Need your help with a historic brew

[Aleksander]

Hi fellow homebrewers.

First, let me introduce me. First time on this forum :)
I'm Aleksander, and I live in Stavanger, on the south/west coast of Norway.
I've been a homebrewer for three years and work at a homebrew store.

I've got a really exciting challenge from a brewing buddy, which also is a diver.

Let me give you the backstory.

11th of March 1869, a ship named Olivia set sail from Graveshead, London to Gdansk, Poland. Her cargo is two large crucibles, wine and other valuable goods. And, a great amount of beer...
More specific, beer from Barcley Perkings Brewery in London. Due to really bad wather the captain try to seek refuge in a port in Norway. 3rd of April 1869, she ran aground on a small island just outside of the small town called Mandal on the southern coast of Norway.
Olivia began to take in water, and after a little while the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship. One of the crewmembers died during the emergency. But the ship would'nt sink! And later that night a pilot wessel spot the top lantern of Olivia, which is still lit.
Some of crew on the pilot wessel boardes Olivia and starts to pumps the water out of her bilge. The history goes like this. Since everything seemed to go well, the pilot crew helped them selves to some of the "salvage prize" before they got her to port, and drank a good amount of the beer from the cargo hold. Off course they got somewhat drunk and Olivia ran aground again on a small reef. And this time she sank.
The ship sank with all of the cargo and was'nt discovered again before 14th of July, 1967. Almost 100 years after she sank.

And now to the challenge. Some of the beer has been salvaged, and because of the dark and stable cold temperatures the beer has somewhat "survived". And someone has "analyzed" the beer and came up with a recipe:

7 lbs amber liquid (or 6 pounds dry) malt extract, plus a pound of medium crystal steeped in the kettle

1.5 ounces Fuggle or Styrian Golding hops (calculated for pellets; use 2 ounces if whole), 2 hours of boil

Add at end of boil:
The peel of one bitter/Seville/sour orange or three regular oranges.
1/4 ounces coriander seed, freshly ground

Add to secondary:
2 tsp powdered ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Ferment with your favorite London ale yeast.


There's a couple of things I find strange in this recipe. Like why is the hops boiled for 120 mins? Why does it call for so much crystal malt? And why add salt to secondary?

I can say right away that I won't try to recreate the ale loaded on Olivia with the given recipe, as I find it a bit strange. So instead I want to find out what kind of ales Barclay Perkings brewed during 1850-1900, and then try to formulate a recipe out of what I find.

If anyone can help me I would really appreciate it!

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome. Barclay Perkins where where a London brewer taken over by Courage. You may find this of interest.

 

[Slid]

I think I read in one the brewing books I used to possess that boiling hops for long periods was all the fashion at one time - maybe it was not so unusual then.

Don't know enough to comment on the crystal malt ratio.

On the subject of one quarter teaspoon of salt in 5 gallons of Ale, that has been in the sea for like 100 years, I suspect some form of Nordic humour may be at work. Purporting to detect clear evidence of such a ludicrously small quantity when the beer has been so long in an entire ocean of salt cannot be taken that seriously, surely

Being charitable, the rest of the recipe and its destination might be consistent with making a beer that in unlikely to freeze in the Polish winter. But even so, I really don't see salt as the way to lower the freezing point of beer to any meaningful extent, without affecting the flavour.

 

[richc]

Hi and welcome. Barclay Perkins where where a London brewer taken over by Courage. You may find this of interest.

You really need to talk to Ron Pattinson (who runs that blog) he will know the answers to your questions. He is @patto1ro on twitter

 

[graysalchemy]

The durden Park brewing circle is worth a look as well. I think the reason for the long boils was to secure the hot break more than anything else and also remember historic brews tended not to have much hop aroma as there was usually little late hop additions though they would have used dry hopping in India Pale ales for added protection against spoiling.

 

[patto1ro]

The recipe isn't correct. Several of the ingredients were illegal in 1869. What sort of beer was it?

 

[brewtim]

Great first post - as a diver and a brewer it's fascinating they were sending English ale to Poland in the first place, what was the reason for this? Was it for commercial reasons or to supply the British Empire with beer?

 

[Aleksander]

I'll try to answer all of you in the same reply ;-)

dennisking & richc: Thanks for the info! I'll look it up and try to contact Ron Pattison!

Slid: Thanks for the info about boiling time. I'll have to do some further research regarding boiling times during this period.
And yeah, I have the same thoughts as you regarding the salt. Must be "contamination" from the ocean.

graysalchemy: Thanks for the info regarding boiling times. Ill look up Durden Park Brewing circle! :)

patto1ro: I recon that the recipe isn't accurate at all! I don't know who and how they analyzed the beer. And i don't know what style it was. This is what I want to find out, and then maybe put together a recipe according to what they had of ingredients at that time, and so on.

brewtim: We don't know why the beer was shipped and who it was for. I will try to find some more info if it's possible. Will keep you all updated! :)

 

[oz11]

dennisking & richc: Thanks for the info! I'll look it up and try to contact Ron Pattison!

patto1ro: I recon that the recipe isn't accurate at all! I don't know who and how they analyzed the beer. And i don't know what style it was. This is what I want to find out, and then maybe put together a recipe according to what they had of ingredients at that time, and so on.

Patto1ro is Ron Pattinson, so you're sorted :)

 

[markmark]

Hi and welcome. Interesting stuff

What is the OG of your recipe?
It was/is not unusual for higher gravity beers to boiled for 2 hours. Longer boils give a more stable end product...probably relevant for export beers.

Were Styrian Goldings available here in UK in 1869??
I have a thought that beer brewed as long ago as that here in the UK would more likely be fuggles and kent goldings??

Good luck with the brew...keep us informed :thumb:

 

[patto1ro]

I'll try to answer all of you in the same reply ;-)

dennisking & richc: Thanks for the info! I'll look it up and try to contact Ron Pattison!

Slid: Thanks for the info about boiling time. I'll have to do some further research regarding boiling times during this period.
And yeah, I have the same thoughts as you regarding the salt. Must be "contamination" from the ocean.

graysalchemy: Thanks for the info regarding boiling times. Ill look up Durden Park Brewing circle! :)

patto1ro: I recon that the recipe isn't accurate at all! I don't know who and how they analyzed the beer. And i don't know what style it was. This is what I want to find out, and then maybe put together a recipe according to what they had of ingredients at that time, and so on.

brewtim: We don't know why the beer was shipped and who it was for. I will try to find some more info if it's possible. Will keep you all updated! :)

They've have been in real trouble if they used anything other than malt, water, hops, yeast and sugar, as anything else was illegal.

I have photographs of Barclay Perkins brewing records from 1869, so there's no need to guess what the recipe was. If it was an Ale, the recipe would have been very simple: pale malt, white malt and Mid Kent hops. If it was a Porter or Stout, pale malt, brown malt, black malt and crystal malt.

Later Barclay Perkins did add a small amount of salt to their brewing water, but I suspect it wasn't allowed at this time.

 

[Aleksander]

Sorry for the late reply. I've been abroad for some time, but now I'm back and ready to continue this "quest".

patto1ro: If you could send me the photos of the brewing records from Barclay I would be thrilled. If you want, please send them to my email: aleksander.baustad(at)gmail.com
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