Let's Brew Wednesday - 1942 Shepherd Neame BA

A couple of years further into the war and there have been some changes at Shepherd Neame. PA is gone and a new beer, BA, has appeared.

It looks like BA was a replacement for PA, as it seems to be playing the role of Best Bitter. BB, their Ordinary Bitter, as we’ll see later, was even weaker than this. It’s a scene that replayed in brew houses across Britain. Strong Bitters are either discontinued or emasculated.

The biggest change in grists is the appearance of flaked barley. Which I think probably wasn’t voluntary. Flaked maize had been common before the war and the government got brewers to move over to flaked barley instead. It took less energy to produce than malted barley was their thinking.

As ever, I only know for sure that the hops were English. And were from the seasons 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942 (this beer was brewed in November 1942). Which is why I’ve knocked down the hop quantity.

It’s very lightly hopped for a Pale Ale of any kind. I really don’t get this. The brewery is in hops heartland. It’s odd how few they used.

1942 Shepherd Neame BA
pale malt	7.50 lb	90.25%
flaked barley	0.75 lb	9.03%
malt extract	0.06 lb	0.72%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1035
FG	1007
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	80.00%
IBU	18
SRM	3.5
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	a Southern English Ale yeast