A comparison of brewing adjuncts

As I'm sure I've already bored you lots of times with this. I'm not publishing excerpts of "Free!" on the blog. Other than recipes, that is. To read the the main text, you're going to have to buy the book.

What I am doing, is sharing some of the source material. The interesting stuff I unearth while researching the book. Often, a couple of thousand words I've found I'll condense down into just a sentence or two.

This probably doesn't come as any surprise: I quite enjoy the process of research. Given how deeply and fundamentally lazy I am, I wouldn't bother doing it if it wasn't fun. Even the really long-winded and tedious stuff. Like transcribing brewing records. I'm currently getting stuck into some William Younger records that I photographed in August 2009.

Getting to today's topic, it's a table of information about grains other than barley. The table appears in the adjuncts section of the brewing materials chapter. With some text that I won't be repeating here. Don't want to get into self-plagiarism. (Something my son Andrew keeps warning me about.) Luckily, I wrote the text a few weeks ago. Which, given my shit memory, means that I can't remember fuck all about it.

Looking at the analyses, the motivation behind using flaked rice - which was, in the early 1880s, in the immediate aftermath of the Free Mash Tun Act, the adjunct of choice - becomes clear. Rice had more starch, and hence higher potential extract, than maize. So why had brewers almost universally switched to maize by 1900? It's very simple. Maize was cheaper than rice. 

A comparison of brewing adjuncts
	rice	maize	oats
Starch	79	55.1	56.1
Water	10.6	12.0	13.6
Oil	0.1	5.5	4.0
Cellulose..	0.2	13.2	1.0
Albuminoids	7.5	8.0	16.5
Carbohydrates ..	1.4	3.0	6.0
Ash	1.0	1.8	2.4
Loss	0.2	1.4	0.4
total	100	100	100
Source:
Thatcher, Frank, A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting (The Country Brewers' Gazette, London, 1907), pages 256 - 259.

A comparison of brewing adjuncts

I'm having so much fun researching the book I'm currently working on, "Free!". I'm at the happy phase where some sections are pretty much complete and I'm filling in blanks. Currently, it's the part on adjuncts that I'm polishing off. Hence this post.

Though I'm not going to post the book text. As I've said a few times recently I'm returning this blog to its roots. Of serving up bits of raw data before I cook them into finished book text.

We're going to compare three popular adjuncts: maize, rice and oats. And see which makes the most useful adjunct.

Of greatest importance is the starch content. Because that's what is converted into extract. You can see that is considerably higher in rice. Which is probably why, initially after 1880, rice was the most popular adjunct. Though, by 1900, most brewers had switched to cheaper maize.

Though maize also had a problem: the high oil content. Because of its horrible flavour, it needed to be removed before brewing.

"By the removal of the germ and husk the oil is almost taken away from the com. This oil is of a yellow colour, and on exposure to the atmosphere is liable to turn rancid; it has an unpleasant flavour, gives off a disagreeable odour, and is removed by special degenerating machines by means of revolving knives acting upon the germs and husks."
Thatcher, Frank, A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting (The Country Brewers' Gazette, London, 1907), page 257.

I'm surprised at how high the starch content of oats. Even higher than that of maize. Though the yield in extract was rather poor. Oats could be used to boost body due to their high content of albuminous matter. Around 10% oats in the grist filled out the body of Stouts nicely. 

A comparison of brewing adjuncts
	rice	maize	oats
Starch	79	55.1	56.1
Water	10.6	12.0	13.6
Oil	0.1	5.5	4.0
Cellulose..	0.2	13.2	1.0
Albuminoids	7.5	8.0	16.5
Carbohydrates ..	1.4	3.0	6.0
Ash	1.0	1.8	2.4
Loss	0.2	1.4	0.4
total	100	100	100
Source:
Thatcher, Frank, A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting (The Country Brewers' Gazette, London, 1907), pages 256 - 259.

Beanes' Patent Grist (part two)

Thanks very much to those who commented on my last post. You saved me a good bit of research time with your links to various books. 

I'd already found a couple of references in "The report of the departmental committee on beer materials". But they were too vague, only implying it was prepared from some type of grain.

Frank Thatcher's book was the suggestion that answered pretty much all my questions. It's a book I already had, both physically and digitally. A bit embarrassing, really.  I've been using Thatcher as a source in my current book project. Specifically the part on beer ingredients. In my defence, I haven't got to adjuncts yet.

Beanes' Patent Grist is mentioned many times. There are even descriptions of how it was produced and how it was used.

