flaked maize |
flaked rice |
| 1921 |
1061.3 |
|
45.77% |
13.46% |
12.12% |
|
9.42% |
|
5.38% |
|
| 1924 |
1061.4 |
|
47.00% |
13.82% |
12.44% |
|
9.68% |
|
5.53% |
|
| 1928 |
1060.4 |
45.98% |
|
13.79% |
12.64% |
|
10.34% |
|
4.60% |
|
| 1929 |
1060.7 |
27.15% |
29.86% |
10.86% |
10.86% |
|
8.14% |
|
5.43% |
|
| 1936 |
1060.4 |
40.43% |
8.31% |
5.26% |
11.63% |
6.65% |
11.63% |
0.28% |
4.43% |
|
| 1940 |
1055.4 |
43.29% |
|
5.70% |
10.25% |
5.70% |
11.19% |
0.14% |
|
9.11% |
| 1941 |
1055.6 |
65.23% |
|
4.30% |
9.86% |
5.02% |
10.04% |
0.18% |
|
|
| Sources: |
| Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/608, ACC/2305/01/611, ACC/2305/01/614, ACC/2305/01/621, ACC/2305/01/623 and ACC/2305/01/624. |
Sugars next.
Unsurprisingly, most version contain No. 3 invert and all caramel. The lactose in the wartime versions I suspect is there for the same reason as oats. Because they were selling some of the London Stout it was parti-gyled with as Milk Stout as well as Oatmeal Stout. So I guess those beer ware Session Imperial Milk Oatmeal Stout.
Someone is bound to have brewed something called that in the last 10 years thinking they were being innovative. As I keep saying, almost nothing in beer is genuinely new, other than hop varieties.
| Barclay Perkins Session Imperial Stout sugars 1921 - 1941 |
| Year |
OG |
no. 2 sugar |
no. 3 sugar |
caramel |
Martineau BS |
lactose |
other sugar |
| 1921 |
1061.3 |
|
12.56% |
1.28% |
|
|
|
| 1924 |
1061.4 |
|
11.06% |
0.46% |
|
|
|
| 1928 |
1060.4 |
|
12.26% |
0.38% |
|
|
|
| 1929 |
1060.7 |
|
7.24% |
0.45% |
|
|
|
| 1936 |
1060.4 |
1.48% |
2.95% |
1.05% |
5.91% |
|
|
| 1940 |
1055.4 |
|
|
0.95% |
|
1.52% |
12.15% |
| 1941 |
1055.6 |
|
3.35% |
1.55% |
|
0.48% |
|
| Sources: |
| Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/608, ACC/2305/01/611, ACC/2305/01/614, ACC/2305/01/621, ACC/2305/01/623 and ACC/2305/01/624. |
The other sugar in the 1940 version is probably No. 3 invert. They just don’t specify the sugar type in the brewing record.
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