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Another AK. And from another brewery whose beer I drank. Though by that time it was part of Whitbread and when it revived cask it did so under the brand BYB (Bentley’s Yorkshire Breweries), not Kirkstall. BYB, also taken over by Whitbread, had brewed at Woodlesford, just to the East of Leeds.

At 1050º, Kirkstall’s example of the style is at the top end of the gravity range. I’ve had to guess the FG, so it could have been either fuller or drier than the recipe shows.

The recipe is simplicity itself: just pale malt and sugar. I’ll be honest. I’ve no idea exactly what type of sugar it was. The brewing record says “Trier Maine Saccharine”. Given the quantity involved, it can’t be the artificial sweetener saccharine and must be some type of sugar. I’ve plumped for No. 1 invert.

One place where the recipe is complicated is the hopping. There are four types of hops - Farnham (1884), English (1884), English (1883) and English (1884) – plus 50 lbs of something described as “Wylde's hop substitute”. The last is very unusual. Hop substitutes were allowed after 1880, but I can’t remember seeing them in a brewing record. Only hop concentrates, and even those don’t turn up until 1944.
1885 Kirkstall AK
pale malt 7.75 lb 77.50%
No. 1 invert sugar 2.25 lb 22.50%
Fuggles 195 mins 1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins 1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins 1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.50 oz
OG 1050
FG 1012
ABV 5.03
Apparent attenuation 76.00%
IBU 60
SRM 7
Mash at 155º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 195 minutes
pitching temp 65º F
Yeast Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale Timothy Taylor




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