Youngs PA adjuncts and sugars 1939 - 1945

Now it’s time for the rest of the ingredients. Adjuncts and sugars first.

Before late 1941, there were no adjuncts.

Pre-war, there were no adjuncts in in the Pale Ale. The only adjunct Youngs employed was flaked oats in their Stout and Porter. That all changed in the war, when brewers were forced to use a percentage of flaked barley in their beers.

Kicking off in 1941, when the percentage was just under 5%. In 1942, this increased to 10%, around where it stayed, with a little variation, until the last year of the war when it jumped up to around 15%.

Sugar is a completely different matter. As every other English brewer, Youngs used sugar. And quite a bit of it in their Pale Ale. When the unpleasantness tarted, 14% of the grist was sugar. Which is pretty close to the UK average of 15%. 

In 1941, the sugar content dropped right down to 8.5%. Not really surprising as sugar was needed for purposes other than brewing. And it stayed at that reduced level right up until the last year of the war, when it returned to something like pre-war levels. Presumably because the supply of sugar had improved.

Very constant is the quantity of malt extract used. Around 3%. Why were they using malt extract? For the enzymes. UK brewers were paranoid about not having enough enzymes and were always looking for ways to top them up. Diastatic malt extract being a pretty obvious choice. One shared by quite a few other brewers. Youngs were still using malt extract in the 1970s.

Malt extract aside, there’s only really one type of sugar used: No. 1 invert. Which is exactly what you would expect in a top-of-the-range Pale Ale. The one exception being in May 1945 when there was a small amount of No. 3. Why? No fucking idea, to be honest. Maybe they were a little short of No. 1. 

Youngs PA adjuncts and sugars 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	flaked barley	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	total sugar
27th Jul	1939		2.86%	11.43%		14.29%
22nd May	1940		2.86%	11.43%		14.29%
1st May	1941		2.84%	5.67%		8.51%
3rd Jul	1941		2.44%	6.10%		8.54%
8th Jul	1941		2.44%	6.10%		8.54%
23rd Oct	1941	4.23%	2.11%	7.04%		9.15%
7th May	1942	6.29%	2.80%	6.99%		9.79%
9th Jul	1942	4.20%	2.80%	6.99%		9.79%
20th Oct	1942	10.11%	3.37%	5.62%		8.99%
30th Apr	1943	13.33%	3.33%	6.67%		10.00%
20th Jul	1943	12.59%	2.80%	6.99%		9.79%
1st May	1944	10.00%	3.33%	6.67%		10.00%
8th May	1944	10.00%	3.33%	6.67%		10.00%
19th Oct	1944	10.49%	2.80%	6.99%		9.79%
8th May	1945	14.37%	2.99%	8.38%	2.40%	13.77%
3rd Jul	1945	17.14%	2.86%	11.43%		14.29%
12th Jul	1945	14.37%	2.99%	10.78%		13.77%
Sources:
Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/8 YO/RE/1/9 YO/RE/1/10, YO/RE/1/11, YO/RE/1/12, YO/RE/1/13 and YO/RE/1/14.