Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter

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What better way to kick off the New Year than with a table. It adds to the festive mood no end. For me, at least.

The table relates to one of my recurring themes, though it may not at first be that obvious. What theme is that? IPA was not a strong beer. It gives an insight into why IPA was the strength it was.

During the 1850's and 1860's Whitbread brewed a shitload of Porter under contract for the Indian market. I mean a shitload - 50,000 barrels in 1860. Out of a total of 174,929 barrels of Porter. Or 29% of the Porter they brewed.

So was their Contract Porter brewed stronger than their standard Porter to help it survive the voyage? Not really. As you'll be able to see below:

Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter (for India)
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
pale malt
brown malt
black malt
10th Jul
1855
P

1059.0

1015.5

5.75

73.71%

10.81

2.79

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

6th Nov
1855
P

1059.8

1018.3

5.50

69.44%

3.78

0.91

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

7th Jul
1856
P

1054.8

1013.0

5.53

76.26%

10.99

2.95

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

25th Nov
1857
Contract

1059.8

1015.5

5.86

74.07%

20.28

5.29

1.5

1.5

2

63º

141

50

9

25th Nov
1857
Contract

1059.8

1015.5

5.86

74.07%

20.28

5.29

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

9th Dec
1857
Contract

1058.7

1016.1

5.64

72.64%

20.14

5.18

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

21st Aug
1857
P

1054.0

1013.3

5.39

75.38%

12.21

3.17

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

9th Mar
1858
Contract

1061.2

1020.8

5.35

66.06%

20.33

5.36

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

16th Oct
1858
Contract

1058.2

1017.2

5.42

70.48%

20.43

5.54

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

6th Nov
1858
Contract

1062.6

1018.8

5.79

69.91%

20.26

5.96

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

29th Nov
1858
Contract

1060.7

1016.6

5.83

72.60%

20.02

5.70

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

6th Mar
1858
P

1052.9

1016.1

4.87

69.63%

3.33

0.79

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

24th Mar
1858
P

1056.0

1014.4

5.50

74.26%

3.27

0.80

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

22nd Jan
1858
P

1054.0

1015.2

5.13

71.79%

3.03

0.74

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

5th Jul
1858
P

1053.7

1016.9

4.87

68.56%

11.65

2.68

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

25th Nov
1858
P

1054.6

1014.7

5.28

73.10%

9.95

2.45

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

7th Sep
1858
P

1055.7

1018.8

4.87

66.17%

12.93

2.78

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

24th Sep
1858
P

1053.2

1016.6

4.84

68.75%

12.25

3.00

1.5

1.5

2

64º

120

40

8

19th Oct
1859
Contract

1060.1

1019.7

5.35

67.28%

20.43

5.67

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

9th Nov
1859
Contract

1059.8

1018.3

5.50

69.44%

20.50

6.02

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

25th Jan
1859
P

1056.8

1016.1

5.39

71.71%

3.56

0.91

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

28th Jul
1859
P

1057.9

1018.3

5.24

68.42%

11.51

2.97

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

10th Nov
1859
P

1052.1

1015.2

4.87

70.74%

1.64

0.42

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

11th Apr
1860
Contract

1056.5

1015.5

5.42

72.55%

20.31

5.93

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

9th Aug
1860
P

1054.0

1015.8

5.06

70.77%

11.19

3.02

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

7th Nov
1860
P

1055.4

1015.0

5.35

73.00%

9.84

2.58

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

30th Dec
1861
Contract

1059.8

1016.6

5.72

72.22%

20.82

5.56

1.5

2

2

64º

140

50

10

8th Jul
1861
P

1053.5

1015.8

4.98

70.47%

10.37

2.63

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

25th jul
1861
P

1052.6

1015.2

4.95

71.05%

10.74

2.63

1.5

1.5

2

64º

141

50

9

2nd Jan
1862
Contract

1058.2

20.54

5.35

1.5

2

2

64º

140

50

10

8th Apr
1862
P

1054.6

1015.5

5.17

71.57%

10.03

2.25

1.5

2

2

64º

131

40

9

Source:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Documents:
LMA/4453/D/09/049
LMA/4453/D/09/050
LMA/4453/D/09/051
LMA/4453/D/09/052
LMA/4453/D/09/053
LMA/4453/D/09/054
LMA/4453/D/09/055

The Contract Porter was sometimes a tad stronger, but that was caused by a drop in the strength of the domestic Porter during the 1850's. The two versions were pretty much identical, but for one significant difference: the Indian one had about twice as many hops.

See how standard Porter sometimes dropped below 1055, but the Contract Porter never did. There's a reason for that, as I explained not long ago:

"Ale, Pale or Bitter ; brewed chiefly fur the Indian market and for other tropical countries.—It is a light beverage, with much aroma, and, in consequence of the regulations regarding the malt duty, is commonly brewed from a wort of specific gravity 1055 or upwards; for no drawback is allowed by the Excise on the exportation of beer brewed from worts of a lower gravity than 1054."
"Ures' dictionary of arts, manufactures and mines, Volume 1" by Andrew Ure, 1867, page 306.

Simple - Whitbread wouldn't get the tax back if the gravity of Contract Porter fell below 1055.

If you're wondering about the standard Porter entries that have less than a pound per barrel of hops, I think I have an explanation. In the winter months, when most of the Contract and Keeping Porter was brewed, far fewer hops were used in standard Porter. It seems they were re-using some of the tons (literally) of the hops used in Keeping and Contract Porter.https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...s.blogspot.com


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