Brewing in WW II (part five)

We're still on grains. But I promise we'll get onto a more exciting topic soon. Like hops. You young people love you your hops. Not like us boring old twats.

This is great. The article discusses the increased use of unmalted grains during the war. Why is that brilliant? Because I have some great numbers on brewing materials. Ones I've been saving until now.

"The use of flaked barley became general quite early in the war as a malt adjunct, and as no restriction was placed on its use it helped to increase output. It was found to be readily converted in the mash tun and, as time has proved, when not used in excess, has had no directly deleterious effect on the beers, although it was not used at first without some misgivings on the part of the brewer. It increases the bulk of the mash, however, and when output was of so much moment some brewers replaced it by finely ground barley without any noticeable difference (cf. J. L. Baker, ibid., 1942, 109). Although a small proportion of the nitrogen constituents of flaked barley are rendered soluble in the mash tun it contributes but little yeast feeding material to the wort and therefore acts as a diluent to that contributed by the malt. This was a drawback in those breweries whose average gravity was low, although it certainly helped to correct and reduce the difficulties consequent on the use of poor quality malts."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, page 121.

There were two reasons why the government was keen on using unmalted barley: it saved on both fuel and labour. You can see how the usage of adjuncts increased during the war years:

Brewing materials (cwt)
year	malt		unmalted corn		rice, maize, etc		sugar		total malt & adjuncts
1938	9,378,888	78.31%	14,194	0.12%	688,086	5.75%	1,894,773	15.82%	11,975,941
1939	9,884,803	78.35%	9,910	0.08%	734,771	5.82%	1,986,478	15.75%	12,615,962
1940	9,857,838	83.81%	7,912	0.07%	363,588	3.09%	1,532,776	13.03%	11,762,114
1941	10,988,413	86.90%	11,897	0.09%	246,757	1.95%	1,397,642	11.05%	12,644,709
1942	10,918,102	85.54%	52,646	0.41%	382,207	2.99%	1,411,422	11.06%	12,764,377
1943	10,287,322	79.34%	40,592	0.31%	1,238,183	9.55%	1,400,573	10.80%	12,966,670
1944	10,621,168	78.88%	143,183	1.06%	1,241,121	9.22%	1,458,647	10.83%	13,464,119
1945	10,435,212	75.63%	245,751	1.78%	1,332,032	9.65%	1,784,064	12.93%	13,797,059
1946	9,976,998	76.53%	137,750	1.06%	1,132,748	8.69%	1,790,021	13.73%	13,037,517
1947	9,454,253	80.37%	92,974	0.79%	614,335	5.22%	1,601,186	13.61%	11,762,748
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.

By the 1944 and 1945, the proportion of unmalted adjuncts was around 10% of the total - about double what it had been in 1938. While sugar fell from around 15% of the total pre-war to 10%. While the amount of malt itself increased in the middle war years. By the look of it to compensate for a reduction in the amount of sugar available.

But brewers were later forced to use an even less popular ingredient: flaked oats

"Early in 1943, when the shipping position became difficult owing to the intensified U boat activity, barley was required for use in bread, and brewers were asked to replace flaked barley by flaked oats, but there were some misgivings about its use on account of its high fat content. A series of investigations was carried out to prove its suitability in order to satisfy brewers that they could be used with safety; 10 per cent, was considered a safe maximum. Owing to its huskiness flaked oats had the advantage of improving drainage in the mash tun, although, owing to its bulkiness, those brewers working with a full mash tun found it to be a disadvantage. A bad oat harvest in the following year, however, caused its use in brewing to be discontinued. The Ministry of Food then suggested that flaked oats might be replaced by dried potatoes, the drying plants in beet sugar factories used for drying the exhausted beet slices being utilized for this purpose. Investigations carried out with potatoes dried in this manner, however, proved them to be quite unsuitable for use in brewing owing to the unpleasant flavour imparted to the beer, and as the anticipated surplus of potatoes did not materialize, flaked barley was again used to replace flaked oats, and has continued up to the present time."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, page 121.

Potatoes have been used in brewing. I've published a 19th-century recipe for potato Broyhan. So it is possible. I wonder if the Broyhan also suffered from a nasty flavour?

