Domestic bottled beer

Guess what? We're back with early 20th-century bottling. I thought you'd be pleased. This time the focus is on beers for the domestic market.

"Turning now to the production of beers for home consumption, there can be no doubt about the advantage which accrues from a trade which is sufficiently extensive to admit of the brewing of special gyles for bottling. The brewer who is obliged to bottle his ordinary beers is generally seriously handicapped  in comparison with his larger and more fortunate competitors. It does not of course follow that the productions of a brewery intended for cask trade are always less suitable for bottling; but, as a rule, a beer intended for this branch of the trade may be considerably improved by slight modifications, which would either not pay in the case of the ordinary cask beers, or which might actually prove undesirable. Some brewers who brew specially for bottling take the opportunity of reducing gravities slightly in comparison with cask beers, but this is not always wise. In many trades it happens that the taste in bottled beers is quite distinct from that in cask beers. The popular palate in respect to the latter may be in favour of a somewhat sweet, or only slightly bitter, ale, whereas the chief characteristics required in the bottled ales are possibly fine hop character, as well as practical immunity from sediment.

There is no doubt that as a general rule beers, both ales and stouts, which are intended for bottling, need more hops than are required for the same qualities consumed from the cask. We all know that, apart from any question of flavour bottled beers are particularly prone to the disease of ropiness, which of all beer diseases does more harm to a trade than any other. We also know perfectly well that the only natural and effective antidote is the hop, and that, however cleanly we may be in our production, we cannot hope for perfect safety with an insufficient percentage of this material.

Confining ourselves for the moment to the production of the highest qualities of bottling pale ale for home consumption, such as those of the best known Burton firms, or beers of similar character, it is obvious that perfection is only attained by the use of the very best materials, followed by sufficient maturity in cask and natural clarification before the ales are bottled. Indeed, one can go further and maintain that the very best results can only be obtained from season-brewed beers. It is admitted, of course, that in many parts of the country the popular palate is incapable of appreciating the perfection of quality that is thereby developed, and that consequently it seldom pays to lock up capital so long. But there are some highly successful firms who make a practice still of bottling season-brewed ales in the slacker months of the year, so that they may rely upon thorough maturity and perfection during the summer.

Besides the question of hopping, which is of special importance in regard to both copper and casks, that of attenuation is also of particular consequence in the production of all kinds of beer for bottling. Ales, such as we have just been considering, which will be allowed ample time to pass through all the desirable phases of secondary cask fermentation, may naturally rack rather higher than those which will have to be bottled within a few weeks of their brewing. It is of course impossible to lay down, or to suggest, any hard and fast rule on account of the variations of materials and surrounding conditions; but most brewers will agree that about a fifth of the original gravity is usually a desirable point to be aimed at."
"The bottling of English beers" by Arthur Hartley, 1906, pages 23 - 26.

Special gyles for bottling. They certainly existed amongst London brewers. The earliest one I can identify is Truman's Bottling Keeping Porter from 1840. As you cvan see from the table below, it was indeed more heavily hopped. At more than double the rate of the standard draught Running Porter.

Truman Porters
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp
6th Jul	1840	Runner	1062.6	1020.8	5.53	66.81%	11.0	2.69	64.5º
10th Jul	1840	M Keeping	1064.0	1018.8	5.97	70.56%	15.9	3.93	65º
11th Jul	1840	Keeping	1061.5	1019.7	5.53	68.02%	16.1	3.92	65º
14th Jul	1840	B Keeping	1071.2	1024.1	6.23	66.15%	18.2	5.87	64º
Source: Truman brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document B/THB/C/41

A more pertinent example is this, from just a few years after the book's publication:

Barclay Perkins Bitter
Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp	dry hops (oz / barrel)
1914	XLK (trade)	1049.9	1012.2	4.99	75.58%	7.51	1.52	60º	4.00
1914	XLK (bottling)	1045.0	1009.4	4.71	79.07%	7.51	1.35	60º	4.00
Source: Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document ACC/2305/1/603

In this case the gravity of the bottled beer is indeed a little lower than the draught version. The recipe, however, is identical. The bottled version had fewer hops per barrel, because more barrels were brewed from exactly the same recipe. The book recommends attenuation to about a fifth of the original gravity: in other words 80% apparent attenuation. You'll note that that XLK about bang on that.

I'm pleased that Burton Pale Ales get a specific mention. And there are a few more details about their manufacture. Bass was conditioned for very long periods in the cask before bottling. Presumably to both completely attenuate the beer and give it time to spontaneously drop bright. By season-brewed, I'm pretty sure he means the period October to March. Some old adverts specifically state that Pale Ales and Stock Ales were brewed in October. You can understand why keeping beer for between 12 to 18 months before sale went out of fashion. It's a costly business.

The author clearly isn't impressed with some groups of drinkers and their ability to appreciate a properly-brewed Pale Ale. But his assertion that many draught beers were quite sweet, while bottled ales were bitter is a bit odd. Perhaps it's because he's comparing different types of beer, say draught Mild to bottled Pale Ale. I can see no evidence in the brewing record of bottled Pale Ales being significantly more heavily hopped than draught versions.