Thursday 21 May 2020

Boddington beers after WW II

Unsurprisingly, Boddington’s range hadn’t expanded during WW II. Sure, there were still four beers, but two of them were essentially the same.

Bottling IP was introduced in 1943, presumably as a variant of Bitter for bottling. Originally it was 4º weaker: 1037º to the 1041º of standard IP. But cuts in the gravity of IP left the two pretty much the same by the end of the war. I can’t really see why the bothered making two only marginally different beers.


Boddington beers after WW II
Year Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl dry hops (oz / barrel)
1946 XX Mild 1028 1005 3.04 82.14% 6.92 0.78 0.00
1946 Bottling IP Pale Ale 1037 1006 4.10 83.78% 6.76 0.97 2.33
1946 IP Pale Ale 1038 1006 4.23 84.21% 6.46 0.96 2.31
1945 St Stout 1038 1010 3.70 73.68% 5.33 0.81 0.00
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/129.

CC, Boddington’s Strong Ale, seems to have never returned after the brewery was shut down for 8 months in December 1940 after sustaining serious bomb damage. Though it did make a comeback in 1951.

A big increase in the rate of attenuation means that Boddington Bitter remained over 4% ABV, despite the reduction in gravity. High attenuation also dragged their Mild just over the 3% ABV level.


Boddington beers OG before and after WW II
1939 1945/46
Beer Style OG OG % fall
XX Mild 1033.8 1028 17.04%
Bottling IP Pale Ale 1037
IP Pale Ale 1045 1038 15.56%
St Stout 1045 1038 15.56%
CC Strong Ale 1056
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/129.

In reality, the effective OG of at least some of the beers would have been a degree or two higher due to the addition of primings at racking time. Entries for primings appear in the brewing book. Unfortunately, it doesn’t record where these went and in what quantities.

To put those falls into context, average OG fell from 1040.93º in 1939 to 1034.54º in 1945.  That's a 15.61% reduction. Which is near a damn it an exact match for the drop in IP’s gravity. While the OG of XX fell a little more than the average.

The hopping rate was also reduced in the course of the war. Something Boddington had no control over.


Boddington hopping rates before and after WW II
1939 1945/46 % fall
Beer Style lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
XX Mild 7.91 1.15 6.92 0.78 12.57% 32.50%
Bottling IP Pale Ale 6.76 0.97
IP Pale Ale 6.92 1.39 6.46 0.96 6.67% 30.58%
St Stout 7.54 1.51 5.33 0.81 29.27% 46.17%
CC Strong Ale 8.10 2.17
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/129.

What’s slightly odd is that the hopping rate for Mild, in terms of lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, was higher than that of Bitter. The exact reverse of what you would expect. However, due to the greater strength of IP, its rate per barrel was higher.

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