Wednesday 26 June 2013

Barclay Perkins Lagers 1940 - 1942

You didn't think I was going to let you off with just two posts about Barclay Perkins Lagers did you? I'm happy to report that we've still a way to go.

This time we're looking at Barclay's Lagers in the first half of the war. I would have done the whole war, but I haven't photographed the one covering the second half yet. It's as simple as that.


Barclay Perkins Lagers 1940 - 1942
Date Year Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermentation temp length of fermentation (days) colour
9th Oct 1940 Dark Dunkles 1055.5 1015.6 5.28 71.89% 4.68 1.12 1.5 48.5º 58º 14 82
20th Oct 1941 Dark Dunkles 1055.5 1017.0 5.09 69.37% 3.77 0.91 1.5 46º 56º 13 80
18th Feb 1942 Dark Dunkles 1048.5 1015.4 4.38 68.25% 3.77 0.79 1.5 45.5º 56º 14 96
9th Aug 1940 Draught Lager 1041.4 1009.2 4.26 77.78% 5.32 0.87 2 49º 58.5º 13 13
18th Oct 1940 Draught Lager 1041.2 1009.1 4.25 77.91% 5.50 0.92 2 49º 58º 12 13
16th Jul 1941 Draught Lager 1040.0 1010.8 3.86 73.00% 4.03 0.65 2 45º 56º 14 11
9th Feb 1942 Draught Lager 1035.5 1008.2 3.61 76.90% 4.03 0.54 2 45.5º 56º 15 10.5
21st Aug 1942 Draught Lager 1035.6 1009.5 3.45 73.31% 4.42 0.65 1.75 48.5º 59º 12 11.5
17th Jun 1942 Draught Lager 1035.5 1008.4 3.59 76.34% 4.42 0.63 1.75 45.5º 55.5º 13 13
5th Aug 1940 Export Export 1047.4 1010.2 4.92 78.48% 6.00 1.08 2 48.5º 57º 13 10.5
9th Sep 1940 Export Export 1047.3 1010.7 4.84 77.38% 6.00 1.08 2 º º 19 10
19th Jul 1941 Export Export 1047.5 1015.2 4.27 68.00% 4.62 0.87 2 47.5º 56º 13 8.5
11th Feb 1942 Export Export 1042.0 1009.1 4.35 78.33% 4.62 0.81 2 46º 55.5º 14 10
26th Aug 1942 Export Export 1042.5 1009.2 4.41 78.35% 4.81 0.82 2 41.5º 60º 10 11
12th Aug 1940 Sparkling Beer Lager 1045.5 1009.1 4.82 80.00% 5.00 0.92 1.5 48º 59º 12 35
14th Jul 1941 Sparkling Beer Lager 1045.0 1012.3 4.33 72.67% 3.79 0.70 1.5 46º 56º 13 34
7th Aug 1941 Sparkling Beer Lager 1045.0 1010.3 4.59 77.11% 3.79 0.70 1.5 45.5º 56º 14 29
31st Jul 1942 Sparkling Beer Lager 1040.5 1009.2 4.14 77.28% 4.00 0.70 1.5 48.5º 56.5º 14 34
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/643.

You'll see in the table that Barclays had introduced a fourth Lager to their portfolio: Sparkling Beer. It's a bit of a puzzle to me. What style is it? The colour is a little darker than their PA (Best Bitter) and XLK (Ordinary Bitter) which were both 26. And its a little lighter than the amber version of X (Mild) and XX (Best Mild), which were both 42. In Lager terms, I guess it's in the range of a Vienna. Though I doubt that's what it claimed to be.

One of the few things I do know, is that it was an early canned beer. Whether or not that the only format it was packaged in, I'm not sure. However, the absence of it in Barclay's pub price lists suggests that it was purely and export beer.

Talking of which, I've handily got a price list from 1942. Which means I can check up on something dear to all CAMRA members' hearts: how good value for money was Lager in comparison to the top-fermenting beers? Or rather, how poor value for money was it? Turns out not to have been such poor value as I expected.




