Fuller's X Ale 1914 - 1920

It seems ages since I last had a ridiculously long series of ridiculously complex tables. Seeing as I've been transcribing Fullers records for the last two weeks, they seem an obvious place to start.

WW I. In addition to piling up corpses in Flanders, it also played havoc with British brewing. The strength and variety of British beer would never be as great again. Looking at an individual beer conveys a good impression of these changes. Today we'll be holding Fuller's X in the searchlight, hoping we can track it long enough until one of our ack-ack guns can pin it.

As with the vast majority of other British brewers at the time, X Ale, or standard Mild Ale, was Fuller's bread and butter beer. They brewed more of it than anything else. But being the biggest seller also meant that it had to bear the brunt of any changes forced either through shortages or government decree.

Looking at the table below, it's pretty easy to spot the key dates: April 1917 and April 1918. Because the decline in OG isn't lineal. There are a couple of sharp drops, followed by a period of relative stability. Up until April 1917 the gravity had dropped a little, around 4 or 5 points. Then it suddenly loses 11 points. It remains steady at 1035-ish for another year, then plummets another 8 points. Down into the regions of intoxication-free drinking.

As you can see, the end of the war didn't bring immediate relief to drinkers. X Ale remained at 1027 for almost a year after the Armistice, before creeping up to 1030. Though the situation is complicated by the introduction of a stronger Mild, XX Ale, at the arse end of 1919. Fullers continued to brew X Ale and XX Ale right through the interwar period. X Ale becoming an example of a new style. A low-gravity Mild sold at a cheap price.

Most London brewers did something similar, effectively continuing to brew the hated wartime "Government Ale". Barclay Perkins' version was called Ale 4d. Whitbread's LA. These beers hung around until WW II, only disappearing when a new round of shortages and restrictions knocked standard Mild down to a similar gravity.

Fuller's X Ale 1914 - 1920
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	pale malt	black malt	no. 3 sugar	glucose	intense sugar	caramel	oat husks	flaked maize	primings
13th Nov	1914	X	Mild	1049.6	1011.1	5.09	77.65%	5.15431	1.15	2		60º	71.05%		11.99%	6.00%		0.79%		6.30%	3.87%
17th Nov	1914	X	Mild	1050.7	1011.6	5.17	77.05%	5.43933	2.38	2		60º	74.92%		12.49%	5.55%				6.24%	0.81%
8th Dec	1914	X	Mild	1048.4	1011.4	4.91	76.56%	5.43935	1.11	2		60.5º	82.25%		6.96%	3.48%				6.53%	0.78%
7th Jan	1915	X	Mild	1047.7	1013.6	4.51	71.54%	5.22874	1.07	1.5	1.75	60º	78.56%		7.35%	3.68%				6.89%	3.53%
2nd Jun	1915	X	Mild	1049.4	1011.1	5.07	77.57%	5.43461	1.13	2		60º	74.79%		11.59%	5.80%				6.96%	0.86%
2nd Jun	1915	X	Mild	1044.9	1009.1	4.73	79.63%	5.43461	1.02	2		60º	74.79%		11.59%	5.80%				6.96%	0.86%
29th May	1916	X	Mild	1049.9	1011.4	5.09	77.22%	6.4071	1.35	2		60º	70.58%		8.30%	9.69%				10.38%	1.04%
4th Jul	1916	X	Mild	1047.1	1011.4	4.73	75.88%	5.91424	1.17	2		60º	77.25%		5.35%	5.35%				11.04%	1.01%
3rd Aug	1916	X	Mild	1047.0	1008.6	5.08	81.71%	5.91424	1.16	2		60º	77.25%		5.35%	5.35%				11.04%	1.01%
16th Aug	1916	X	Mild	1044.5	1011.1	4.42	75.11%	5.82614	1.12	2		60º	76.18%		5.44%	5.44%				10.88%	2.06%
26th Oct	1916	X	Mild	1046.0	1007.5	5.09	83.73%	6.4071	1.27	2		60º	77.25%		5.35%	5.35%				11.04%	1.01%
12th Jan	1917	X	Mild	1045.2	1008.3	4.88	81.62%	6.0941	1.28	2		59.5º	74.30%		5.31%	5.31%				10.61%	4.48%
5th Apr	1917	X	Mild	1045.9	1009.7	4.79	78.89%	4.29841	0.83	2		60º	77.56%		4.43%	5.91%				11.08%	1.02%
10th Aug	1917	X	Mild	1034.8	1006.6	3.72	80.88%	7.62423	1.10	2		62º	96.49%	2.88%							0.63%
22nd Aug	1917	X	Mild	1034.5	1006.6	3.69	80.75%	7.30689	1.09	2		62º	93.73%	2.87%							3.40%
26th Aug	1917	X	Mild	1036.0	1008.0	3.69	77.66%	6.83869	1.19	2		61.5º	76.70%				1.12%		5.71%	11.42%	5.05%
29th Oct	1917	X	Mild	1035.9	1007.8	3.72	78.40%	7.21925	1.17	2		61.5º	81.18%				1.18%			12.09%	5.54%
4th Jan	1918	X	Mild	1035.3	1008.3	3.57	76.47%	6.27451	1.17	2		61º	77.32%		5.15%		1.10%		5.80%		10.62%
15th Apr	1918	X	Mild	1027.3	1005.5	2.88	79.74%	6.37858	0.90	1.5	1.75	61º	65.23%		6.21%	15.53%	1.39%		4.66%		6.98%
21st Jun	1918	X	Mild	1027.4	1007.2	2.67	73.71%	6.68653	0.86	2		60º	74.61%		12.43%	4.97%	1.45%				6.53%
4th Nov	1918	X	Mild	1028.0	1006.6	2.83	76.26%	7.06311	0.88	1.5		61.5º	77.80%		5.93%	11.86%	1.71%				2.71%
20th Jan	1919	X	Mild	1026.7	1004.7	2.91	82.38%	6.89572	0.89	1.5		60º	76.08%			17.90%	1.68%				4.33%
12th Apr	1919	X	Mild	1027.4	1005.3	2.93	80.81%	6.94391	0.86	1.5		63º	76.22%			14.12%	1.74%			4.23%	3.69%
20th Jun	1919	X	Mild	1027.2	1006.4	2.76	76.58%	6.77188	0.82	1.5		61.5º	69.56%			14.05%	1.88%			10.54%	3.96%
22nd Aug	1919	X	Mild	1030.5	1007.8	3.01	74.59%	7.25981	0.99	1.5		60.5º	68.60%			17.67%	1.73%			9.35%	2.65%
15th Sep	1919	X	Mild	1030.6	1006.1	3.24	80.05%	6.63937	0.91	1.5	1.5	60.5º	64.09%			16.62%	1.63%			10.68%	6.98%
9th Feb	1920	X	Mild	1030.5	1006.4	3.19	79.09%	6.88446	0.91	1.5	1.5	62º	74.69%			6.04%	1.74%			13.58%	3.95%
11th Jun	1920	X	Mild	1030.5	1005.3	3.34	82.76%	6.98231	0.89	1.5	1.5	62º	77.90%			3.46%	1.93%			13.85%	2.86%
26th Apr	1920	X	Mild	1030.5	1005.5	3.30	81.83%	6.93193	0.89	1.5		62º	78.32%			3.48%	1.94%			13.05%	3.21%
6th Dec	1920	X	Mild	1030.1	1005.0	3.32	83.44%	6.91815	0.89	1.5	1.5	62º	77.29%			3.38%	1.43%			13.94%	3.97%
Source:
Fuller's brewing records.