"In the previous chapter on malting I have thoroughly explained the manufacture of malt and what a good sample of malt should resemble. It will now be necessary to define the other materials employed by brewers. These consist of amber, chocolate or brown , crystal and black malts, hops, various types of sugar such as invert, glucose, dextrin-maltose, and other types of such sugars including caramelized malt extract, maltodextrins, etc .; also raw cane sugar, caramels — those suitable for colouring purposes only, and those which possess a characteristic flavour for giving black beers features entirely of their own. We have also employed in convertors, raw grain , such as barley, oats , rice, maize, rye, wheat and sago ; and specially prepared grain , which includes flaked maize and rice, retorrefied rice, such as Beanes' Patent Grist, retorrefied barley and other forms of prepared grain."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 226.

That's specific enough: retorrefied rice. But what the hell is that? We'll get to that later. First we'll look at what the point in using it was.

""Beanes' Patent Grist” is prepared from rice by a special process of the manufacturers. It imparts to the finished beers a high percentage of dextrin, so that the palate thinness given to beers by flaked rice is entirely avoided, and beers brewed from this patent grist improve in brilliancy and condition the longer they are stored, while their flavour is clean and entirely satisfactory. It yields a high extract and does not produce the defects in beers which are observable in those brewed from other preparations of rice or maize. For the production of pale ales and beers which are required to remain sound during hot weather, this material is indeed an excellent one, as it is already practically converted when the brewer receives it."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, pages 260 - 261. 

Right. It was an improved version of flaked rice. One which didn't have its disadvantages and had a few other useful qualities. The high dextrin content would explain why it didn't thin out the body.

Odd that it's use is particularly handy in Pale Ales and in producing clear beers. When you see Cairnes' use of the material: only in there Stouts. Where clarity is not such a big deal.

Here's how it was made, for the more technically minded amongst you.

"Beanes’ Patent Grist is manufactured in the following way;— The grain is steeped in a solution of acid at a certain strength, and after it has absorbed as much of the acid solution as desired, it is washed with water to remove any excessive amount of acidity until the water coming away from the grain becomes neutral to litmus paper. Then the grain is dried on a kiln in a suitable manner, and the temperature raised from 280° to 310º until the starch in the grain has been changed to what is required, the grain being then more or less converted into dextrin. By this unique method of treatment one of the most excellent brewing materials that can be obtained is manufactured. The process appears at first sight a very simple one, but many who have tried to imitate it have failed to produce the exact article with regard to quality as supplied by the original manufacturers."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 516.

 Now I know what Beanes' Patent Grist was. My problem is what do I use to replace it? Flaked rice, from the texts above, wouldn't produce the same result.

If you look in the comments, fellow beer historian Peter Symons suggests brown rice syrup.

 

Adjuncts 1880 - 1914

The popularity of adjuncts increased quickly when they were allowed after 1880. By 1914, most breweries used an adjunct of one type or another. The most popular being maize, mostly in flaked form, but occasionally as grits.

There was a very simple reason adjuncts became very popular: price. It was far more economical. Per pound of extract, raw grains could cost less than 50% compared to malt.

Rice provided the most extract per quarter, which I find quite surprising. Though as it cost more than maize, it was less economical.

Here are analyses of maize and rice. If you’re wondering why the extract per quarter is higher in the table below, it’s because these are laboratory extracts, not what could be achieved in a brew house. 

Cost of 1 lb of extract from different grains
grain	extract per quarter	price per quarter (d)	price (d)
malt	88	480	5.45
barley	78	288	3.69
maize	86	218	2.53
rice	96	360	3.75
Source:
"The Manual of Brewing" by Egbert Grant Hooper, 1891, page 165.

Analysis of raw grain
	Granulated		Flaked
	Maize	Rice	Maize	Rice
Oil	0.98	0.76	0.97	0.29
Extract per quarter (336 lbs.)	98.44	102.48	98.78	103.15
,, per cent.	75.9	79.01	76.16	79.53
Total proteids or albuminoids	9.2	8.74	9.5	8.53
Soluble  "  "	0.62	0.41	0.34	0 28
Insoluble  "   "	8.58	7.33	9.2	8.25
Mineral matter or ash	0.3	0.26	0.44	0.32
Moisture	10.72	7.83	6.3	7.43
Source:
The Brewers Analyst, by R. Douglas Bailey, 1907, page 232

Heineken's rice cooking

A few people have commented on the rice stage of Heineken's mashing scheme. Doubting whether it would work.

I have to admit, I don't really understand the process. And I don't completely understand what's in the brewing record, even though it's very detailed. The easiest way to get my head around it better is to let you have a look.

This is what it looks like.

I'll explain the Dutch terms as we go along. 

"1e storting" = 1st charge. Where 200 kg "moutmeel" (ground malt) is mixed with 8 hl water, resulting in a "beslag" (mix of water and malt at 35º C. Which was transferred to the "klaringskuip" lauter tun.

