Maclays beers in WW II (part two)

We're going to get a proper look at the beers today. In lovely table form. In twin table form even.

It's 1939 - 1940 to start. Can I say that I really love this table? It's so clear and consistent. And has something to tell us both about Scottish brewing in general and the effect of the war.

Maclay's beers 1939 - 1940
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)	pale malt	no. 2 sugar	flaked maize
15th Aug	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1011	3.57	71.05%	6.00	1.00	59º	68º	9	75.00%	16.67%	8.33%
29th Aug	1939	SA	Strong Ale	1082	1022	7.94	73.17%	6.00	2.12	60º	69º	8	77.42%	12.90%	9.68%
29th Aug	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1014	3.18	63.16%	6.00	0.98	60º	73.5º	7	77.42%	12.90%	9.68%
30th Aug	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1037	1014	3.04	62.16%	6.00	0.95	59º	68º	8	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
30th Aug	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1032	1012	2.65	62.50%	6.00	0.82	60.5º	69º	8	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
5th Sep	1939	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1042	1014.5	3.64	65.48%	6.00	1.11	60º	69.5º	7	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
5th Sep	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1037	1013	3.18	64.86%	6.00	0.98	60º	70º	7	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
8th Sep	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1037	1014	3.04	62.16%	6.00	0.96	61º	67.5º	8	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
8th Sep	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1030	1011	2.51	63.33%	6.00	0.78	61º	67º	7	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
22nd Sep	1939	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1043	1013	3.97	69.77%	6.00	1.12	59.5º	70º	8	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
22nd Sep	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1037	1012	3.31	67.57%	6.00	0.96	60º	69º	9	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
14th Nov	1939	SA	Strong Ale	1079	1026	7.01	67.09%	5.00	1.70	59.5º	70º	10	77.42%	12.90%	9.68%
14th Nov	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1037	1014	3.04	62.16%	5.00	0.80	60.5º	67.5º	7	77.42%	12.90%	9.68%
13th Dec	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1015	2.78	58.33%	5.00	0.78	60.5º	66º	6	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
13th Dec	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1031	1013	2.38	58.06%	5.00	0.67	61º	66º	6	76.60%	17.02%	6.38%
15th Dec	1939	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1042	1016	3.44	61.90%	5.00	0.92	60º	64º	7	78.57%	14.29%	7.14%
15th Dec	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1015	2.78	58.33%	5.00	0.79	60.5º	66º	6	78.57%	14.29%	7.14%
6th Feb	1940	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1041	1015	3.44	63.41%	5.00	0.89	61º	65.5º	8	85.71%	14.29%
6th Feb	1940	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1014	2.91	61.11%	5.00	0.78	60º	66º	8	85.71%	14.29%
9th Feb	1940	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1014	2.91	61.11%	5.00	0.80	61.5º	67.5º	7	82.98%	17.02%
9th Feb	1940	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1031	1013	2.38	58.06%	5.00	0.69	61º	64º	7	82.98%	17.02%
20th Feb	1940	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1014	2.91	61.11%	5.00	0.79	61º	67º	7	83.33%	16.67%
27th Feb	1940	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1036	1014.5	2.84	59.72%	5.00	0.81	60.5º	67.5º	6	82.98%	17.02%
27th Feb	1940	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1031	1013	2.38	58.06%	5.00	0.70	61º	66.5º	6	82.98%	17.02%
Source:
Maclay brewing record, document number M/6/1/1/4 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.

Let's take a look at the hopping rate first. That's one of the things I really like about this table. I'm talking about the rate per quarter. It shows very clearly something I've read about in brewing manuals: the difference in summer and winter hopping. You can see that in August and September the rate was 6 pounds per quarter, but dropped in November to 5 pounds. I couldn't have asked for a more obvious demonstration of the point.