The first table is of bottled beer:


Barclay Perkins bottled beer prices in 1942
OG price per dozen small bottles retail (shillings) pence per gravity point
BS 1041.4 8.5 2.46
IPA 1031.3 7 2.68
Light Lager 1042.5 10.5 2.96
Dark Lager 1048.5 11.5 2.85
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/621, ACC/2305/01/623, ACC/2305/01/624, ACC/2305/01/521/1 and ACC/2305/1/643.

BS was 15% cheaper per gravity point than Dark Lager and 20% cheaper than Light Lager. IPA was 5% cheaper than Dark and 10% cheaper than Light. That's not too bad. But wait until you see the draught beers:


Barclay Perkins draught beer prices in 1942
OG Wholesale price per gallon (shillings) pence per gravity point
A 1027.3 5.17 2.27
X 1028.6 5.67 2.38
XX 1031.4 6.89 2.63
KK 1043.3 8.56 2.37
Export 1042.5 8.50 2.40
Home Light 1035.5 7.42 2.51
Dark 1048.5 9.25 2.29
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/621, ACC/2305/01/623, ACC/2305/01/624, ACC/2305/01/521/1 and ACC/2305/1/643.

Now that is a surprise. Only the A, the weakest Mild, cost less per gravity point than Dark. But there is a caveat. The price list gives the public bar price per pint of the top-fermenting beers but not of the Lagers. It looks as if they didn't have a recommended price. So for the draught beers the comparisons are made on the wholesale price. Presumably landlords had the freedom to boost their profit margin on draught Lager by charging what they fwelt like for it. Or maybe it just wasn't sold in public bars. Lager was still quite posh, so that is a possibility.

Getting back to the beers themselves, you can see that the hopping rate per quarter declined along with the gravity. The per quarter rate eliminates gravity from the equation, so this was a real fall in hopping, not one just keeping pace with the fall in gravity.

Interestingly, the gravities of Barclay's Lagers fell less, in percentage terms, than those of most top-fermenting beers:


Barclay Perkins fall in gravities 1939 - 1942
Beer Style pre-war summer 1942 % change
Dark Dunkles 1057.6 1048.5 15.80%
Draught Lager 1043.5 1035.5 18.39%
Export Export 1049.4 1040.5 18.02%
IPA (bottling) IPA 1043.9 1031.3 28.75%
XX Mild 1042.5 1031.4 26.14%
X Mild 1034.9 1028.6 17.96%
A Mild 1030.8 1027.3 11.36%
KK (trade) Strong Ale 1055.8 1043.3 22.40%
BS Stout 1051.5 1041.4 19.61%
LS Stout 1046.6 1033.5 28.11%
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/621, ACC/2305/01/623, ACC/2305/01/624 and ACC/2305/1/643.

Only A, a wishy-washy Mild with not much to go any further gravity-wise, fell less.

One other point before I finish about fermentation temperatures. In the 1930's, the maximum temperature hit during fermentation was mostly around 53º F, with 56º F the highest. By 1942, it had risen to 56-58º F and the highest was 60º F. I would assume this was connected with the cost of keeping the wort refrigerated. It can't have been a voluntary decision, because after the war fermentation temperatures dropped back to their pre-war level.

Wondering if the brewing techniques and recipes changed? We'll be looking at that next time.

2 comments:

Matt said...

I'm intrigued by who was drinking bottles of dark lager in Britain in World War II. I can imagine American soldiers or women drinking pale lager but who was ordering Dunkles?

It's also strange to see Guinness listed under Foreign Beers when the bottles presumably came from the Park Royal Brewery in West London.

Ron Pattinson said...

Matt, I assume it was, just as before the war, being drunk by Britons.

Foreign here just means beers not brewed by Barclay Perkins. That's why Bass and Worthington are under the same heading.

I doubt bottles of Guinness came from Park Royal. They probably sent hogsheads which Barclay's then bottled.