Now we get to the step we're really interested in. "2e storting" or 2nd charge. Where 50 kg of "rijstmeel" (rice flour) are mixed with 2.5 hl of water at 17º C and 1 hl of the mash. Resulting in 3.8 hl at 22º C.

Does that make sense? The temperature looks very low to me.

Brewing ingredients in WW II

When the dust had settled at the end of WW I, things didn’t totally revert to the way they had been pre-war. UK brewing still wasn’t self-sufficient in raw materials, though it was less dependent than it had been. Not because UK production of materials had expanded, but because less beer was being brewed and it was of the lower gravity and hence required fewer ingredients.

Considerable quantities of barley continued to be imported, and all of the maize employed came from overseas. As well as considerable quantities of cane sugar. Between 1930 and 1938, on average, about 15% of the hops used in UK brewing were imported.

Difficulties in sea transport greatly limited – or entirely suppressed – the importation of most brewing materials. This wasn’t as big a problem as in WW I, as percentage of foreign ingredients in 1939 than it had been in 1914. But it still required brewers to adapt their grists.

The war made people do many things that they wouldn’t usually do. Brewing was no exception. Brewers being forced to use ingredients they wouldn’t usually have considered.

Flaked maize, for which there was no domestic source, was the first for the chop. Though, as it was only really used as a cheap substitute for malt, rather than for any inherent characteristics which had little impact on the character of the beer, replacing it wasn’t such a problem.   Several alternatives were employed at various points of the war: rice, oats and flaked barley.

Brewing materials 1938 - 1950 (%age)
year	malt	Un-malted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	hops per bulk barrel (lbs)	hops per standard barrel (lbs)	Hops per quarter (lbs)
1938	78.31%	0.12%	5.75%	15.82%	1.28	1.71	7.8
1939	78.35%	0.08%	5.82%	15.75%	1.25	1.67	7.61
1940	83.81%	0.07%	3.09%	13.03%	1.19	1.62	7.58
1941	86.90%	0.09%	1.95%	11.05%	1	1.43	6.68
1942	85.54%	0.41%	2.99%	11.06%	0.84	1.31	5.87
1943	79.34%	0.31%	9.55%	10.80%	0.87	1.39	6
1944	78.88%	1.06%	9.22%	10.83%	0.87	1.38	6.09
1945	75.63%	1.78%	9.65%	12.93%	0.86	1.36	5.96
1946	76.53%	1.06%	8.69%	13.73%	0.82	1.29	5.83
1947	80.37%	0.79%	5.22%	13.61%	0.81	1.37	6.22
1948	81.75%	0.60%	5.22%	12.42%	0.9	1.52	6.69
1949	82.94%	0.55%	4.61%	11.89%	0.98	1.61	7.15
1950	83.50%	0.52%	4.17%	11.81%	1.03	1.67	7.19
Source:
my calculation from figures in 1955 Brewers' Almanack, page 62
Notes:
assumes a quarter = 336 lbs

 

 

Adjuncts in WW II

Since the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act loosened up the rules to allow unmalted grains, UK brewers had been quite keen on using adjuncts. Not necessarily always for reasons of economy.

In certain styles of beer – Light Pale Ales, for example – a light body and pale colour were desired characteristics. The use of adjuncts and sugar were the only way to achieve the characteristics expected by drinkers.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1880 legislation, brewers experimented with a few different possibilities. Barclay Perkins, for example, at first went for flaked rice. Eventually, however, they settled on flaked maize, as most other brewers did. And, the difficult years of WW I excepted, brewers mostly stuck with maize right up until WW II.

The percentage of adjuncts employed varied according to the style and the brewery, but 10-15% was pretty typical. Some breweries never went down the adjunct route, except when compelled during the war years. Whitbread, for example, who only used malt and sugar.

During the war, the type of adjunct used varied, presumably dependent on the availability of supplies. The first change came pretty early, in spring 1940 when I can see in brewing records that flaked rice replaces flaked maize. Fullers, Tetley, Boddington. It can’t be a coincidence.

The next adjunct to appear is flaked barley, something that was unknown pre-war. It was make practical by a big increase in UK barley production during the war. Despite being of malting quality, some was flaked to save labour and energy.

Early in 1943, brewers were asked to use flaked oats rather than flaked barley, which, owing to the poor supply of grain, was needed for bread.  But that phase was brief and in the final years of the war flaked barley was king.

Fullers X Ale grists are pretty typical in the adjuncts employed at different phases of the war.

