Eldridge Pope grists 1911 - 1912

I must be losing my marbles. I completely forgot about the second part of my look at Eldridge Pope beers just before WW I. Worrying.

A few general observations to begin. These grists look very 20th century. Around 15% sugar in most of the beers and crystal malt in a few. The number of different sugars used - there are at least two in every beer - is also very typical. Particularly the use of proprietary sugars like DL and Dmax in addition to numbered invert sugars.

It's indicative of the complex way sugars were used after 1900 to affect flavour, body and colour. British brewers were masters of sugar use. Though, of course, there are still idiots who think it's the work of the devil* and that beer should be all malt.

Let's begin with the Pale Ales: the AK variations and PA. These were around 80% pale malt, 15% sugar and 4% flaked maize. Pretty typical, really. For newcomers, I'll repeat that crystal malt didn't become common in Pale Ale grist until several decades later. The "sacc." in the ones from the 10th February is almost certainly No. 2 invert noted down a different way.

Now for the Milds and Strong Ale. I've been talking about colour a lot recently and when these types of beer began their long march to darkness. Eldridge Pope's had clearly started that journey, judging by the No.3 invert and caramel they contained. But I suspect they were still dark amber rather than the dark brown associated with Mild today.

Odd that the Strong Ale contains crystal malt. 19th-century advertisements for crystal malt usually advised its use for adding body and sweetness to Mild Ales. I wouldn't have expected a beer with as high a gravity as XXXX to have needed any help in that department.

And finally, the Stouts. The main point of interest here is the presence of oats in the grist. Quite a large amount, at 7-12% of the total. I assume this is because they were marketing one as Oatmeal Stout, which was all the rage at the time. Plus it was also a (relatively) cheap adjunct, which might explain why they didn't bother with any maize in the Stouts.

Significantly, there's no longer any brown malt in the Stout grists. Not such a surprise, but it's still sad to see it go. I've a lot of irrational affection for brown malt. I'm not sure what Dmax is, other than a proprietary sugar but, judging by its use in just the Stouts, it's probably dark.

That's me done. All that's left is the table itself.

Eldridge Pope grists 1911 - 1912
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	no. 2 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	sacc	DL	Dmax	oats	flaked maize
10th Feb	1911	Sp AK	Pale Ale	1040.2	1011.1	3.85	72.41%	79.25%						11.32%	5.66%			3.77%
10th Feb	1911	BAK	Pale Ale	1044.3	1012.7	4.18	71.25%	79.25%						11.32%	5.66%			3.77%
10th Feb	1911	AK	Pale Ale	1042.7	1011.1	4.18	74.03%	79.25%						11.32%	5.66%			3.77%
15th Feb	1911	XXXX	Strong Ale	1076.2	1024.4	6.85	68.00%	85.37%		4.88%		9.76%
16th Feb	1911	S	Stout	1059.3	1018.0	5.46	69.63%	60.00%	6.15%	9.23%			2.05%			10.26%	12.31%
16th Feb	1911	Light Tonic Stout	Stout	1047.4	1014.7	4.32	69.01%	60.00%	6.15%	9.23%			2.05%			10.26%	12.31%
21st Feb	1911	PA	Pale Ale	1051.2	1015.5	4.73	69.73%	80.87%			5.22%	2.61%	0.87%		5.22%			5.22%
21st Feb	1911	XXX	Mild	1058.2	1017.2	5.42	70.48%	80.87%			5.22%	2.61%	0.87%		5.22%			5.22%
21st Feb	1911	X	Mild	1036.0	1009.1	3.55	74.62%	80.87%			5.22%	2.61%	0.87%		5.22%			5.22%
6th Jun	1912	S	Stout	1059.3	1019.1	5.31	67.76%	65.45%	6.82%	8.18%			1.82%			10.91%	6.82%
6th Jun	1912	Light Tonic Stout	Stout	1047.4	1014.7	4.32	69.01%	65.45%	6.82%	8.18%			1.82%			10.91%	6.82%
23rd Aug	1912	BAK	Pale Ale	1044.3	1013.3	4.10	70.00%	72.83%			15.03%				6.94%			5.20%
23rd Aug	1912	AK	Pale Ale	1042.7	1012.7	3.96	70.13%	77.61%			11.94%				5.97%			4.48%
27th Aug	1912	PA	Pale Ale	1051.0	1015.2	4.73	70.11%	77.19%			11.70%				5.85%			5.26%
Source:
Eldridge Pope brewing records

* Ironically, I consider sugar to be the work of the devil everywhere but in brewing. I stopped eating refined sugar in 1972.