Boddington grists in 1901

Time to look at what went into these beers. Which, it turns out, wasn’t a whole lot.

Only two types of malt were employed: pale and black. That’s pretty minimal. Especially as only three beers – the two Stouts and the Strong Ale – contained black malt. And, even in those, the quantity is pretty small. There’s not really anything else to say about the malts.

Similarly, there were just two types of sugar: Garton and invert. Both of which are pretty vague descriptions. And pretty similar, as Garton was a producer of invert. I did wonder if they were different names for the same thing. Until I came across beers that included both.

In general, the malt content is very high. Over 90% in most cases. And there are no adjuncts of any type. Which, as you’ve probably noticed, wasn’t very typical. By 1900, most breweries had taken advantage of the opportunity to use unmalted grains given by the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act.

Boddington grists in 1901
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	Garton	invert	total sugar
TA	Table Ale	91.30%		8.70%		8.70%
X	Mild	92.86%		7.14%		7.14%
XX	Mild	91.58%		8.42%		8.42%
XXX	Mild	88.89%			11.11%	11.11%
XXXX	Mild	93.75%			6.25%	6.25%
AK	Pale Ale	90.70%			9.30%	9.30%
IPA	IPA	91.84%			8.16%	8.16%
S	Stout	86.98%	1.97%	5.52%	5.52%	11.05%
DS	Stout	85.86%	1.42%	9.54%	3.18%	12.72%
BB	Strong Ale	91.13%	0.19%		8.68%	8.68%
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Boddington beers in 1901

Let’s take a look at the beers Boddington was brewing at the turn of the 20th century.

There were ten of them, in all. Ranging from Table Ale to Strong Ale.

Beginning at the bottom, the Table Ale has a pretty decent gravity for the style at just a little short of 1040º. And a very decent rate of attenuation leaves it well over 4% ABV. It wasn’t brewed in huge quantities and I’m guessing was mostly aimed at the home trade rather than pubs.

Moving on, we come to a whole clutch of Mild Ales. A full set, from X through to XXXX. Something which was becoming less common, as many brewers concentrated on just one or two examples of the style. Despite its continued huge popularity.

X, the weakest of the set is a bit weaker than an equivalent London beer, which would have had an OG of around 1050º. About the same as Boddington’s XX. While XXX and XXXX are stronger than any London-brewed Mild of the period.

The attenuation of all the Mild Ales is a little on the low side. I assume that this was deliberate, in order to leave some body and residual sweetness.

A hopping rate of around 5.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is a bit lower than in London. But not much. And still enough to leave a decent amount of bitterness.

There were only two Pale Ales. Fewer than found in may Southern breweries. Especially those in Kent. Where Fremlin produced no fewer than eight.

The AK looks about bang on for the style. Though Manchester was quite a long way north for the type. Here, it seems to be playing the role of Ordinary Bitter. Despite being brewed in smaller quantities than the stronger IPA.

As you would expect, the hopping rate is greater than in the Mild Ales, at 8 lbs per quarter of malt. Not crazy heavy for a Pale Ale of the time.

Now we come to the only one of these beers that still exists: IPA. Because this is the beer that we all know as Boddington’s Bitter. Even in the 1980s, the brewhouse name was still IP.

It’s a bit too weak to be a full-strength Stock Pale Ale. And I doubt that it received much in the way of ageing. At almost 10 lbs of hops per quarter, it’s the most heavily hopped of Boddington’s beers.

What can I say about the two Stouts? Well, the weaker of the two looks very much like a London Porter. To be honest, I’m surprised that Boddington produced two Stouts.  I imagine the weaker one was probably sold in bottles as Nourishing Stout, or something similar.

The hopping of both Stouts is pretty low. Very similar to the Mild Ales. While in London, Black Beers were hopped at around 8 lbs per quarter.

Finally, we have BB, the Strong Ale. Though, very confusingly, a few years later the name BB would be used for a Mild Ale. It’s a decent strength and reasonably heavily hopped. It wouldn’t surprise if it was aged a year or more before sale.
 