Gravities. Now there's an interesting one. The OG's are low and the FG's high. The FG's in particular are oddly similar for all the different Pale Ales. So there are examples of PA 7d that have the same FG as PA 5d, which had an OG 10 points lower. You end up with a weak PA 5d that must have been quite full-bodied, but was barely alcoholic at only around 2.5% ABV. Even PA 6d, which had a reasonable OG of 1036, was often under 3% ABV. No-one was going to get drunk on stuff like that.

You can see the effect of the war in the ingredients being used. In particular the dropping of maize in December. Little maize was grown in Britain at the time and it would have to have been imported. With shipping being used for more urgent war needs, non-essential items like maize for brewing stopped being imported. The rather odd effect was that the malt content of Maclay's beers increased from 77% to 83%.

The grists are so simple that there's not much more that I can say. Time to move on to the compare and contrast part of this post. Starting with a couple more tables. This time of London beers from the same period. You might recognise the names of the breweries from some of my earlier posts: Whitbread and Barclay Perkins. I've included all of their Ales, including those with no direct equivalent at Maclay. I'll reiterate what's odd about Maclays beers: the total lack of Mild Ales. It's clear that their lowest gravity Pale Ale, PA 5d, was filling the price slot occupied in London by the cheapest Mild, LA at Whitbread and A at Barclay Perkins.

Whitbread beers 1939 - 1940
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp	length of fermentation (days)	pale malt	choc. Malt	crystal malt	MA malt	PA malt	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	other sugar	wheat malt
27th Sep	1939	PA	Pale Ale	1048.2	1012.0	4.79	75.10%	7.33	1.41	64º	8	24.06%		4.81%		56.15%	14.97%
26th Sep	1939	IPA	IPA	1037.1	1008.0	3.85	78.44%	10.00	1.51	65º	8	28.85%		3.85%		51.92%	15.38%
26th Sep	1939	X	Mild	1033.9	1010.5	3.10	69.03%	8.27	1.11	65º	7	75.73%		13.59%				9.06%	1.62%
25th Sep	1939	LA	Mild	1028.4	1009.0	2.57	68.31%	8.27	0.93	65º	5	75.73%		13.59%				9.06%	1.62%
25th Sep	1939	X	Mild	1033.6	1010.0	3.12	70.24%	8.27	1.10	65º	6	75.73%		13.59%				9.06%	1.62%
21st Sep	1939	DB	Brown Ale	1054.5	1018.0	4.83	66.97%	8.49	1.92	62º	8	25.27%		2.45%		52.17%			20.11%
21st Sep	1939	33	Strong Ale	1061.0	1020.0	5.42	67.21%	8.49	2.15	62º	9	25.27%		2.45%		52.17%			20.11%
25th Apr	1940	DB	Brown Ale	1054.1	1016.0	5.04	70.43%	8.50	1.86	62º	8	6.35%		3.17%		85.71%			4.76%
25th Apr	1940	33	Strong Ale	1059.7	1018.5	5.45	69.01%	8.50	2.06	62º	9	6.35%		3.17%		85.71%			4.76%
25th Apr	1940	LA	Mild	1028.2	1005.0	3.07	82.27%	8.12	0.95	65º	5	24.30%		13.08%	54.21%			4.98%	1.56%	1.87%
25th Apr	1940	X	Mild	1033.5	1008.5	3.31	74.63%	8.12	1.12	65º	6	24.30%		13.08%	54.21%			4.98%	1.56%	1.87%
24th Apr	1940	IPA	IPA	1037.2	1007.0	4.00	81.18%	10.38	1.53	65º	8	15.48%		5.81%		73.55%	5.16%
30th Apr	1940	PA	Pale Ale	1047.2	1011.0	4.79	76.69%	7.33	1.44	64º	8	14.44%		4.81%		65.78%	14.97%
30th Apr	1940	Ex PA	Pale Ale	1048.1	1013.5	4.58	71.93%	7.33	1.47	64º	8	14.44%		4.81%		65.78%	14.97%
23rd Apr	1940	X	Mild	1033.6	1009.0	3.25	73.21%	8.12	1.14	65º	6	24.30%		13.08%	54.21%			4.98%	1.56%	1.87%
11th Apr	1940	DB	Brown Ale	1054.1	1017.0	4.91	68.58%	8.50	1.82	62º	8	6.35%	3.17%			85.71%			4.76%
11th Apr	1940	33	Strong Ale	1060.0	1019.0	5.42	68.33%	8.50	2.02	62º	9	6.35%	3.17%			85.71%			4.76%
Source:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number LMA/4453/D/01/107.

