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The draught Burton of Barclay Perkins had seen some changes since the outbreak of war. Most obviously, to its strength.

The gravity was down about 20% on its pre-war level, more the fall in average OG which was about 15%. In general, strong beers suffered heavily from gravity cuts. That’s if they were still brewed at all. Little over 5% ABV was brewed in the later war years.

The effective OG would have been a point or two higher on account of the primings added at racking time: 2 quarts per barrel of a sugar solution with a gravity of around 1150º.

The grist isn’t hugely different from pre-war. The base malt has been simplified, with the mild malt and pale malt being dropped in favour of 100% SA malt. For which I’ve substituted mild malt. Confusing, I know. And flaked barley replaces flaked rice. Bizarrely, there’s a small amount of lager malt. I’m guessing because they had some spare lying around.

The hops were Kent Fuggles from the 1941 and 1943 harvests and Mid-Kent Fuggles from 1943. The dry hops were East Kent Goldings from 1944.


1944 Barclay Perkins KK (trade)
mild malt 6.50 lb 68.10%
amber malt 0.75 lb 7.86%
crystal malt 60 L 0.50 lb 5.24%
lager malt 0.25 lb 2.62%
flaked barley 0.67 lb 7.02%
No. 3 invert sugar 0.75 lb 7.86%
caramel 1000 SRM 0.125 lb 1.31%
Fuggles 90 mins 0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.50 oz
OG 1043.5
FG 1015
ABV 3.77
Apparent attenuation 65.52%
IBU 30
SRM 17
Mash at 147º F
After underlet 152º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 90 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale


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