Boddington beers in 1901
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
TA	Table Ale	1038	1006	4.23	84.21%	5.83	0.86
X	Mild	1045.5	1012.0	4.43	73.63%	5.62	1.03
XX	Mild	1051.5	1014	4.96	72.82%	5.67	1.18
XXX	Mild	1059	1018	5.42	69.49%	5.66	1.33
XXXX	Mild	1068	1022	6.09	67.65%	5.91	1.66
AK	Pale Ale	1046	1012	4.50	73.91%	8.00	1.50
IPA	IPA	1054	1015	5.16	72.22%	9.71	2.10
S	Stout	1051	1015	4.76	70.59%	5.50	1.16
DS	Stout	1067.5	1023	5.89	65.93%	5.38	1.56
BB	Strong Ale	1086	1030	7.41	65.12%	8.42	2.63
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin BA

Moving to the next strength category we find BA. Which, in the 1897 price list, is described as “No. 3 Bitter Ale”. 

The recipe isn’t quite the same as BB’s. As the cane sugar is replaced by No. 2 invert. Along with a smaller amount of dextro-maltose. For which I’ve substituted more No. 2 invert. Two types of base malt, one from Californian and one from English barley.

Four types of copper hops and another four of dry hops. English, from the 1896 and 1897 harvests.

I’m really unsure as to whether this was aged or not. I suspect not. I think that honour was reserved for the London subvariant.

1897 Fremlin BA
pale malt	7.25 lb	69.05%
flaked barley	1.00 lb	9.52%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.25 lb	21.43%
Fuggles 105 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1052
FG	1015
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	71.15%
IBU	46
SRM	9
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

 

Goal achieved!

400 posts in 2025! 

Yeaah! Meaningless goal, whacked into the back of an empty net. While the opposition has a fag break after their 36th goal. In the first half.

I'm not sure why I started posting every day. Over-excitement. Or some sort of label. Pretty sure I'd have acquired one of those, were I a child today.

Going to just keep on. For no other reason than that I'm afraid to stop.

A happy moment of 2025:

 

 

Fremlin copper hops in 1897

Hops. Fremlin used loads of them. Pretty much all of them English.

Every beer contained at least two types of hops. Except for the Pilsener, which had just the one. I’m not 100% certain of the type. I think it says “Veleke”. I’m guessing that it was some type of Czech hop,

Most beers have a combination 1896 and 1897 season hops. All pretty fresh, considering all these brews took place in October 1897. The exceptions were the London versions of BA, BB and PA, which only had hops from the 1897 harvest, A sure sign that these were posh, expensive beers.

Sadly, with the exception of a couple of instances, there’s no indication of the English region from which the hops came. In those few cases, it’s always Worcester. Leading mw to believe that the others are mostly from Kent. It was, after all, the region that produced the most hops. And was where Fremlin was located. 

Fremlin copper hops in 1897
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5	hop 6
X	Mild	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
H	Pale Ale	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897	Wor. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
BA	Pale Ale	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897	Wor. 1897
BA C	Pale Ale	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
BA L	Pale Ale	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897
BB	Pale Ale	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
BB L	Pale Ale	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897
PA	Pale Ale	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897	Wor. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896
PA L	Pale Ale	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897
IPA	IPA	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897	Eng. 1897
Pilsener	Pilsener	Veleke? 1896
P	Porter	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
Cooper	Porter	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
DS	Stout	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1896	Eng. 1897
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.

 

7th December 1914 Thomas Usher X, PA and PA 60/- mashing scheme

Finally, we come to mashing. Always one of my favourite bits to interpret in brewing records. Not really. They’re a right pain in the bum. As how the details are recorded is very inconsistent.  And often the most important bits – like initial heat – are omitted.

Let’s see what Usher were up to with their mashing in 1914.

It’s a very Scottish method, with just a single mash followed by multiple sparges. While in England about the simplest a mash got was an initial infusion, followed by and underlet, finished off with a couple of sparges. Though some brewers were still performing multiple mashes.

