The Thomas Usher Gravity Book. You know those books for keeping kids quiet on their holidays? The Bumper Book of Fun or some such. That's what the Usher Gravity Book is for me. Something to slip into my hands on a rainy Mablethorpe Tuesday. Assuming the Mermaid isn't open yet. The beautiful weather this summer has provided plenty of opportunities to immerse myself in its funerificness.
I'm mostly there for the beer details, natch. But I can't help myself being drawn by the hypnotic gaze of other numbers. I'm such a tart. I like these ones so much, I've put them into a table. This table:
| Analysis of malts from Hugh Baird, 8th March 1938 | |||||
| Name of malt | extract per 336 lbs (lbs) | moisture | C.W.E. | D.P. | colour |
| Own Scotch | 99.8 | 1.5% | 18.6% | 35º | 5º L |
| ??'s Scotch | 98.2 | 1.7% | 19.0% | 36º | 6.5º L |
| Gaza | 83.6 | 1.4% | 14.7% | 27º | 4º L |
| Chilean | 91 | 1.8% | 17.0% | 34º | 6º L |
| Aust. Corfu | 86.4 | 1.4% | 15.5% | 28º | 4º L |
| Calif | 88.1 | 2.4% | 15.6% | 29º | 4.5º L |
| ???? | 92.3 | 1.2% | 17.0% | 34º | 6º L |
| Egyptian | 83.9 | 1.0% | 16.5% | 31º | 5º L |
| Source: | |||||
| Document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive. | |||||
I was surprised to see that the Scotch malt gave the best extract. And had the greatest diastatic power.
I'd wondered what C.W.E. stood for. Then an idea , rather like a carelessly thrown mackerel, struck me. Why not look at the malt analyses in Lloyd Hind. They might include a similar column. And it's a good excuse to include a second table. This one:
2 row Malts in the 1930's
| ||||||||
Pale Ale malts
|
Mild Ale malts
|
malt from foreign 2-row barley
| ||||||
Spratt-Archer
|
Plumage-Archer
|
Plumage-Archer
|
Spratt-Archer
|
Moravian
|
Chilean Chevalier
|
Bohemian Hanna
| ||
moisture %
|
1.5
|
1.8
|
1.7
|
2.1
|
2
|
1.8
|
1.6
|
2.5
|
Extract, lb. 336 lb
|
100.5
|
100.6
|
100.6
|
99
|
99.4
|
98.9
|
99.9
|
99.8
|
colour, 1 inch cell
|
4.5
|
4
|
6.5
|
6
|
7
|
6.5
|
6.5
|
4
|
cold water extract %
|
18
|
18.7
|
19.1
|
18.7
|
17.7
|
17.1
|
18.7
|
20.2
|
diastatic activity Lº
|
36
|
37
|
32
|
35
|
32
|
37
|
38
|
35
|
extract on dry malt
|
102
|
102.4
|
102.3
|
101.1
|
101.4
|
100.7
|
101.5
|
102.3
|
total nitrogen % on dry malt
|
1.342
|
1.314
|
1.322
|
1.4
|
1.469
|
1.518
|
1.48
|
1.52
|
PSN %
|
0.51
|
0.509
|
0.488
|
0.541
|
0.469
|
0.562
|
0.618
|
0.6
|
PSN % on total nitrogen
|
38
|
38.7
|
36.9
|
38.6
|
33.3
|
36.9
|
41.8
|
39.5
|
PSN % on total wort solids
|
0.67
|
0.67
|
0.64
|
0.72
|
0.65
|
0.75
|
0.82
|
0.79
|
Source:
"Brewing Science & Practice" H. Lloyd Hind, 1943, p. 254, 256 & 258
Notes:
PSN = permanently Soluble Nitrogen
| ||||||||
Cold Water Extract. That's what C.W.E. stands for. Doesn't make me much the wiser.
I was going to do the old compare and contrast bit. But there's precious little contrast. The two sets of numbers are pretty damn similar. Only the extract seems a bit low in the case of some of Usher's samples. Bit disappointing that. leaves me a bit . . . . er . . . . . speechless.
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4 comments:
Cold water extract is basically a measure of the amount of sugar in the malt before mashing. It's a way of how seeing well modified the malt is.
Is CWE not some sort of cold-water mash technique to help analyse malt?
Don't start transcribing the Wm Younger gravity book too, I've made a start on that.
Chevalier should be Chevallier. Interesting to see it was being grown as far away as Chile. Also interesting to see "Yorkshire plumage" - the landrace ancestor of Plumage Archer - still being grown in the 1930s.
@Ed. More specifically, its a method of measuring sugars and soluble starches in malt before mashing. Sugars wand soluble starches will dissolve in cold water, most starches starches won't. It's the difference between putting sugar in a glass of cold water and putting in corn starch.
Since sugars are really simple carbohydrates (1-3 molecules in length), and soluble starches are relatively simple carbs (4- ~10 molecules) CWE is a decent method of determining the degree of modification the malt has undergone. The enzymes in more highly modified malt have had more time to break complex starches into simple starches and sugars.
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