Youngs beers in 1939

Let’s take look at Young’s beers just as WW II was erupting.

The brewing records have eight beers, split into four groups: 2 Mild Ales, 2 Pale Ales, Porter and Stout, 2 Strong Ales. Quite neat, that. These were brewed in three parti-gyles, the Pale Ales, Porter and Stout, Mild and Strong Ales. Again, very neat.

There are still two Mild Ales, A and X Looking like typical 4d and 5d per pint beers. Some London brewers, such as Barclay Perkins, also had a Mild Ale in the 6d per pint class, clocking in at 1043º.  At least watery A was just about intoxicating, at just a sliver under 3% ABV.

The two Pale Ales are 6d and 7d per pint beers. As with the Mild Ales, the top-class draught version – an 8d per pint beer – is missing. Barclay Perkins did have an example of this type, called simply PA, which had a gravity of 1053º.  

There’s been a general reduction in hopping rates since 1932, Mild and Strong Ales are down by about 1 lb per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. The Pale Ales are down by a couple of pounds. That brew of PA was a single-gyle outlier. Usually, the rate was 8 lbs per quarter. The only beers where the hopping remained unchanged were Porter and Stout.

The rate of attenuation looks lower than in 1932. I wouldn’t read too much into that. Final gravities are all over the place in the brewing records. There was considerable variation between brews. Starting gravities, on the other hand, are exactly the same, every time. That’s the joy of parti-gyling. Total control of OG.

I’m quite surprised by the quantities of Porter brewed. More than of the Stout. With batches as large as 90 barrels. Whitbread, a much larger brewery, had Porter brewed just 20 to 50 barrels at a time. Was all Youngs Porter sold on draught? Or bottled as some sort of Stout?

The Stout, for once, is full strength, as an 8d per pint beer. Many London brewers – Whitbread, Watney, Charrington and Courage, for example – lacked a draught Stout in this class.  

XXX is a typical London draught Burton Ale. Or, at least, a typical 8d per pint version. These were in the mid-1050ºs. Whilst 7d per pint examples were around 1048º. 

A couple of other brewers in London had offerings around the same strength as XXXX. Barclay Perkins had KKKK at 1078.5º.  And Fullers Old Burton Extra, a little weaker, at 1069º.  Both XXXX and KKKK were seasonal beers, only sold in the colder months.  

Youngs beers in 1939
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1029	1006.6	2.96	77.08%	6.14	0.71
X	Mild	1035	1007.8	3.60	77.84%	6.19	0.85
PA	Pale Ale	1048	1011.1	4.88	76.92%	10.45	1.99
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1009.4	3.88	75.71%	7.98	1.22
P	Porter	1035	1011.1	3.16	68.34%	7.00	0.97
S	Stout	1053	1017.2	4.74	67.60%	7.00	1.47
XXX	Strong Ale	1057	1019.4	4.98	65.98%	5.86	1.33
XXXX	Strong Ale	1081	1029.9	6.76	63.07%	5.86	1.90
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.