Youngs PA malts 1939 - 1945

And how did the recipe change over the war years? Well, let’s take a look. Starting with the malts.

In total, four malts were employed over the wartime years. But only one appeared in every iteration: PA malt. Though there were only a couple of times that it was the only malt.

The second most common malt is, a bit surprisingly, mild malt. I assume this was used because of supply difficulties. And mild malt happened to be what they had plenty of.

Other than in 1941, the grists were all over the place. With several different combinations of PA, mild and enzymic malt. It’s all very chaotic and a sign that they were having to make do with the malts that they could get hold of.

I’m guessing that, had it been available, they would have used enzymic malt all through the war. The patchy way it was used implies that the supply was somewhat irregular.

The percentage of malt is also all over the place. Starting the war at 86% and ending it at 63%. But, between those, it goes up and down quite a bit. Peaking at 91% in 1941. 

Youngs PA malts 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	pale malt	PA malt	mild malt	enzymic malt	total malt
27th Jul	1939	32.14%	50.36%		3.21%	85.71%
22nd May	1940	28.93%	53.57%		3.21%	85.71%
1st May	1941		88.30%		3.19%	91.49%
3rd Jul	1941		88.72%		2.74%	91.46%
8th Jul	1941		88.72%		2.74%	91.46%
23rd Oct	1941		36.97%	46.48%	3.17%	86.62%
7th May	1942	27.27%	56.64%			83.92%
9th Jul	1942		51.40%	31.47%	3.15%	86.01%
20th Oct	1942		33.71%	47.19%		80.90%
30th Apr	1943		76.67%			76.67%
20th Jul	1943		74.48%		3.15%	77.62%
1st May	1944		63.33%	16.67%		80.00%
8th May	1944		80.00%			80.00%
19th Oct	1944		41.96%	37.76%		79.72%
8th May	1945		53.89%	17.96%		71.86%
3rd Jul	1945		45.71%	22.86%		68.57%
12th Jul	1945		62.87%			62.87%
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.