Tuesday 13 October 2009

William Younger's unions

The inside covers of brewing logs can be fascinating. You'll find all sorts of notes scribbled there. Like when Whitbread was hit by incendiaries in 1940. Or the reduction in beer tax at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

The one I'm sharing today is more technical. Take a look:


This is what it says:

"The cooled worts from Holyrood was brought to Abbey & used in Union Attemperators for the first time on 19th August 1885 at noon.
No. 18 Set of Unions here was used for the first time on 16th Oct. 85
No. 16 Set of Unions here was used for the first time on 20th Oct. 85
No. 17 Set of Unions here was used for the first time on 22nd Oct. 85"

In 1885 they started using unions at William Younger's Abbey brewery. I find that interesting. It's slightly odd, in a way, because the Holyrood brewery was where they usually brewed their Pale Ales.

2 comments:

Tandleman said...

Does that really say "worts"? I can't think what else it says, unless it says "water", but it doesn't 'look' like worts.

Ron Pattinson said...

You're right, now I look at it more closer it does look like "Water". And the verb is in the singular.

Re-interpreting it, could well be they had an ammonia cooler in the Holyrood brewery that was cooling the water used in the attemperators attached to the union sets. Then it wood make sense.