Fullers X Ale adjunct usage 1939 - 1946
year	flaked maize	flaked rice	grits	flaked barley	flaked oats
1939	14.78%
1940		9.72%	1.94%
1941				14.28%
1942				13.77%
1943				6.91%	7.54%
1944				14.82%
1945				15.10%
1946				14.55%
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery

As soon as everything got back to normal in the 1950s, brewers returned to their preferred adjunct, flaked maize.

Brewing materials 1945 – 1960

I can’t believe I haven’t already published this stuff as part of my series on brewing in the UK after W II.

After all, what could be more fascinating than a load of numbers about malt and adjunct usage? Well, I find it fascinating. You can bugger off if you disagree.

I’ll start with the numbers. You’ll have to admit, they are an impressive-looking bunch.

Brewing materials 1945 - 1960 (cwt)
year	malt	unmalted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	total malt & adjuncts	hops	prepar-ations of hops	hop substi-tutes	bulk barrels
1945	10,435,212	245,751	1,332,032	1,784,064	13,797,059	244,822	714	139	31,990,334
1946	9,976,998	137,750	1,132,748	1,790,021	13,037,517	226,197	1,414	168	31,066,950
1947	9,454,253	92,974	614,335	1,601,186	11,762,748	217,759	1,423	191	30,103,180
1948	9,499,794	69,939	606,881	1,443,558	11,620,172	231,470	630	547	28,813,725
1949	9,087,351	60,709	505,071	1,303,212	10,956,343	233,158	164	74	26,744,457
1950	9,094,097	56,174	454,500	1,285,877	10,890,648	232,979	114	90	25,339,062
1951	9,282,152	57,681	452,581	1,355,152	11,147,566	229,106	178	82	24,870,564
1952	9,312,437	51,992	467,189	1,385,836	11,217,454	228,512	114	177	25,285,589
1953	9,085,688	58,012	426,396	1,405,154	10,975,250	225,569	335	222	24,789,130
1954	8,629,252	52,219	462,005	1,484,605	10,628,081	216,841	286	188	24,153,387
1955	8,635,522	46,556	478,150	1,529,256	10,689,484	217,716	92	27	24,324,623
1956	8,630,145	40,038	486,838	1,544,258	10,701,279	218,820	110	42	24,187,096
1957	8,872,468	13,834	532,214	1,564,673	10,983,189	215,114	91	28	24,839,755
1958	8,642,500	10,717	543,467	1,527,997	10,724,681	208,870	102	24	24,129,462
1959	8,885,364	8,007	590,006	1,569,002	11,052,379	216,037	107	29	25,023,044
1960	9,406,860	8,994	573,252	1,650,843	11,639,949	226,371	111	24	26,313,796
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.
1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54.

You can see that while the use of unmalted adjuncts declined steeply after the war, the amount of sugar used was more stable. There’s a simple enough explanation. Brewers were forced by the government to use flaked barley during the latter war years. The idea being that flaking consumed less energy than malting. While brewers had a limit on the amount of sugar they could use in wartime, when they would have preferred to use more.

The quantity of hops used was very stable in the 1950’s, despite beer production falling.

It’s hard to make too much sense of those numbers. Far easier if you look at percentages rather than absolute numbers. Which is why I’ve derived this table:

Brewing materials 1945 - 1960 (%)
year	malt	unmalted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	lbs hops per barrel	lbs hops per quarter
1945	75.63%	1.78%	9.65%	12.93%	0.86	5.96
1946	76.53%	1.06%	8.69%	13.73%	0.82	5.83
1947	80.37%	0.79%	5.22%	13.61%	0.81	6.22
1948	81.75%	0.60%	5.22%	12.42%	0.90	6.69
1949	82.94%	0.55%	4.61%	11.89%	0.98	7.15
1950	83.50%	0.52%	4.17%	11.81%	1.03	7.19
1951	83.27%	0.52%	4.06%	12.16%	1.03	6.91
1952	83.02%	0.46%	4.16%	12.35%	1.01	6.84
1953	82.78%	0.53%	3.89%	12.80%	1.02	6.91
1954	81.19%	0.49%	4.35%	13.97%	1.01	6.86
1955	80.79%	0.44%	4.47%	14.31%	1.00	6.84
1956	80.65%	0.37%	4.55%	14.43%	1.01	6.87
1957	80.78%	0.13%	4.85%	14.25%	0.97	6.58
1958	80.59%	0.10%	5.07%	14.25%	0.97	6.54
1959	80.39%	0.07%	5.34%	14.20%	0.97	6.57
1960	80.82%	0.08%	4.92%	14.18%	0.96	6.53
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.
1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54.

You can see the trends much more clearly in that form. Malt usage increased from 75% to a peak of 83.5% in 1950, then slowly fell back down to 80%. While unmalted corn all but disappears. Maize and rice usage dropped quickly after the end of the war then plateaued at around 5%.