It's easiest to see the move to unmalted grains at Whitbread, because before the war they used no adjuncts, only malt and sugar. The first sighting of flaked barley is on 10th October 1941 in a brew of XX Mild Ale*. Significantly, IPA and PA brewed a few days later contained none. On 28th May 1942, in addition to flaked barley, barley meal and flaked rye is in the grists**. By now the adjuncts are in all Whitbread's beers.

In April 1943 flaked oats replaces all the other adjuncts***. The in February 1944 Whitbread switched back to using flaked barley****. You can see that Whitbread had little control over their grists but had adjunct them according to government policy and which raw materials were available.

Whitbread also occasionally used wheat malt. These tables should give a good impression of the decisions Whitbread had forced on them during the war years:

Whitbread Mild Ale 1938 - 1947
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp
25th Feb	1938	X	1035.3	1010.0	3.35	71.67%	7.44	1.11	1.25	1.25	65º
26th Sep	1939	X	1033.9	1010.5	3.10	69.03%	8.27	1.11	1.25	1	65º
25th Apr	1940	X	1033.5	1008.5	3.31	74.63%	8.12	1.12	1.25	1	65º
20th Nov	1940	XX	1031.1	1010.0	2.79	67.85%	8.42	1.07	1.17	0.75	66º
10th Oct	1941	XX	1031.2	1009.0	2.94	71.15%	6.38	0.76	1.25	1.25	65º
30th Jan	1942	XX	1029.1	1007.5	2.86	74.23%	5.84	0.75	1	1	65º
30th May	1942	XX	1028.4	1007.0	2.83	75.35%	6.19	0.75	1	1	65º
5th Apr	1943	XX	1027.8	1008.0	2.62	71.22%	6.07	0.76	1	1.25	65º
22nd Feb	1944	XX	1028.5	1009.0	2.58	68.42%	5.79	0.69	1	0.75	65º
4th Apr	1945	XX	1028.2	1009.0	2.54	68.09%	5.63	0.70	1	0.75	65º
12th Sep	1946	XX	1027.3	1008.0	2.55	70.70%	6.02	0.71	1	1	65º
3rd Jan	1947	XX	1027.5	1005.5	2.91	80.00%	6.02	0.68	1	0.75	65º
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/105, LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/109, LMA/4453/D/01/110, LMA/4453/D/01/111, LMA/4453/D/01/112, LMA/4453/D/01/114.

Whitbread Mild Ale grists 1938 - 1947
Date	Year	Beer	OG	pale malt	crystal malt	MA malt	PA malt	no. 3 sugar	other sugar	wheat malt	flaked barley	barley meal	flaked rye	flaked oat
25th Feb	1938	X	1035.3	72.97%	12.46%			13.05%	1.52%
26th Sep	1939	X	1033.9	75.73%	13.59%			9.06%	1.62%
25th Apr	1940	X	1033.5	24.30%	13.08%	54.21%		4.98%	1.56%	1.87%
20th Nov	1940	XX	1031.1	81.42%	11.63%				6.95%
10th Oct	1941	XX	1031.2	65.39%	11.98%	4.99%	4.99%		5.66%	2.00%	4.99%
30th Jan	1942	XX	1029.1		12.02%	68.11%		4.01%	1.84%	2.00%	12.02%
30th May	1942	XX	1028.4	46.32%	12.63%	16.84%		5.61%	1.75%	2.11%	8.42%	1.05%	5.26%
5th Apr	1943	XX	1027.8	9.28%	10.31%	55.67%		5.50%	1.72%					17.53%
22nd Feb	1944	XX	1028.5		10.45%	71.08%		4.18%	1.74%		12.54%
4th Apr	1945	XX	1028.2		7.38%	62.21%		9.84%	3.70%		16.87%
12th Sep	1946	XX	1027.3		7.85%	75.14%		10.47%	2.06%		4.49%
3rd Jan	1947	XX	1027.5		7.79%	81.26%		8.91%	2.04%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/105, LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/109, LMA/4453/D/01/110, LMA/4453/D/01/111, LMA/4453/D/01/112, LMA/4453/D/01/114.

There's only one constant in the grist: crystal malt. Not even mild malt and No. 3 invert sugar, staples of Dark Mild brewing, appear in every beer. When things were starting to get back to normal in 1947, Whitbread reverted to a grist of base malt, crystal malt and sugar.

Next time the excitement begins. We'll be looking at hops.







* Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/108.
** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/109.
*** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/110.
**** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/111.

