Friday, 10 August 2012

Tetley's beers in 1868 (part one)

Time for the first quick run through of Tetley's beers. I'm starting at 1868 for no particular reason other tha that the logs are nice and easy to read. I'll be venturing further into the brewery's past when I can be arsed to struggle with the scrawly handwriting.

I'm kicking off with the Milds. And something that's either a Mild or a Strong Ale. I'm not totally sure. But, as contemporary Tetley adverts mention Strong Ale and it's the strongest beer in the logs, it doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that XX is that Strong Ale.

Tetley's records are nicely detailed. Which means that it really gives racking gravities for the beers. Had it not been so precise, I might have wondered about some of those FG's. But they definitely are racking gravities. Two comments on the FG's. First, they vary an awful lot. Even between the same batch in different fermenters. Secondly, some look awfully high. In general they look high, the FG's.

But I've just checked Barclay Perkins and Whitbread beers of the same period. And the level of apparent attenuation of their Mild Ales is fairly similar: mostly between 65% and 70%. Which looks quite low to modern eyes. What is definitely different is the range of gravities covered by the London Milds and Tetley's Milds.

Tetley (1868): 1047, 1055, 1062, 1065, 1067
Whitbread (1868): X 1061, XL 1070, XX 1080
Barclay Perkins (1868): X 1061, XX 1080, XXX 1093
Truman (1871) X 1063, XX 1078, XXX 1090

The two weakest Tetley Milds had no equivalent at Barclay Perkins or Whitbread. And there was no Tetley beer matching the strength of London XX or XXX. The spread of gravities, and the differences between the individual beers, are much smaller at Tetley. The five Milds span just 20 points, while Barclay Perkins' three Milds covered more than 30 points.

What about hopping rates? Comparing beers with similar gravities - Tetley X with two lines to London X Ales - the results are confusing. Whitbread's X Ale, with around 1.5 lbs per barrel, is hopped rather less than the Tetley Mild. Barclay Perkins' and Truman's X, however, have between 2.5 and 3 pounds per barrel. So more than the Tetley beer. Not totally sure what to make of that.

You know the drill. There will be much, much more of this to follow.


Tetley Mild and Strong Ales 1868
Date
Year
Beer
Style
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenuation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
max. fermentation temp
length of fermentation (days)
comments
2nd Nov
1868
*
Mild
1046.5
1019.1
3.63
58.93%
6.00
1.17
1.5
2



60º
63º
6
Bohemian hops
5th Oct
1868
*
Mild
1047.1
1017.5
3.92
62.94%
6.00
1.11
1.5
1.5



63º
64º
5
Bohemian hops
1st Oct
1868
*
Mild
1047.4
1020.8
3.52
56.14%
6.00
1.11
1.5
2



66º
66º
4
Bohemian hops
19th Oct
1868
X (one line)
Mild
1054.8
1018.8
4.76
65.66%
6.00
1.24
1.5
2
2


61º
62º
6
Bohemian hops
2nd Nov
1868
X (one line)
Mild
1054.8
1021.6
4.40
60.61%
6.00
1.38
1.5
2



60º
65º
6
Bohemian hops
2nd Oct
1868
X (one line)
Mild
1055.4
1019.4
4.76
65.00%
6.00
1.30
1.5
2



59º
63º
6
Bohemian hops
1st Oct
1868
X (two lines)
Mild
1061.2
1018.8
5.61
69.23%
8.00
1.95
1.5
2



59º
66º
6
Bohemian hops
3rd Oct
1868
X (two lines)
Mild
1062.0
1017.2
5.94
72.32%
8.00
2.10
1.5
2



60º
66º
7
Bohemian hops
5th Oct
1868
X (two lines)
Mild
1062.0
1017.7
5.86
71.43%
8.00
2.00
1.5
2



62º
65º
9
Bohemian hops
3rd Nov
1868
X (two lines)
Mild
1065.4
1022.2
5.72
66.10%
10.00
10.00
1.5
2



61º
64º
7
Bohemian hops
20th Oct
1868
X (two lines)
Mild
1065.9
1016.9
6.49
74.37%
9.96
2.67
1.5
2



61º
65º
8
Bohemian hops
6th Oct
1868
X (three lines)
Mild
1066.5
1016.3
6.63
75.42%
10.00
2.86
2
2



61º
66º
8
Bohemian hops
19th Oct
1868
X (three lines)
Mild
1066.5
1022.2
5.86
66.67%
9.96
3.93
1.5
2



61º
65º
8
Bohemian hops
6th Oct
1868
XX
Strong Ale
1071.7
1019.4
6.93
72.97%
10.00
3.08
2
2



61º
66º
8
Bohemian hops
3rd Nov
1868
XX
Strong Ale
1073.7
1026.9
6.19
63.53%
10.00
3.09
1.5
2



61º
65º
7
Bohemian hops
20th Oct
1868
XX
Strong Ale
1074.5
1023.8
6.71
68.03%
10.00
3.02
1.5
2



60º
65º
8
Bohemian hops
17th Oct
1868
XX
Strong Ale
1074.8
1031.3
5.75
58.15%
10.00
3.04
1.5
1.5
1.5
2
2
59º
63º
6
Bohemian hops
9th Oct
1868
XX
Strong Ale
1075.3
1013.9
8.14
81.62%
10.00
3.10
1.5
2



60º
68º
8
Bohemian hops
Source:
Tetley brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds, document number WYL756/16/ACC1903





4 comments:

Martyn Cornell said...

I'm wondering if we're seeing mild ales with low attenuation so that (a) they would be sweet(ish) for quick drinking but (b) there would be lots of yummy sugars for Brett to eat as those milds aged and turned into Old Ales?

Ron Pattinson said...

Martyn, I think the former. I'm not sure that any of the X's were aged. Possibly the X with three lines as that was hopped at 10 lbs to the quarter like XX.

Barm said...

Could it just be that the old multi-strain yeasts would get tired and give up earlier that the super-duper modern yeast brewers use today?

Ron Pattinson said...

Barm, you haven't seen the Pale Ales yet.