The fall in the proportion of sugar used in 1949 and 1950 probably wasn’t voluntary, but as a result of government restrictions. Pre-war, it clocked in around 15% and you can see that when brewers were free to use as much as they liked in the later 1950’s, it returned to around that level.

The rise in hopping levels after 1947 is partly because of an increase in average gravity, though not totally, as the hopping rate per quarter of malt tells us. There was an increase of more than 1 lb per quarter between 1945 and 1950, after which it declined but still remained above the 1945 level.

The 1960 numbers – 80% malt, 5% adjuncts, 15% sugar, 1 lb hops per barrel – do look like a typical late 1950’s beer’s ingredients.

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1955 - 1975

You know what to expect by now. Numbers. Lots and lots of numbers and bugger all words. I’m saving up the words for people who pay me for them.

Let’s start with the raw numbers before I waste too many words on you.

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1955 - 1975 (lbs)
Year	Production (barrels)	Malt	Corn and corn products	Rice	Wheat	Barley	Sorghum grains and sorghum products	Soybeans and soybean prods.	sugar and syrups
1955	89,791,154	2,627,010,323	913,693,701	375,111,692	5,423,575	357,920	—	1,601,610	108,604,325
1956	90,697,911	2,650,652,911	871,955,351	424,954,817	3,679,525	10,000	38,700	1,181,776	109,404,864
1957	89,881,935	2,617,645,452	944,065,897	354,691,869	2,220,600	—	1,300	1,056,631	101,768,983
1958	89,010,812	2,577,543,842	954,414,553	336,354,124	1,971,900	495,000	649,000	1,143,739	97,209,348
1959	90,973,768	2,613,176,446	1,012,356,240	330,960,223	1,414,500	—	173,700	1,309,782	93,312,135
1960	94,547,867	2,697,409,939	1,058,989,007	351,812,764	1,426,000	—	45,000	1,419,098	98,684,775
1961	93,496,452	2,657,456,124	1,038,015,118	345,488,387	1,297,800	739	15,200	1,402,881	102,447,112
1962	96,417,543	2,715,251,671	1,075,306,335	337,923,616	1,206,000	—	60,340	1,526,045	121,331,649
1963	97,961,421	2,745,427,657	1,159,394,969	295,876,926	605,800	9,600	5,300	1,545,061	115,964,649
1964	103,017,915	2,885,121,764	1,265,020,486	273,811,073	575,600	—	3,218,132	1,618,204	106,371,666
1965	108,015,217	3,015,521,588	1,325,891,671	311,082,178	514,500	—	3,321,415	1,639,433	97,422,892
1966	109,736,341	3,071,600,745	1,316,086,216	334,865,023	481,365	—	—	1,618,239	98,792,117
1967	116,564,350	3,270,980,966	1,375,625,956	379,100,298	403,850	—	12,169,766	1,656,090	101,579,961
1968	117,523,511	3,309,955,668	1,302,371,115	394,510,574	332,600	1,600	41,452,889	1,761,403	120,504,135
1969	122,657,497	3,432,352,177	1,334,548,982	413,854,584	278,800	65,800	43,538,850	1,732,345	142,879,875
1970	134,653,881	3,721,405,457	1,448,830,267	506,065,825	229,200	2,055,860	15,027,460	1,736,287	202,416,492
1971	134,091,661	3,678,737,262	1,463,110,324	501,336,677	189,375	93,580	999,050	2,211,808	208,959,625
1972	140,326,680	3,853,687,171	1,518,935,036	536,974,228	158,800	79,560	778,270	1,839,278	199,423,919
1973	143,013,573	3,898,435,622	1,467,331,844	558,777,431	124,165	87,830	—	1,844,900	267,265,264
1974	153,053,027	4,172,512,952	1,518,206,361	593,190,144	—	52,944	—	1,578,736	310,933,052
1975	157,870,017	4,224,756,179	1,618,954,486	379,381,639	—	1,791,400	—	1,522,377	393,453,003
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"

Obviously they’re much easier to understand expressed as percentages:

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1955 - 1975 (%)
Year	Malt	Corn and corn products	Rice	Wheat	Barley	Sorghum grains and sorghum products	Soybeans and soybean prods.	sugar and syrups
1955	65.16%	22.66%	9.30%	0.13%	0.01%		0.04%	2.69%
1956	65.26%	21.47%	10.46%	0.09%	0.00025%	0.00095%	0.03%	2.69%
1957	65.09%	23.48%	8.82%	0.06%		0.00003%	0.03%	2.53%
1958	64.93%	24.04%	8.47%	0.05%	0.01%	0.02%	0.03%	2.45%
1959	64.48%	24.98%	8.17%	0.03%		0.00%	0.03%	2.30%
1960	64.07%	25.16%	8.36%	0.03%		0.00%	0.03%	2.34%
1961	64.09%	25.04%	8.33%	0.03%	0.00002%	0.00%	0.03%	2.47%
1962	63.85%	25.29%	7.95%	0.03%		0.00%	0.04%	2.85%
1963	63.57%	26.85%	6.85%	0.01%	0.00022%	0.00%	0.04%	2.69%
1964	63.61%	27.89%	6.04%	0.01%		0.07%	0.04%	2.35%
1965	63.41%	27.88%	6.54%	0.01%		0.07%	0.03%	2.05%
1966	63.68%	27.29%	6.94%	0.01%			0.03%	2.05%
1967	63.62%	26.76%	7.37%	0.01%		0.24%	0.03%	1.98%
1968	64.01%	25.19%	7.63%	0.01%	0.00003%	0.80%	0.03%	2.33%
1969	63.93%	24.86%	7.71%	0.01%	0.00123%	0.81%	0.03%	2.66%
1970	63.10%	24.57%	8.58%	0.004%	0.03%	0.25%	0.03%	3.43%
1971	62.82%	24.99%	8.56%	0.003%	0.00160%	0.02%	0.04%	3.57%
1972	63.05%	24.85%	8.79%	0.003%	0.00130%	0.01%	0.03%	3.26%
1973	62.94%	23.69%	9.02%	0.002%	0.00142%		0.03%	4.31%
1974	63.25%	23.02%	8.99%		0.00080%		0.02%	4.71%
1975	63.82%	24.46%	5.73%		0.03%		0.02%	5.94%
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"

Malt usage has bottomed out at around 63%. While corn rose to almost 28%, before falling back to 24%, just a little higher than in 1955. Rice is all over the place and shows no real trend. Sorghum, soya and unmalted wheat and barley are only used in tiny amounts. Sugar hovered around 2% then shot up to almost 6% in 1975.

Now let’s look at those figures in pounds per barrel:

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1955 - 1975 (lbs/brl.)
Year	Malt	Corn and corn products	Rice	Wheat	Barley	Sorghum grains and sorghum products	Soybeans and soybean prods.	sugar and syrups	other materials	total
1955	29.3	10.2	4.2	0.06	0.004	—	0.02	1.2	—	44.98
1956	29.2	9.6	4.7	0.04	0.0001	0.0004	0.01	1.2	—	44.75
1957	29.1	10.5	3.9	0.02	—	—	0.01	1.1	—	44.63
1958	29	10.7	3.8	0.02	0.006	0.007	0.01	1.1	—	44.64
1959	28.7	11.1	3.6	0.02	—	0.002	0.01	1	—	44.43
1960	28.5	11.2	3.7	0.02	—	0.0005	0.02	1	—	44.44
1961	28.4	11.1	3.7	0.01	—	0.0002	0.02	1.1	—	44.33
1962	28.2	11.2	3.5	0.01	—	0.0006	0.02	1.3	—	44.23
1963	28	11.8	3	0.006	0.0001	0.00005	0.02	1.2	0.0002	44.03
1964	28	12.3	2.7	0.006	—	0.03	0.02	1	0.005	44.06
1965	27.9	12.3	2.9	0.005	—	0.03	0.02	0.9	0.001	44.06
1966	27.5	12	3.1	0.004	—	—	0.01	0.9	0.0000	43.51
1967	28.1	11.8	3.3	0.003	—	0.1	0.01	0.9	—	44.21
1968	28.2	11.1	3.4	0.003	0.00001	0.35	0.01	1	—	44.06
1969	28	10.9	3.4	0.002	0.00005	0.35	0.01	1.2	0.05	43.91
1970	27.6	10.8	3.8	0.002	0.02	0.11	0.01	1.5	0.05	43.89
1971	27.4	10.9	3.7	0.001	0.0007	0.007	0.02	1.6	—	43.63
1972	27.5	10.8	3.8	0.001	0.0006	0.006	0.01	1.4	—	43.52
1973	27.3	10.3	3.9	0.0008	0.0006	—	0.01	1.9	—	43.41
1974	27.2	9.9	3.9	—	0.0003	—	0.01	2	—	43.01
1975	26.8	10.3	3.7	—	0.01	—	0.01	2.5	—	43.32
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"

There’s a small decline in the amount of fermentable materials per barrel, presumably reflecting a small decline in average gravity. Something like this:

Year	estimated average OG
1955	1046.20
1956	1045.96
1957	1045.83
1958	1045.85
1959	1045.63
1960	1045.64
1961	1045.53
1962	1045.42
1963	1045.21
1964	1045.25
1965	1045.24
1966	1044.69
1967	1045.41
1968	1045.25
1969	1045.10
1970	1045.08
1971	1044.81
1972	1044.69
1973	1044.58
1974	1044.17
1975	1044.49