Gruit Grists

In my post about brewing a gruit at Beau's in Canada, I mentioned that I had a series of gruit grists for medieval Holland. Some of you asked if I could publish them. What can I say? your wish is my command.

To be honest, these aren't all Gruits. Hopbier, unsusprisingly, was hopped. Bet you never would have guessed that, eh? Koyt I'm pretty sure was always a Gruit. The others without a specific name? Who knows. They could be either hopped or not.

Here's a table with all the details. The very last entry was the basis of the Beau's beer.

Dutch Medieval Grists
Year	Town	beer	OG (Plato)	litres beer	grain (kg)	oats	wheat	barley	rye	hart coerens	oats or rye or mesteluyn (a mix of wheat and rye)
1340	Delft	Hopbier or Turfbier	18.9	3725	1274	837	437
1404	Utrecht	Hopbier	13.2	3100	747	477	270
1433	Utrecht	Dubbelde Hoppen	20.3	2480	915	645	270
1433	Utrecht	Dubbelde Koyte	20.1	2800	1019	484	190	345
1433	Utrecht	Eenwisselen Bier (Hoppe or Koyte)	15.8	2480	714	484		230
1447	Utrecht	Dik Bier	18.1	2480	1018	403	270	345
1451	Utrecht	Dun Bier	11.5	2480	518	403		115
1491	Utrecht	Bier	19.2	2480	868	523		345
1491	Utrecht	Bier	19.5	3725	915	685		230
1407	Haarlem	Hopbier	20.5	1790	668	465		203
1407	Haarlem	Hopbier	21	1790	685	465	183	37
1407	Haarlem	Koyt			777	310	244	223
1501	Haarlem	Hopbier	19.9	1850	668	465	203
1501	Haarlem	Hopbier	21.2	1850	718	465	142	111
1407	Haarlem	Koyt	13.7	3950	985	413	203	369
15th C	Amsterdam	Bier	16.6	3100	935	336	240	359
1475	Naarden	Bier	18.6	2480	837	480	151	206
1484	Amerfsfoort	Bier	24.4	2480	1098	630	198	270
1484	Amerfsfoort	Bier	15.6	3880	1098	630	198	270
1488	Gouda	Bier	15.6	3820	1085	19 sacks oats, spelt, wheat, rye or barley
1513	Gouda	Bier	14.5	3950	1040	540		274		226
1497	Leiden	Bier	8.5	5120	794		180	294			320
1497	Leiden	Bier	8.6	4350	684		148	262			274
1500	Wijk-bij-Duurstede	Bier	23.8	3725	1615	650	408	557
1515	Zutphen	Eenvoudige Koyten	9.5	4970	863	348	183	332
1515	Zutphen	Dubbele Koyten	18.8	3100	1058	426	244	388
Source:
De Middeleeuwse brouwerij en de gruit by G. Doorman, 1955.

Notice the crazy amount of oats in just about everything - as much as 80% in some cases. Only a couple of the Leiden beers contain none. You'll also see that none of the beers used a single type of grain. All used at least two and sometimes more. This was typical in all of the Low Countries, both what is now Belgium as well as Holland.

This has just been a short aside. I'll be back to WW I and/or Scotland next time.

Oat Mild

I'm currently up to my nostrils in Whitbread. Unfortunately, not Whitbread beer but brewing records are lapping my upper lip. It's all part of my current crazy plan. I would tell you about the project. But I'm the secretive type.

1943. That's where I am. 1943 Ale logs. 5th April, to be precise. At least you can't accuse the wartime logs of being boring. (OK, I'm sure the vast majority of the world's population wouldn't share my fascination. But you know what I mean.) Not like early 19th-century brewing records, where you find lists of ingredients like this:

200 quarters malt
800 pounds hops.

No, the wartime logs include all sorts of exciting ingredients like wheat malt, flaked rye, barley meal. And flaked oat. Not all in the same beer, I hasten to add. I'd read in a brewing magazine that the government encouraged brewers to use oats. Bad news for the porridge industry. And brewers. They weren't very keen on oats, for a variety of reasons.

The XX Mild log that caught my eye is reproduced above. Or at least the grist part. Look at all those flaked oats. 34 quarters of them. Or somewhere around 15% of the grist. (I'd tell you more precisely, but I don't have the weight of a quarter of flaked oats to hand.) Is it me, or is that an awful lot of oats?

It looks to me like a new style. Oat Mild. Or has someone already made one? (Just checked. Yes they have.)