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There's not been a Let's Brew Wednesday recupe for a while. And I need to keep pushing my book*.

Not had a recipe from Kristen in a while, so this one of my efforts. (The recipe is for 6 US or 5 Imperial gallons. I forgot to mention that in the book.) It's one of the recipes I had to cut for space reasons. but it's also that most trendy of beasts: a session IPA.

Whitbread's IPA didn't have a long history at this point. It was first brewed in September 1899, whereas their PA had been around since 1867. And that wasn't the only Pale Ale that predated IPA, Family Ale was first brewed in 1871 and 2PA in 1888. IPA was late to the party.

Let's make this plain: it always had a lower gravity than the Pale Ale. Usually 10 to 13 gravity points lower. Another point worth making is that these two beers weren't usually parti-gyled. The only example in the tables below is the PA from the 10th May 1922. That was parti-gyled with IPA, which explains the heavier rate of hopping.

Originally, PA and IPA were both hopped at around 12 lbs per quarter. Then in 1908 the rate for PA was cut to 9 lbs per quarter, but for IPA to 11 lbs. From this point on, the IPA, relative to gravity, was mroe heavily hopped than the PA. I think that's quite significant. With getting on for 2 lbs per barrel of hops in a beer with a gravity in the mid-1030's, the 1920's version must have tasted pretty bitter. Especially given the high degree of attenuation.

Here is a brace of nice tables with all the details of Whitbread PA and IPA:

Whitbread IPA 1900 - 1923
Date Year Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
19th Feb 1900 IPA 1051.3 1014.0 4.94 72.72% 12.96 2.91
16th Nov 1901 IPA 1050.1 1012.0 5.05 76.07% 12.04 2.69
20th Feb 1902 IPA 1049.9 1013.0 4.88 73.93% 11.97 2.65
4th Jun 1904 IPA 1050.1 1013.0 4.91 74.07% 12.03 2.77
5th May 1905 IPA 1050.1 1013.0 4.91 74.07% 11.13 2.48
12th Mar 1906 IPA 1049.7 1014.0 4.73 71.86% 11.97 2.60
22nd May 1906 IPA 1050.1 1013.0 4.91 74.04% 11.99 2.63
14th May 1906 IPA 1050.6 1014.0 4.84 72.34% 12.09 2.68
29th May 1907 IPA 1050.4 1013.0 4.95 74.21% 10.99 2.39
3rd Jun 1908 IPA 1049.6 1013.0 4.84 73.78% 11.03 2.40
29th Nov 1909 IPA 1050.1 1012.0 5.05 76.07% 10.90 2.43
15th Aug 1910 IPA 1049.9 1014.5 4.68 70.92% 10.92 2.36
11th May 1912 IPA 1048.8 1011.0 4.99 77.44% 9.99 2.13
5th May 1913 IPA 1050.1 1015.0 4.65 70.08% 11.91 2.65
6th Oct 1914 IPA 1049.9 1015.0 4.61 69.92% 10.97 2.39
3rd Jul 1916 IPA 1046.8 1011.0 4.74 76.50% 11.96 2.43
31st Jan 1916 IPA 1047.1 1015.0 4.25 68.15% 10.94 2.26
16th Oct 1917 IPA 1038.8 1007.0 4.20 81.95% 11.41 1.91
11th Jun 1918 IPA 1033.0 1008.0 3.30 75.73% 11.68 1.69
11th Nov 1919 IPA 1036.0 1009.0 3.57 74.97% 12.95 1.98
5th Mar 1920 IPA 1034.0 1007.0 3.58 79.44% 12.99 1.90
27th Jan 1921 IPA 1033.0 1006.0 3.57 81.80% 12.91 1.86
31st Jan 1921 IPA 1033.0 1006.0 3.58 81.84% 12.89 1.74
8th Mar 1921 IPA 1035.5 1007.0 3.76 80.26% 12.94 1.81
15th May 1922 IPA 1036.3 1006.0 4.01 83.47% 12.98 1.95
9th Jan 1923 IPA 1035.7 1007.0 3.80 80.41% 13.07 1.93
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/065, LMA/4453/D/01/067, LMA/4453/D/01/069, LMA/4453/D/01/070, LMA/4453/D/01/071, LMA/4453/D/01/072, LMA/4453/D/01/073, LMA/4453/D/01/075, LMA/4453/D/01/076, LMA/4453/D/01/077, LMA/4453/D/01/078, LMA/4453/D/01/080, LMA/4453/D/01/081, LMA/4453/D/01/083, LMA/4453/D/01/085, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/087, LMA/4453/D/01/088.