Hops next:

Hop usage in the USA 1955 - 1975
Year	hops lbs	hops lbs./ bbl.
1955	33,736,717	0.38
1956	32,938,442	0.36
1957	31,732,968	0.35
1958	30,419,008	0.34
1959	29,642,566	0.33
1960	30,825,243	0.33
1961	29,473,204	0.32
1962	29,896,445	0.31
1963	30,343,524	0.31
1964	30,446,822	0.30
1965	31,562,258	0.29
1966	31,054,401	0.28
1967	30,744,728	0.26
1968	29,231,847	0.25
1969	28,719,722	0.23
1970	38,195,191	0.23
1971	32,135,040	0.24
1972	33,467,886	0.24
1973	34,523,123	0.24
1974	36,777,733	0.24
1975	35,532,533	0.21
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"

Despite beer output almost doubling in this period, the quantity of hops only slightly increased. Which translates to an almost halving of the pounds per barrel. 0.21 pounds is, er, eff all.

Let’s continue with a comparison with the UK. Raw numbers first:

Brewing materials in the UK 1955 - 1975 (lbs)
year	malt	unmalted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	total malt & adjuncts	bulk barrels
1955	967,178,464	5,214,272	53,552,800	171,276,672	1,197,222,208	24,324,623
1956	966,576,240	4,484,256	54,525,856	172,956,896	1,198,543,248	24,187,096
1957	993,716,416	1,549,408	59,607,968	175,243,376	1,230,117,168	24,839,755
1958	967,960,000	1,200,304	60,868,304	171,135,664	1,201,164,272	24,129,462
1959	995,160,768	896,784	66,080,672	175,728,224	1,237,866,448	25,023,044
1960	1,053,568,320	1,007,328	64,204,224	184,894,416	1,303,674,288	26,313,796
1961	1,108,484,944	945,840	65,499,392	195,594,448	1,370,524,624	27,600,860
1962	1,116,088,176	1,197,280	68,180,560	196,868,672	1,382,334,688	27,736,049
1963	1,122,290,288	1,557,472	72,167,088	196,114,128	1,392,128,976	27,942,561
1964	1,186,297,056	2,896,432	79,713,648	205,509,472	1,474,416,608	29,485,128
1965	1,189,365,072	6,875,904	82,308,576	203,116,592	1,481,666,144	29,579,855
1966	1,196,996,640	14,854,672	86,181,872	207,517,632	1,505,550,816	30,178,056
1967	1,211,628,992	16,429,504	86,881,200	213,954,160	1,528,893,856	30,751,420
1968	1,194,570,496	13,599,488	83,823,376	212,535,120	1,504,528,480	30,763,106
1969	1,272,590,480	19,633,488	86,823,968	238,948,304	1,617,996,240	32,211,837
1970	1,284,913,504	26,237,232	86,399,152	247,252,880	1,644,802,768	32,940,567
1971	1,334,859,232	30,776,480	84,139,440	271,794,656	1,721,569,920	34,360,000
1972	1,355,179,280	71,114,512	50,622,544	286,563,424	1,763,479,760	34,969,310
1973	1,378,987,008	69,291,264	45,776,752	282,339,344	1,776,394,480	35,338,345
1974	1,491,601,328	69,873,328	57,895,600	309,028,608	1,928,398,752	37,893,753
1975	1,513,065,568	83,982,864	72,000,768	297,172,064	1,966,221,264	38,238,657
Sources:
1954 - 1968: 1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1969 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1973", pages 16 - 17.
1970 - 1975 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1978", page 19.
1970 - 1975 bulk barrelsStatistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 7

But the percentages are more use:

Brewing materials in the UK 1955 - 1975 (%)
year	malt	unmalted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	lbs per Imp. barrel	lbs per US barrel
1955	80.79%	0.44%	4.47%	14.31%	49.2	35.3
1956	80.65%	0.37%	4.55%	14.43%	49.6	35.5
1957	80.78%	0.13%	4.85%	14.25%	49.5	35.5
1958	80.59%	0.10%	5.07%	14.25%	49.8	35.7
1959	80.39%	0.07%	5.34%	14.20%	49.5	35.5
1960	80.82%	0.08%	4.92%	14.18%	49.5	35.5
1961	80.88%	0.07%	4.78%	14.27%	49.7	35.6
1962	80.74%	0.09%	4.93%	14.24%	49.8	35.7
1963	80.62%	0.11%	5.18%	14.09%	49.8	35.7
1964	80.46%	0.20%	5.41%	13.94%	50.0	35.9
1965	80.27%	0.46%	5.56%	13.71%	50.1	35.9
1966	79.51%	0.99%	5.72%	13.78%	49.9	35.8
1967	79.25%	1.07%	5.68%	13.99%	49.7	35.6
1968	79.40%	0.90%	5.57%	14.13%	48.9	35.1
1969	78.65%	1.21%	5.37%	14.77%	50.2	36.0
1970	78.12%	1.60%	5.25%	15.03%	49.9	35.8
1971	77.54%	1.79%	4.89%	15.79%	50.1	35.9
1972	76.85%	4.03%	2.87%	16.25%	50.4	36.2
1973	77.63%	3.90%	2.58%	15.89%	50.3	36.0
1974	77.35%	3.62%	3.00%	16.03%	50.9	36.5
1975	76.95%	4.27%	3.66%	15.11%	51.4	36.9
Sources:
1954 - 1968: 1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1969 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1973", pages 16 - 17.
1970 - 1975 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1978", page 19.

Malt use has declined by 4 percentage points, while unmalted corn use has increased by the same amount. Rice and maize use is down a bit, while sugar is pretty much unchanged.

Hop usage came as a bit of a surprise:

Hop usage in the UK 1955 - 1975
year	bulk barrels	hops( lbs)	hops lbs/  Imperial barrel	hops lbs/  US barrel
1955	24,324,623	24,384,192	1.00	0.72
1956	24,187,096	24,507,840	1.01	0.73
1957	24,839,755	24,092,768	0.97	0.70
1958	24,129,462	23,393,440	0.97	0.70
1959	25,023,044	24,196,144	0.97	0.69
1960	26,313,796	25,353,552	0.96	0.69
1961	27,600,860	26,276,432	0.95	0.68
1962	27,736,049	25,360,944	0.91	0.66
1963	27,942,561	25,375,280	0.91	0.65
1964	29,485,128	26,583,872	0.90	0.65
1965	29,579,855	26,479,488	0.90	0.64
1966	30,178,056	25,997,328	0.86	0.62
1967	30,751,420	24,840,816	0.81	0.58
1968	30,763,106	22,428,448	0.73	0.52
1969	32,211,837	23,674,672	0.73	0.53
1970	32,940,567	24,050,208	0.73	0.52
1971	34,360,000	22,041,824	0.64	0.46
1972	34,969,310	21,118,048	0.60	0.43
1973	35,338,345	20,558,160	0.58	0.42
1974	37,893,753	19,012,672	0.50	0.36
1975	38,238,657	16,686,768	0.44	0.31
Sources:
1954 - 1968: 1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1969 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1973", pages 16 - 17.
1970 - 1975 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1978", page 19.

The percentage decline in the hopping rate is even than in the US. It seemed a bit strange to me. This table including hop products might explain it:

Hop and hop products usage in the UK 1955 - 1975
year	hops	preparations of hops	hop substitutes
1955	217,716	92	27
1956	218,820	110	42
1957	215,114	91	28
1958	208,870	102	24
1959	216,037	107	29
1960	226,371	111	24
1961	234,611	112	10
1962	226,437	180	17
1963	226,565	246	25
1964	237,356	474	37
1965	236,424	599	57
1966	232,119	623	165
1967	221,793	672	104
1968	200,254	732	113
1969	211,381		hop powder
1970	214,734	1,614	-
1971	196,802	5,098	945
1972	188,554	3,937	3,917
1973	183,555	4,744	5,610
1974	169,756	9,173	10,413
1975	148,989	13,799	14,527
Sources:
1954 - 1968: 1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1969 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1973", pages 16 - 17.
1970 - 1975 "The Brewers' Society UK Statistical Handbook 1978", page 19.

There’s a big increase in the use of hop products. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to convert that into the equivalent quantity of hops.

I’ll finish with average OG in the UK:

Average OG in the UK 1955 - 1975
year	OG
1955	1037.13
1956	1037.22
1957	1037.42
1958	1037.48
1959	1037.52
1960	1037.25
1961	1037.41
1962	1037.70
1963	1037.70
1964	1037.66
1965	1037.67
1966	1037.63
1967	1037.46
1968	1037.36
1969	1037.14
1970	1036.90
1971	1036.90
1972	1036.90
1973	1037.00
1974	1037.10
1975	1037.30
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1962, p. 48
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 7
Brewers' Almanack 1971, p. 45

Pretty dull, eh? The variation is tiny, with a low of 1036.9 and a high of 1037.7. In fact these two decades show the least change of any in the 20th century.

I would promise a third set of these numbers, but I’ll need to harvest the British ones. I’ve only got them up to 1978 at the moment.