Sunday 15 February 2015

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1941 - 1955

You’ve probably already guessed that you’re in for a whole load of numbers. Lots and lots of them. I’m still saving up spare words for Christmas. Don’t expect many.

Where to start? I know. With some numbers.

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1941 - 1955 (lbs)
Year Production (barrels) Malt Corn and corn products Rice Wheat Barley Sorghum grains and sorghum products Soybeans and soybean prods. sugar and syrups Other materials total
1941 55,213,850 1,954,267,618 432,341,547 204,297,333 3,508,975 135,531,375 2,729,946,848
1942 63,716,697 2,260,303,931 566,807,517 171,364,293 3,712,050 147,271,062 3,149,458,853
1943 71,018,257 2,393,607,097 722,377,366 152,546,147 5,723,799 150,954,828 4,990,702 3,430,199,939
1944 81,725,820 2,290,435,572 873,894,609 185,699,432 35,879,734 187,376,446 (a) (b) 183,936,092 9,133,202 3,766,355,087
1945 86,604,080 2,198,690,447 939,959,948 214,607,248 50,214,535 175,922,987 110,895,011 5,172,693 238,599,315 185,866 3,934,248,050
1946 84,977,700 2,163,269,238 790,676,699 240,830,895 48,056,971 159,593,299 156,556,138 6,691,056 226,412,612 5,739,591 3,797,826,499
1947 87,856,902 2,513,788,652 719,300,506 172,199,735 769,790 13,777,421 88,995,670 4,885,118 218,598,828 114,352,672 3,846,668,392
1948 91,291,219 2,796,262,968 810,144,155 302,281,030 5,129,348 7,962,618 34,821,925 4,126,934 193,275,206 26,857,753 4,180,861,937
1949 89,735,647 2,751,293,954 818,113,488 299,961,581 6,927,460 6,464,395 7,999,695 3,920,970 180,631,082 17,635,770 4,092,948,395
1950 88,807,075 2,707,240,886 852,074,810 320,830,068 7,284,480 3,701,700 629,392 3,701,383 154,875,158 285,520 4,050,623,397
1951 88,976,226 2,676,405,176 876,103,113 339,116,702 6,525,193 2,579,632 193,600 3,295,380 136,114,360 15,474 4,040,348,630
1952 89,600,916 2,653,518,877 920,372,813 337,305,542 6,236,085 802,828 829,650 3,099,651 119,930,017 8,676 4,042,104,139
1953 90,433,832 2,666,095,392 963,028,027 324,920,748 6,203,690 522,790 29,600 2,714,324 115,445,233 8,000 4,078,967,804
1954 92,561,067 2,727,540,671 1,004,501,475 313,680,318 5,986,583 363,900 67,500 2,020,341 113,417,170 4,167,577,958
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 4,031,803,146
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"

You know the drill. These numbers make much more sense as percentages:

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1941 - 1955 (%)
Year Malt Corn and corn products Rice Wheat Barley Sorghum grains and sorghum products Soybeans and soybean prods. sugar and syrups Other materials
1941 71.59% 15.84% 7.48% 0.13% 4.96%
1942 71.77% 18.00% 5.44% 0.12% 4.68%
1943 69.78% 21.06% 4.45% 0.17% 4.40% 0.15%
1944 60.81% 23.20% 4.93% 0.95% 4.98% 4.88% 0.24%
1945 55.89% 23.89% 5.45% 1.28% 4.47% 2.82% 0.13% 6.06% 0.00%
1946 56.96% 20.82% 6.34% 1.27% 4.20% 4.12% 0.18% 5.96% 0.15%
1947 65.35% 18.70% 4.48% 0.02% 0.36% 2.31% 0.13% 5.68% 2.97%
1948 66.88% 19.38% 7.23% 0.12% 0.19% 0.83% 0.10% 4.62% 0.64%
1949 67.22% 19.99% 7.33% 0.17% 0.16% 0.20% 0.10% 4.41% 0.43%
1950 66.84% 21.04% 7.92% 0.18% 0.09% 0.02% 0.09% 3.82% 0.01%
1951 66.24% 21.68% 8.39% 0.16% 0.06% 0.00% 0.08% 3.37% 0.00%
1952 65.65% 22.77% 8.34% 0.15% 0.02% 0.02% 0.08% 2.97% 0.00%
1953 65.36% 23.61% 7.97% 0.15% 0.01% 0.00% 0.07% 2.83% 0.00%
1954 65.45% 24.10% 7.53% 0.14% 0.01% 0.00% 0.05% 2.72%
1955 65.16% 22.66% 9.30% 0.13% 0.01% 0.04% 2.69%
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"


You can see that the malt content is continuing to fall, dropping to below 60% in 1945 and 1946. I assume that WW II thing had something to do with that. And with the use of raw barley and sorghum 1944 to 1946.

War-influenced years aside, there were only really four ingredients used in any quantities: malt, maize, rice and sugar. Though the quantities of the latter were quite small.