Compared to 1894, there’s an extra sparge. Which is at the surprisingly low temperature of 155º F. I can’t remember ever seeing a sparge below 160º F. 

7th December 1914 Thomas usher X, PA and PA 60/-
action	strike heat	mash heat	tap heat
mash	157º F	150.5º F	149º F
sparge 1	170º F	155º F	158º F
sparge 2	165º F	160º F	158º F
sparge 3	155º F	153º F	159º F
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/5.

 

Bottling Guinness in the 1960s

Another Guinness bottling controversy. This time about the use of corks. Which Guinness wanted to phase out in favour of crown corks. 

The brilliant thing about this video is that it shows hand bottling at the pub. The beer is in wooden hogsheads, which is filled in bottles and then corked. 

 It's wonderful to see just how the bottling process worked.

 

 

Guinness in crockery bottles

 Here's a reminder of when Guinness was bottled by publicans. In this case, using corked crockery bottles.

 

 At one time, this was how most Guinness was bottled in Ireland. In the pub where it would be sold. This was one of the main reasons Guinness Extra Stout remained bottle conditioned. Publican bottlers didn't have the equipment to artificially carbonate.

Anyone know when publicans stopped bottling in Ireland? 

 

 

Thomas Usher boiling and fermentation in 1914

Time for boiling. Which was quite different for the different types of beer.

The shortest boil times were for the “Br” Shilling Ales. Where the first wort was boiled for just 90 minutes and the second for 150 minutes. Nothing particularly unusual for the 19th century. And far short of boiling the first wort down to syrup, as some would have you believe. 

The Mild Shilling Ales, in the other hand, had a single 120-minute boil. The reason for the single boil was that these beers were produced in relatively small quantities and only one wort was produced.

The Pale Ales all had three boils, mostly of 105, 135 and 165 minutes. With the last boil so long presumably to concentrate the wort. The one exception was PA 60/-, where each of the boils was 15 minutes shorter. For whatever reason.

Longest boils were reserved for the Stouts. Where the single boil was 180 minutes. Why so long? Possibly to darken the wort.

Fermentation temperatures now. Pitching temperatures are remarkably consistent at 60º F for every beer. Usually, you would expect the pitching temperature would be lower for higher gravity beers.

There’s a bit more variation in maximum temperatures. But still only 3º F, between 66º F and 69º F.  With, logically enough, the lowest temperatures for the weakest beer.

One general comment. The maximum temperatures are quite low. In London, they were generally over 70º F. 

Thomas Usher boiling and fermentation in 1914
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)			Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp
40/- Br	Ale	1.5	2.5		60º F	66º F
50/- Br	Ale	1.5	2.5		60º F	67º F
60/- Br	Ale	1.5	2.5		60º F	67º F
44/- MA	Mild	2			60º F	68º F
50/- MA	Mild	2			60º F	67º F
60/- MA	Mild	2			60º F	68º F
80/- MA	Mild	2			60º F	67º F
100/- MA	Mild	2			60º F	69º F
X	Pale Ale	1.75	2.25	2.75	60º F	69º F
X 60/-	Pale Ale	1.75	2.25	2.75	60º F	68º F
IP	IPA	1.75	2.25	2.75	60º F	68º F
40/- PA	Pale Ale	1.75	2.25	2.75	60º F	68º F
PA	Pale Ale	1.75	2.25	2.75	60º F	69º F
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	1.5	2	2.5	60º F	69º F
48/-	Stout	3			60º F	69º F
54/-	Stout	3			60º F	69º F
XP	Strong Ale	2	2.25	2.75	60º F	68º F
	Average	1.93	2.30	2.71	60º F	68º F
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/5.

 

Let's Brew - 1897 Fremlin BB L

As you’ll see as we go through Fremlin’s Pale Ales that there were variants of the same basic beers. In this case, I’m pretty sure that the “L” here stands for “London”.

What does London mean in this case? Heavier hopping.10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared to 7.5 lbs for plain old BB. I guess Londoners liked their beer more bitter.

