London Mild Ale during WW I

Courage’s X Ale went through quite a few changes during the war.

There was quite a change in the rate of attenuation. My guess is that they were trying to compensate for the fall in gravity. In 1918, with gravities under 1025º, they were really pushing the limits of what you could call beer. Because of the rules about average gravity, every barrel they brewed at 1021º meant they could brew one at 1039º, or a half barrel at 1047º. It was very tempting to slash the gravity of a big seller like Mild to maximise the amount of stronger, more profitable beer you could brew.

It’s interesting to note that the hopping rate per barrel remaining fairly constant at around 1 pound per barrel when the gravity was more than halved. That’s reflected by the increase in the hopping rate per quarter, which rose from 4-5 lbs to over 10 lbs. Again, I assume that to compensate for the fall in gravity and boost flavour.

The grist was tweaked several times during the war years:

The big increase in the proportion of crystal malt from 1917 on is intriguing. As it seems to correlate with the fall in gravity. It looks like another attempt to compensate for the falling strength of X Ale. While the appearance of black malt corresponds to a fall in the percentage of No. 3 invert sugar. So it’s surely a colour correction.

The 1920 recipe is quite different from the 1914 one: far less base malt, slightly more No. 3 invert, almost three times as much crystal malt.

Courage X Ale 1914 - 1920
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
17th Oct	1914	1054.6	1019.4	4.65	64.47%	4.96	1.05
8th Mar	1915	1049.9	1018.3	4.18	63.33%	4.00	0.78
23rd Sep	1915	1048.2	1011.1	4.91	77.01%	4.96	0.96
11th Oct	1916	1048.2	1007.2	5.42	85.06%	5.00	0.97
9th May	1916	1044.9	1006.9	5.02	84.57%	6.51	1.18
2nd Jan	1917	1045.7	1010.0	4.73	78.18%	3.88	0.76
8th Jun	1917	1041.6	1007.2	4.54	82.67%	8.72	1.16
19th Oct	1917	1034.6	1006.4	3.74	81.60%	7.57	1.13
18th Jan	1918	1034.6	1006.9	3.66	80.00%	7.38	1.13
20th Apr	1918	1023.8	1004.4	2.57	81.40%	9.41	1.01
19th Nov	1918	1021.1	1003.9	2.27	81.58%	10.89	1.01
30th Jun	1919	1023.5	1003.6	2.64	84.71%	6.78	0.75
7th Jul	1919	1027.4	1004.4	3.04	83.84%	8.17	0.99
29th Dec	1919	1037.7	1007.2	4.03	80.88%	5.98	1.00
22nd Apr	1920	1037.7	1007.5	3.99	80.15%	5.91	0.98
Sources:
Courage brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/08/247, ACC/2305/08/248, ACC/2305/08/249, ACC/2305/08/250 and ACC/2305/08/251.

Courage X Ale grists 1914 - 1920
Date	Year	OG	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	no. 3 sugar	caramel	glucose	black invert
17th Oct	1914	1054.6	82.1%	0.8%	6.1%	11.0%
8th Mar	1915	1049.9	82.8%		6.1%	11.1%
23rd Sep	1915	1048.2	82.4%		6.3%	11.3%
11th Oct	1915	1048.2	82.8%		6.1%	11.1%
9th May	1916	1044.9	80.5%		6.0%	13.4%
2nd Jan	1917	1045.7	75.0%		9.1%	15.9%
8th Jun	1917	1041.6	73.6%		11.3%	15.1%
19th Oct	1917	1034.6	76.2%	1.7%	13.3%	6.6%			2.2%
18th Jan	1918	1034.6	76.1%	1.7%	13.0%	9.2%
20th Apr	1918	1023.8	70.9%	2.9%	18.4%	7.8%
19th Nov	1918	1021.1	64.5%	5.4%	19.4%			10.8%
30th Jun	1919	1023.5	66.3%	2.0%	15.3%	13.6%	2.7%
7th Jul	1919	1027.4	67.6%	2.0%	15.4%	13.7%	1.4%
29th Dec	1919	1037.7	64.4%		19.8%	15.8%
22nd Apr	1920	1037.7	69.1%		16.7%	13.2%	1.0%
Sources:
Courage brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/08/247, ACC/2305/08/248, ACC/2305/08/249, ACC/2305/08/250 and ACC/2305/08/251.

The above is an excerpt from Armistice!, which takes a detailed look at the exciting world of WW I brewing. Including some of the most watery beer recipes ever.

 Buy this wonderful book.