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Wednesday 30 January 2013

Eldridge Pope beers 1911 - 1912

Time to move on to the 20th century and take look at Eldridge Pope's beers on the eve of WW I.

First, a general impression: those gravities look awfully low. This is before WW I, remember. The gravities of all the beers have fallen since 1896. I know, let's compare the beers from 1896 and 1911:


Beer 1896-97 1911-12 % fall
AK 1048.5 1042.7 11.96%
BAK 1048.5 1044.3 8.66%
KK 1051.5
PA 1057.6 1051.2 11.11%
X 1036
XX 1049
XXX 1065.1 1058.1 10.75%
XXXX 1074.8 1076.2 -1.87%
LTS 1051.2 1047.4 7.42%
S 1061.5 1059.3 3.58%

Only the XXX Strong Ale didn't drop in gravity, perversely going up slightly. The biggest seller - AK - saw the greatest drop in gravity, almost 12%. Though the fall was almost as great for PA and XXX.

I assume that the reason KK no longer appears in 1911 is connected with the fall in gravity of PA. Essentially PA has taken over the gravity slot formerly filled by KK.

The X is the most shocking beer. Just 1036. That's like kiddie beer for the period. I've been telling you that there was already a trend towards lower-gravity beer before WW I. This is proof. At no time in the 19th century would it have been classed as anything more than Table Beer. In fact most Table Beers were stronger.

I'm really happy to be looking outside London. The beers of the capital aren't totally typical of brewing across the country as a whole. The trend of dropping gravities in the decade before WW I isn't really visible in London.

There a bit of a gap (until the 1960's) between these and the next Eldridge Pope records I've got. Luckily I've got Whitbread's Gravity Book to fall back on. That's got a few Eldridge Pope beers from the years 1934 to 1961. We'll be turning our attention to them next time.

Eldridge Pope beers 1911 - 1912
Date Year Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermen-tation temp length of fermen-tation (days)
10th Feb 1911 Sp AK Pale Ale 1040.2 1011.1 3.85 72.41% 8.09 1.41 2 2 2 2 60.25º 67.5º 4
10th Feb 1911 BAK Pale Ale 1044.3 1012.7 4.18 71.25% 8.09 1.56 2 2 2 2 60.25º 67.75º 4
10th Feb 1911 AK Pale Ale 1042.7 1011.1 4.18 74.03% 8.09 1.50 2 2 2 2 60º 67.5º 4
15th Feb 1911 XXXX Strong Ale 1076.2 1024.4 6.85 68.00% 9.77 3.18 4.17 60º 79.25º 3
16th Feb 1911 S Stout 1059.3 1018.0 5.46 69.63% 7.30 1.98 2 2 59.5º 70º 4
16th Feb 1911 LTS Stout 1047.4 1014.7 4.32 69.01% 7.30 1.58 2 2 60º 67.5º 4
21st Feb 1911 PA Pale Ale 1051.2 1015.5 4.73 69.73% 4.15 2.09 2 2 2 60º 67.5º 4
21st Feb 1911 XXX Mild 1058.2 1017.2 5.42 70.48% 4.29 1.85 2 2 2 60º 76º 4
21st Feb 1911 X Mild 1036.0 1009.1 3.55 74.62% 4.29 1.14 2 2 2 61º 68.5º 4
6th Jun 1912 S Stout 1059.3 1019.1 5.31 67.76% 7.38 2.00 2.08 3.25 60º 69.5º 4
6th Jun 1912 LTS Stout 1047.4 1014.7 4.32 69.01% 7.38 1.60 2.08 3.25 60º 67.5º 4
23rd Aug 1912 BAK Pale Ale 1044.3 1013.3 4.10 70.00% 7.75 1.49 2 2.42 60º 68.5º 4
23rd Aug 1912 AK Pale Ale 1042.7 1012.7 3.96 70.13% 8.22 1.48 2 2.42 60º 68.5º 4
27th Aug 1912 PA Pale Ale 1051.0 1015.2 4.73 70.11% 9.61 2.08 2 2 60º 68.5º 4
Source:
Eldridge Pope brewing records


1 comment:

  1. Of course, beer taxes had been going up since the Boer War, so the lower gravities in 1911/12 are presumably a reaction to that.

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