Whitbread PA 1901 - 1923
Date Year Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
18th Nov 1901 PA 1060.9 1017.0 5.81 72.10% 11.09 3.05
15th Jun 1903 PA 1065.1 1021.0 5.83 67.74% 13.12 3.98
18th Mar 1904 PA 1063.4 1022.0 5.48 65.32% 12.97 3.87
26th Apr 1905 PA 1063.2 1019.0 5.84 69.92% 11.98 3.50
12th May 1906 PA 1063.4 1022.0 5.47 65.29% 12.01 3.40
24th May 1907 PA 1062.3 1020.0 5.60 67.91% 11.48 3.21
22nd May 1908 PA 1063.4 1020.0 5.74 68.44% 8.97 2.44
4th Jun 1909 PA 1062.7 1019.0 5.78 69.68% 8.98 2.49
27th Sep 1910 PA 1061.0 1021.0 5.29 65.57% 8.99 2.43
26th Mar 1912 PA 1061.2 1017.0 5.85 72.22% 8.88 2.44
7th May 1913 PA 1060.7 1020.0 5.38 67.03% 8.88 2.38
7th Oct 1914 PA 1061.1 1021.0 5.31 65.63% 8.91 2.39
14th Jul 1916 PA 1051.8 1015.0 4.87 71.04% 10.00 2.23
17th Oct 1917 PA 1044.3 1009.0 4.67 79.67% 10.61 1.96
14th Jul 1918 PA 1036.9 1008.0 3.83 78.33% 9.89 1.59
6th Nov 1919 PA 1047.7 1013.0 4.59 72.73% 8.50 1.76
4th Mar 1920 PA 1047.5 1012.0 4.69 74.71% 7.46 1.52
26th Jan 1921 PA 1048.2 1013.0 4.66 73.03% 8.97 1.81
10th May 1922 PA 1046.8 1006.0 5.39 87.17% 12.92 2.49
9th Jan 1923 PA 1046.4 1013.0 4.42 71.98% 9.03 1.77
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/067, LMA/4453/D/01/068, LMA/4453/D/01/069, LMA/4453/D/01/070, LMA/4453/D/01/071, LMA/4453/D/01/072, LMA/4453/D/01/073, LMA/4453/D/01/074, LMA/4453/D/01/076, LMA/4453/D/01/077, LMA/4453/D/01/078, LMA/4453/D/01/080, LMA/4453/D/01/081, LMA/4453/D/01/083, LMA/4453/D/01/085, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/087, LMA/4453/D/01/088.


How would 1923 Whitbread IPA compare to a modern Session IPA? I'm not sure. It's weaker than most contemporary versions, that's for sure. And uses different hops. I guess someone will need to brew it for us to find out.

Best give the recipe, then.

1923 Whitbread IPA
pale malt 2 row 4.50 lb 58.06%
pale malt 6 row 2.25 lb 29.03%
No.1 invert sugar 1 12.90%
Fuggles 90 min 1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 min 1.00 oz
Goldings 30 min 1.00 oz
OG 1036
FG 1008
ABV 3.7
Apparent attenuation 77.78%
IBU 43
SRM 5
Mash at 154º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 90 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast Wyeast 1098 British ale - dry
Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale
Source:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/088.

It's pretty damn simple: 2-row and 6-row pale malt, No. 1 invert sugar, Fuggles and Goldings. Not the complete absence of ctystal malt. As I keep telling you, it wasn't really that common in British Bitters until after WW I. There was probably also some caramel added for colour adjustment, vene though it is fairly pale in colour.

IPA was one of Whitbread's ost popular beers. The most popular in 1923, when they brewed 116,247 barrels of it, or 23% of their total production. While in the same year only 89,145 barrels of their Mild, X Ale, were brewed.***

One last point. This was exclusively sold in bottled form. A trend followed by Barclay Perkins and quite a few other brewers in the South of England. Though their version was stronger, with an OG in the mid-1040's. But their PA, with an OG of 1052º, was also stronger than Whitbread's.****







*The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Brewers-G.../dp/1592538827

** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/065.

*** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/088.

**** Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/614

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