Hopping aside, there are other differences in the recipe. For example, there’s no flaked barley. And instead of the “cane” sugar, there’s No, 2 invert. There’s also some dextro-maltose, for which I’ve substituted more No. 2.

Just two copper hops and two dry hops, all English and all from the 1897 season.

There’s a note in the brewing record that days “only 30 barrels racked as Stock, the rest blended with BB”. At least some of it was aged, then. A maximum of three or four months would be my guess. 

1897 Fremlin BB L
pale malt	7.25 lb	74.36%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.50 lb	25.64%
Goldings 120 mins	1.125 oz
Goldings 90 mins	2.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.125 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1048
FG	1010
ABV	5.03
Apparent attenuation	79.17%
IBU	67
SRM	9
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Thomas Usher sugars in 1914

Sugar next. Rather a lot of different types, as you’ll see in the table.

Six types of sugar in total. Greenock being the commonest. I suspect that it’s a type of invert. It appears in all the Pale Ales and the weaker Shilling Ales. The quantity is pretty consistent at 10% to 12%. Given that it’s in the Pale Ales, it must have been pretty light in colour.

Next most common is dextro-laevulose. Which crops up in all the Mild Ales and Stouts. The dextrin will be there to add body. And laevulose is just another word for fructose. That will just be providing fermentable material. 

Cane sugar appears in all the Mild Ales. I assume that what is meant is some type of raw cane sugar. Penang sounds like something similar.

The last two sugars only crop up in the Stouts. I’ve no idea what Maltosan was. It sounds like a proprietary sugar. Oatine sounds like a sugar especially for Oatmeal Stout. Which was all the rage before WW I.  

The total sugar content of the Mild Ales and Stouts, at around 20%, is pretty high. It’s a more reasonable 10% to 12% for the other styles.

Thomas Usher sugars in 1914
Beer	Style	Greenock	dextro-laevulose	cane sugar	Penang	Maltosan	oatine	total sugar
40/- Br	Ale	12.12%						12.12%
50/- Br	Ale	12.12%						12.12%
60/- Br	Ale	11.76%						11.76%
44/- MA	Mild		8.16%	12.24%				20.41%
50/- MA	Mild		8.16%	12.24%				20.41%
60/- MA	Mild		7.27%	10.91%				18.18%
80/- MA	Mild		7.27%	10.91%				18.18%
100/- MA	Mild		8.16%	12.24%				20.41%
X	Pale Ale	10.91%						10.91%
X 60/-	Pale Ale	8.38%						8.38%
IP	IPA	11.20%						11.20%
40/- PA	Pale Ale	10.91%						10.91%
PA	Pale Ale	10.91%						10.91%
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	12.12%						12.12%
48/-	Stout		3.20%		12.80%	1.60%	3.20%	20.80%
54/-	Stout		3.20%		12.80%	1.60%	3.20%	20.80%
XP	Strong Ale	9.68%						9.68%
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/5.

 

Drinkalongathon 2025 - red wine and duck

 

18:11

 Time for a roast dinner. Duck, spuds and sprouts. Stuffing, too, of course. Very nice. And went very well with the wininess of the wine. Forgive the lack of adjectives. It's been a long day.And the whisky isn't done yet.

 

 

Drinkalongathon 2025 - whisky and cooking

 

16:

 16:38

 Time to do some cooking. Which matches so well with cooking. The duck is coming along nicely. Smells dead good. The turkey is lagging a little behind. Time to put the veg on? I don't know. 

Dolores . . .

 

Drinkalongathon 2025 - sherry and White Christmas

 15:42

 Between courses, time to watch some shit. Alexei has put White Christmas on. I'm impressed by the quality. Of the images. The plot , dialogue and acting are complete shit. The image quality, on the other hand, is outstanding. The saltiness of the sherry matches well with my cynicism.

Drinkalongathon 2025 - white wine and pastry

 15:08

 The birds are in the oven. Time for a pastry starter. The sort of pastry I like (not a Stout). What does the white wine do? Wet my throat for sucking down the food. It's full of, er, white winey goodness. Just need to beef it up with a fist or two of whisky. (No fingers for me.)