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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Adnams beers in 1890
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I’m getting on with trudging through the muddy field of Adnams brewing records while I retain my enthusiasm. You never know how long it will last.
Their beers, in terms of styles brewed, aren’t a million miles away from those of London. Mild Ale, Pale Ale, Old Ale and Stout. You’ve probably spotted the big omission: Porter. That doesn’t surprise me as Porter was rapidly going out of fashion in the provinces. It was only in London that the style retained considerable popularity.
There are a couple of irritations with these particular records. The lack of a fermentation record being the biggest. Despite there being a place for it in the form. Just too damn lazy to fill it out.
At least the mashing details are recorded. Two mashes, then two sparges, if you’re interested. First mash with a strike heat of around 160º F, second at 180º F. The volume of water is much large for the first, so I doubt the second is a complete mash, more like some sort of underlet mash. Sparges at 160º F and 170º F. The volume of water is much larger for the sparges, around 27 barrels, while the two mashes between them were only 8 to 10 barrels.
I suppose I should get on with the beer details. Great to see an AK in there to add to my collection.
Here’s the table:
Adnams beers in 1890 |
Date |
Beer |
Style |
OG |
lbs hops/ qtr |
hops lb/brl |
hops |
26th Mar |
SS |
Stout |
1062.6 |
6.00 |
1.67 |
Altmark and Sussex |
2nd Apr |
XX |
Mild Ale |
1043.8 |
10.00 |
1.80 |
Altmark and Sussex |
3rd Apr |
Tally Ho |
Old Ale |
1082.5 |
11.05 |
4.16 |
Boornants?, Worcester and Burgundy |
8th Apr |
XXXX |
Mild Ale |
1059.8 |
9.29 |
2.39 |
Burgundy and Sussex |
9th Apr |
SS |
Stout |
1065.4 |
7.10 |
2.02 |
Altmark and Sussex |
15th Apr |
XXXX |
Mild Ale |
1061.5 |
7.86 |
2.06 |
Skinner Kent and Bavarians |
17th Apr |
PA |
Pale Ale |
1058.2 |
14.29 |
3.70 |
Worcester and Kent |
21st Apr |
AK |
Pale Ale |
1047.1 |
10.91 |
2.20 |
Worcester and Kent |
23rd Apr |
Tally Ho |
Old Ale |
1085.9 |
11.05 |
4.38 |
Worcester, Kent and Burgundy |
30th Apr |
XX |
Mild Ale |
1044.3 |
10.00 |
1.83 |
Altmark and Skinner |
1st May |
PA |
Pale Ale |
1060.4 |
14.29 |
3.81 |
Worcester and Kent |
6th May |
XXXX |
Mild Ale |
1060.4 |
7.86 |
2.00 |
Hants, Skinner and Bavarian |
14th May |
AK |
Pale Ale |
1046.5 |
10.91 |
2.20 |
Clifford Kent, Worcester |
15th May |
SS |
Stout |
1064.3 |
5.81 |
1.65 |
Altmark and Sussex |
5th Jun |
Tally Ho |
Old Ale |
1086.4 |
11.05 |
4.50 |
Worcester, Kent and Burgundy |
15th Aug |
SS |
Stout |
1061.5 |
7.32 |
2.26 |
Altmark, Clifford and Re, P. |
Source: |
Adnams brewing records held at the brewery. |
They’re an odd set. Why? Because some have the gravity I would expect, while others are way off.
XX is very weak for an 1890’s Mild Ale. Even X Ale I’d expect to be at least 1050º. Adnams XXXX is only about the strength of a London X Ale. The Stout is very weak by London standards. Closer to a Porter, in fact.
Time for another table to show you what I mean:
Whitbread beers in 1890 |
Date |
Beer |
Style |
OG |
FG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
lbs hops/ qtr |
hops lb/brl |
Pitch temp |
19th Jul |
XK |
Ale |
1069.0 |
1019.0 |
6.61 |
72.45% |
8.02 |
2.46 |
60º |
19th Jul |
X |
Mild |
1060.9 |
1015.0 |
6.08 |
75.39% |
8.02 |
2.18 |
60º |
20th Oct |
FA |
Pale Ale |
1054.8 |
1012.0 |
5.67 |
78.12% |
11.01 |
2.73 |
57º |
16th Jul |
2PA |
Pale Ale |
1055.4 |
1010.0 |
6.01 |
81.95% |
11.69 |
2.99 |
57º |
16th Jul |
PA |
Pale Ale |
1060.1 |
1013.0 |
6.23 |
78.37% |
11.69 |
3.25 |
57º |
7th Nov |
KK |
Stock Ale |
1075.3 |
1026.0 |
6.53 |
65.49% |
14.27 |
4.88 |
57º |
10th Mar |
2KKK |
Stock Ale |
1078.7 |
1029.0 |
6.57 |
63.14% |
13.99 |
5.13 |
57º |
10th Nov |
KKK |
Stock Ale |
1085.6 |
1030.0 |
7.35 |
64.95% |
14.16 |
5.76 |
57º |
25th Jan |
P |
Porter |
1057.1 |
1012.0 |
5.96 |
78.97% |
9.74 |
2.07 |
60.5º |
29th Jan |
SS |
Stout |
1083.1 |
1025.0 |
7.69 |
69.92% |
10.63 |
4.76 |
57º |
29th Jan |
SSS |
Stout |
1095.6 |
1037.0 |
7.75 |
61.28% |
10.63 |
5.47 |
57º |
Sources: |
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/056 and LMA/4453/D/09/084. |
Adnams SS is barely stronger than Whitbread Porter. Yet Tally Ho is stronger than any of Whitbread’s Stock Ales and the PAs have almost identical gravities.
There’s something really, really fascinating in this set of Adnams records. Which is another piece in a particularly puzzling puzzle: when did Mild turn to the dark side? Something like this appears in most logs:
Judging by its position in the record, it looks like it was being added in the copper. It’s added to all the beers except PA and AK, the beers you would expect to be quite pale. Obviously it’s intended to darken the colour of the finished beer. I think this is some of the earliest evidence I have of Mild being deliberately darkened.
I doubt it was enough to turn the Milds dark brown, but enough to make them noticeably darker than the Pale Ales. Like I said, fascinating stuff.
I’ve 100 years of their records, so lots more to come.
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