Wednesday 23 October 2013

Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954

It seems several lifetimes ago that I was last discussing Whitbread's post-WW II beers. Surely time to return to them?

And where better to begin than Mild? At the time, one of Whitbread's biggest sellers. At the start of the period, they brewed just one Mild - XX. This had been introduced in 1940, replacing X Ale. Initially with a gravity of 1031, though by 1942 it was below 1030. A level it remained at until its demise in 1949. For a brief period in 1949, Whitbread brewed two Milds, XX at 1027.7 and B or Best Ale about three points higher.

Between 1950 and 1954, Best Ale was Whitbread's only Mild, then they introduced XXX at 1037.5 What I guess would have been called Best Mild, if their other Milds hadn't already been called Best Ale.

There are a couple of points I'd like to make about the brewing techniques. The boil times a very short, almost certainly a consequence of the war. In 1914, the two coppers used for X Ale were boiled for 1.75 hours. In the 1930's it was 1.25 hours for the first and 1.5 hours for the second. In 1940, it was down to 1.25 hours and 1 hour. By 1944, it was just 1 hour and 0.75 hours. The reasoning was simple: saving fuel.

Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954
Date Year Beer OG FG ABV App. Attenuation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp length of fermentation (days) colour
31st Dec 1945 XX 1027.8 1009.0 2.49 67.63% 5.77 0.68 1 1 65º 5 15 + 40
19th Oct 1945 XX 1028.2 1008.5 2.61 69.86% 5.77 0.72 1 1.33 65º 6 13 + 40
22nd Jan 1946 XX 1028.3 1009.0 2.55 68.20% 5.77 0.70 1 1 65º 5 14 + 40
29th Jan 1947 XX 1027.7 1005.5 2.94 80.14% 6.28 0.72 1 1 65º 4 14 + 40
21st Jun 1948 XX 1027.7 1006.0 2.87 78.34% 7.03 0.82 1 1 65º 4 11 + 40
22nd Jun 1949 B 1030.5 1007.5 3.04 75.41% 6.33 0.78 1 1 65º 6 16 + 40
20th Oct 1949 Best Ale 1029.1 1010.0 2.53 65.64% 6.73 0.81 1 1.08 65º 8 16 + 40
21st Jun 1949 XX 1027.7 1007.5 2.67 72.92% 7.26 0.83 1 1.25 65º 5 13 + 40
16th May 1950 Best Ale 1032.3 1008.0 3.21 75.23% 7.13 0.89 1 0.75 65º 5 18 + 40
17th Jul 1951 Best Ale 1031.8 1009.0 3.02 71.70% 7.32 0.93 0.75 65º 5 15 + 40
4th Feb 1952 Best Ale 1030.8 1008.0 3.02 74.03% 7.35 0.88 1 0.75 65º 5 16 + 40
28th Jan 1953 Best Ale 1030.6 1008.5 2.92 72.22% 6.66 0.83 1 0.75 65º 8 17 + 40
21st Jan 1954 Best Ale 1031.0 1010.0 2.78 67.74% 5.49 0.71 1 0.75 65º 7 18 + 40
29th Sep 1954 MA 1030.8 1010.5 2.69 65.91% 5.66 0.72 1 1 65º 6 120
29th Sep 1954 XXX 1037.5 1012.0 3.37 68.00% 5.66 0.88 1 1 65º 7 125
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.


The pitching temperature, at 65º F, is pretty high, but more likely just a simple reflection of the very modest gravity of these beers. In general, the stronger the beer, the lower the pitching temperature, presumably because of the greater amount of heat generated by the fermentation of a stronger wort.

Talking of modest gravity, you'd have struggled to get very pissed on just about any of these beers. Only a couple poke their heads above 3% ABV. The weakest, I'd barely count as alcoholic drinks.

Moving on to the ingredients, you can see that there were some odd hops and hop extract or substitute used in the immediate postwar period. Britain was basically broke by the time hostilities ended and the first few years of peace were difficult ones. By the time the 1950's kick in, you can see that there's been a transformation in hop usage, with almost exclusively British hops being used, with the exception of occasionally a few Californian (CF) hops. It's one of the ironies of British brewing that imported hops became much less important after WW I and mostly disappeared in the two or three decades after WW II.

Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954
Date Year Beer OG hops pale malt crystal malt MA malt no. 3 sugar other sugar - Hay flaked barley
31st Dec 1945 XX 1027.8 American and MK hops. Hopulon. 7.51% 63.33% 10.02% 1.97% 17.17%
19th Oct 1945 XX 1028.2 Oregon, Old Continentals, and MK hops. 7.51% 63.33% 10.02% 1.97% 17.17%
22nd Jan 1946 XX 1028.3 MK and EK hops. Hopulon. 7.51% 63.33% 10.02% 1.97% 17.17%
29th Jan 1947 XX 1027.7 MK and Jugoslav hops. Hopulon. 8.09% 82.08% 7.71% 2.12%
21st Jun 1948 XX 1027.7 MK and KT hops. Hopulon. 20.79% 7.87% 63.48% 5.99% 1.87%
22nd Jun 1949 B 1030.5 MK hops. 8.22% 84.25% 5.48% 2.05%
20th Oct 1949 Best Ale 1029.1 MK and KT hops. 7.66% 84.31% 5.84% 2.19%
21st Jun 1949 XX 1027.7 MK and KT hops. 7.98% 85.55% 4.56% 1.90%
16th May 1950 Best Ale 1032.3 MK, EK and Worcester hops. 7.29% 86.46% 4.17% 2.08%
17th Jul 1951 Best Ale 1031.8 MK and CF hops. 7.30% 86.61% 4.17% 1.91%
4th Feb 1952 Best Ale 1030.8 KT hops. 7.30% 86.61% 4.17% 1.91%
28th Jan 1953 Best Ale 1030.6 MK hops. 7.41% 85.71% 4.94% 1.94%
21st Jan 1954 Best Ale 1031.0 MK, EK and SX hops. 6.74% 80.31% 11.05% 1.90%
29th Sep 1954 MA 1030.8 MK, EK and KT hops. 6.35% 80.42% 11.29% 1.94%
29th Sep 1954 XXX 1037.5 MK, EK and KT hops. 6.35% 80.42% 11.29% 1.94%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.
 

The grists aren't the most exciting you'll ever see. Whitbread hadn't used adjuncts before the war and the use of flaked barley was almost certainly dictated by the authorities. After 1946, no adjuncts were used. Though obviously lots of lovely sugar. Which is where most of the dark brown colour came from. As was typical in Milds of this period, there was no malt darker than crystal. I'm not sure why the sugar content fell in the first few years of the 1950's. That aside, the recipe was pretty stable: 7% crystal malt, 80-85% MA (mild ale) malt, 11% No. 3 sugar, 2% Hay sugar. That latter is some sort of proprietary sugar, which was presumably dark.

What should I do next - follow Mild through subsequent decades or look at the other styles for this same period?

10 comments:

Bailey said...

All bow before mighty Hopulon!

Matt said...

Is the origin of Whitbread Trophy about to be revealed?

Ron Pattinson said...

Matt,

soon, soon.

Wheaty said...

Interesting to see that the Whitbread brewing records are held in an accessible archive. I'm interested in the records of one of their former constituents - Tennant Brothers' Exchange Brewery in Sheffield. They were taken over by Whitbread but brewed continually until brewing ceased in 1993. Any clues as to where the Tennant records ended up would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ron Pattinson said...

Wheaty,

Whitbread were really good at preserving the brewing records of the breweries they took over. Originally, all of the records were kept in an archive at Chiswell Street. When Whitbread left brewing, their archive was broken up, with the material being deposited in archives local to where the brewery was located. That's why the Chiswell Street records are housed at the LMA.

Just had a quick look and, as expected, the Tennant's records are in the Sheffield Archives:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=199-200157&cid=-1#-1

It's not a full catalogue, but it does say there are brewing records there.

Can I ask a favour? If you photograph their brewing records can you pass on the pictures to me? I'd love to see the logs for the original version of Gold Label.

Gary Gillman said...

Mild dropped by something like 50% or more in some cases in ABV within living memory of some drinkers in the late 40's. Does anyone know if Andrew Campbell mentioned this? Why wasn't there a CAMRA created to protest against that? I guess because, i) the change was ongoing since WW I, ii) privation made people accept what they could get, iii) beer important as it is paled or rather darkened in comparison to national survival, importance of adequate food supplies and perhaps other entertainments.

Gary

Ron Pattinson said...

Gary,

people got used to weaker beer, simple as that. Some welcomed the fall in strength caused by WW I, saying the pre-war beers had been too heavy.

What's revealing is how average gravity remained at 1037 when there were no external factors - like wars - dictating changes.

Wheaty said...

I trust you can make sense of this, Ron !

https://www.dropbox.com/s/glcafikvlpcw84i/Gold-Label.jpg

Ron Pattinson said...

Whaety,

I can indeed. Thanks very much.

Ron Pattinson said...

Stott,

it's a percentage of the weight. So 336 lbs for every quarter of malt, 224 lbs per quarter of sugar.