Barclay Perkins beers 1939 - 1940
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)	pale malt	amber malt	crystal malt	MA malt	SA malt	PA malt	caramel	other sugar	flaked maize	flaked rice
29th Sep	1939	XX	Mild	1042.5	1012.5	3.97	70.60%	7.00	1.16	61º	71.5º	7	8.88%	4.44%	5.92%	33.31%	33.31%		0.07%	10.36%	3.70%
29th Sep	1939	X	Mild	1034.9	1009.0	3.42	74.18%	7.00	0.95	61.5º	69.5º	7	8.88%	4.44%	5.92%	33.31%	33.31%		0.07%	10.36%	3.70%
29th Sep	1939	A	Mild	1030.7	1008.0	3.00	73.92%	7.00	0.83	62º	69.5º	7	8.88%	4.44%	5.92%	33.31%	33.31%		0.07%	10.36%	3.70%
3rd Jun	1939	XX	Mild	1038.6	1011.5	3.59	70.24%	7.00	1.10	60.5º	70º	5	8.01%	4.01%	5.34%	34.73%	17.36%		0.72%	17.81%		12.02%
3rd Jun	1940	X	Mild	1031.8	1006.5	3.35	79.59%	7.00	0.91	61º	68º	5	8.01%	4.01%	5.34%	34.73%	17.36%		0.72%	17.81%		12.02%
11th Jun	1940	PA	Pale Ale	1048.8	1014.0	4.60	71.29%	7.50	1.50	60.5º	71º	8	12.26%					68.29%	0.19%	10.51%		8.76%
11th Jun	1940	XLK (trade)	Pale Ale	1042.8	1012.0	4.07	71.96%	7.50	1.27	60.5º	71º	8	12.26%					68.29%	0.19%	10.51%		8.76%
11th Jun	1940	XLK (bottling)	Pale Ale	1036.7	1008.5	3.73	76.86%	7.50	1.09	61º	71.5º	8	12.26%					68.29%	0.19%	10.51%		8.76%
18th Sep	1940	KK (trade)	Strong Ale	1051.3	1015.5	4.74	69.79%	8.50	1.86	60º	73º	7	8.29%		4.15%	51.81%	16.58%	0.00%	1.21%	9.67%		8.29%
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/01/623.

The hopping rate is clearly higher in the London Pale Ales, between 7.33 and 10 pounds per quarter. It's not an enormous difference, but it's definitely there. When you couple this with the higher FG's and lower attenuation at Maclay, their beers must have tasted sweeter than those in London. Especially the low-gravity beers. Some PA 5d examples have an FG of 1013, 1 point higher than Whitbread's PA, a beer with an OG 17 points higher (1048 to 1031).

The London Pale Ale grists aren't that different to Maclay's, except Whitbread used 4% to 5% crystal and no unmalted adjuncts. There's more divergence in the Strong Ales. That's only to be expected as Maclay parti-gyled theirs with Pale Ales while Whitbread's and Barclay Perkins were separate brews. Both the London brewers used speciality grains in their Strong Ales: chocolate malt at Whitbread and crystal, MA and SA malt at Barclay Perkins.

The London fermentations look quite similar. Barclay Perkins pitched at around 60º F and reached a peak of about 70º F, much as at Maclay. Whitbread pitched a few degrees higher. The length of fermentation was identical at all three breweries, 7 or 8 days.

This is taking longer than I anticipated. Still at least a couple of installments to go.