Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Truman X "Dark"

The Burton brewery of Truman was another with a rather bewildering array of beers at the start of WW II.

Their lower-numbered Burton Ales – No. 5 down – had been dropped during WW I. These were their Mild Ales. They were replaced by ones fitting the more common Mild system of designations, X, XX and XXX. Though maybe that last one was really their Burton Ale. Not totally sure on that. But X and XX both came in two versions, light and dark. Rather like what Barclay Perkins had.

But at Truman the dark versions weren’t just the pale beer coloured up with caramel at racking time. They were specifically brewed as the dark version, with a different grist. Though, in a way, they may as well have been as the only difference in the recipe was caramel. Which could just have been added at racking time.

The way X was brewed was a hangover from WW I, when brewers blended or watered down beers post-fermentation. The reason – as far as I can tell – was for yeast health, brewers fearing what would happen to their yeast if it were only ever exposed to low-gravity wort.

Though in this case it’s the opposite that’s going on. X was brewed at 1027.4º then blended with 40 barrels of the stronger XX, raising the effective OG to 1028.5º.

The grist is typical Truman: pale malt, high-dried malt, crystal malt and sugar. Plus the all-important caramel to get the dark colour.

The hops were all English from the 1937 and 1938 crops.

1939 Truman X "Dark"
pale malt	3.75 lb	55.72%
high dried malt	1.50 lb	22.29%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	7.43%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	4.90%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	7.43%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.15 lb	2.23%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1028.5
FG	1004.5
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	84.21%
IBU	21
SRM	17
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	61.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1028 London Ale (Worthington White Shield)