Fuller's XX Ale 1919 - 1920
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	pale malt	glucose	other sugar	flaked maize	primings
22nd Aug	1919	XX	Mild	1041.0	1011.9	3.84	70.93%	7.25981	1.33	1.5		61º	68.60%	17.67%	1.73%	9.35%	2.65%
15th Sep	1919	XX	Mild	1041.2	1008.9	4.28	78.48%	6.63937	1.22	1.5	1.5	61º	64.09%	16.62%	1.63%	10.68%	6.98%
9th Feb	1920	XX	Mild	1041.0	1009.7	4.14	76.37%	6.88446	1.22	1.5	1.5	62º	74.69%	6.04%	1.74%	13.58%	3.95%
16th Feb	1920	XX	Mild	1041.2	1008.9	4.27	78.47%	6.73643	1.21	1.5		63º	73.78%	5.47%	1.71%	13.66%	5.38%
11th Jun	1920	XX	Mild	1041.2	1009.4	4.20	77.12%	6.98231	1.20	1.5	1.5	62º	77.90%	3.46%	1.93%	13.85%	2.86%
26th Apr	1920	XX	Mild	1041.0	1007.2	4.47	82.44%	6.93193	1.19	1.5		62º	78.32%	3.48%	1.94%	13.05%	3.21%
6th Dec	1920	XX	Mild	1041.0	1009.1	4.21	77.69%	6.91815	1.21	1.5	1.5	60º	77.29%	3.38%	1.43%	13.94%	3.97%
Source:
Fuller's brewing records.

Unlike other London brewers, Fuller's didn't introduce a beer called Government Ale. Instead, they knocked down the strength of their X Ale to fit the Government Ale specifications. Both Whitbread and Barclay Perkins discontinued their X Ale and introduced a new beer called GA.

You can see the changes made to the recipe as the war progressed. All from necessity. The pre-war recipe was pretty simple: pale malt, No. 3 invert sugar, glucose and flaked maize. The sudden disappearance of the latter three in 1917 was surely because of their unavailability. With the odd result of the beer becoming all malt, with the exception of primings. The colour coming from black malt rather than No. 3 invert. The next phase, later in 1917, was to use a small amount of a brewing sugar called intense for the colour, a fair amount of maize, but no other sugar.

No. 3 invert makes a comeback in 1918 for a while before the recipe settles into its postwar form of pale malt, glucose, intense and flaked maize. Where's the crystal malt? Fuller's didn't use it. Before WW I you don't see it used much anywhere. Sometimes in Mild Ales, but almost never in Pale Ales. That's a comparatively recent phenomenon. Fuller's were pretty typical in using only pale malt in all their beers except for Porter and Stout.

Next it'll be the turn of Fuller's Pale Ales. Or their Porter and Stout. Haven't quite made my mind up yet.