Now pounds of material per US barrel:

Materials used in brewing in the USA 1941 - 1955 (lbs per barrel)
Year Malt Corn and corn products Rice Wheat Barley Sorghum grains and sorghum products Soybeans and soybean prods. sugar and syrups Other materials Total
1941 35.4 7.8 3.7 0.06 2.5 49.46
1942 35.5 8.9 2.7 0.06 2.3 49.46
1943 33.7 10.2 2.1 0.08 2.1 0.07 48.25
1944 28.0 10.7 2.3 0.44 2.3 (a) (b) 2.3 0.11 46.15
1945 25.4 10.9 2.5 0.58 2 1.3 0.06 2.8 0.002 45.54
1946 25.5 9.3 2.8 0.57 1.9 1.8 0.08 2.7 0.07 44.72
1947 28.6 8.2 2.0 0.009 0.2 1 0.06 2.5 1.3 43.87
1948 30.6 8.9 3.3 0.06 0.09 0.38 0.05 2.1 0.29 45.77
1949 30.7 9.1 3.3 0.08 0.07 0.09 0.04 2 0.2 45.58
1950 30.5 9.6 3.6 0.08 0.04 0.007 0.04 1.7 0.003 45.57
1951 30.1 9.8 3.8 0.07 0.03 0.002 0.04 1.5 0.0002 45.34
1952 29.6 10.3 3.8 0.07 0.009 0.009 0.03 1.3 0.0001 45.12
1953 29.5 10.6 3.6 0.07 0.006 0.0003 0.03 1.3 0.0001 45.11
1954 29.5 10.9 3.4 0.06 0.004 0.007 0.02 1.2 45.09
1955 29.3 10.2 4.2 0.06 0.004 0.02 1.2 44.98
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"


Falling amounts of material per barrel can only mean one thing – falling average gravity. This is my calculation, based on 89 brewer’s pounds per imperial quarter:

YEAR estimated average OG
1941 1050.79
1942 1050.79
1943 1049.55
1944 1047.39
1945 1046.77
1946 1045.93
1947 1045.05
1948 1047.00
1949 1046.81
1950 1046.80
1951 1046.56
1952 1046.33
1953 1046.32
1954 1046.31
1955 1046.20


You’ll see that this is remarkably similar to what happened in the UK – falling until just after the war then stabilising in the 1950’s.

Average UK gravity
Year average OG
1941 1038.51
1942 1035.53
1943 1034.34
1944 1034.63
1945 1034.54
1946 1034.72
1947 1032.59
1948 1032.66
1949 1033.43
1950 1033.88
1951 1036.99
1952 1037.07
1953 1036.87
1954 1036.97
1955 1037.13
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50
Brewers' Almanack 1962, p. 48


Right. Some more UK numbers:

Materials used in brewing in the UK 1941 - 1955 (lbs)
year malt unmalted corn rice, maize, etc sugar total malt & adjuncts bulk barrels
1941 1,230,702,256 1,332,464 27,636,784 156,535,904 1,416,207,408 28,170,582
1942 1,222,827,424 5,896,352 42,807,184 158,079,264 1,429,610,224 29,584,656
1943 1,152,180,064 4,546,304 138,676,496 156,864,176 1,452,267,040 29,811,321
1944 1,189,570,816 16,036,496 139,005,552 163,368,464 1,507,981,328 31,380,684
1945 1,168,743,744 27,524,112 149,187,584 199,815,168 1,545,270,608 31,990,334
1946 1,117,423,776 15,428,000 126,867,776 200,482,352 1,460,201,904 31,066,950
1947 1,058,876,336 10,413,088 68,805,520 179,332,832 1,317,427,776 30,103,180
1948 1,063,976,928 7,833,168 67,970,672 161,678,496 1,301,459,264 28,813,725
1949 1,017,783,312 6,799,408 56,567,952 145,959,744 1,227,110,416 26,744,457
1950 1,018,538,864 6,291,488 50,904,000 144,018,224 1,219,752,576 25,339,062
1951 1,039,601,024 6,460,272 50,689,072 151,777,024 1,248,527,392 24,870,564
1952 1,042,992,944 5,823,104 52,325,168 155,213,632 1,256,354,848 25,285,589
1953 1,017,597,056 6,497,344 47,756,352 157,377,248 1,229,228,000 24,789,130
1954 966,476,224 5,848,528 51,744,560 166,275,760 1,190,345,072 24,153,387
1955 967,178,464 5,214,272 53,552,800 171,276,672 1,197,222,208 24,324,623
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62
1971 Brewers'Almanack, page 54


Now as the more useful percentages:

Materials used in brewing in the UK 1941 - 1955 (%)
Year malt unmalted corn rice, maize, etc sugar lbs per Imp. barrel lbs per US barrel
1941 86.90% 0.09% 1.95% 11.05% 50.3 36.0
1942 85.54% 0.41% 2.99% 11.06% 48.3 34.6
1943 79.34% 0.31% 9.55% 10.80% 48.7 34.9
1944 78.88% 1.06% 9.22% 10.83% 48.1 34.5
1945 75.63% 1.78% 9.65% 12.93% 48.3 34.6
1946 76.53% 1.06% 8.69% 13.73% 47.0 33.7
1947 80.37% 0.79% 5.22% 13.61% 43.8 31.4
1948 81.75% 0.60% 5.22% 12.42% 45.2 32.4
1949 82.94% 0.55% 4.61% 11.89% 45.9 32.9
1950 83.50% 0.52% 4.17% 11.81% 48.1 34.5
1951 83.27% 0.52% 4.06% 12.16% 50.2 36.0
1952 83.02% 0.46% 4.16% 12.35% 49.7 35.6
1953 82.78% 0.53% 3.89% 12.80% 49.6 35.6
1954 81.19% 0.49% 4.35% 13.97% 49.3 35.3
1955 80.79% 0.44% 4.47% 14.31% 49.2 35.3
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62
1971 Brewers'Almanack, page 54


You can see that the malt percentage was much higher in the UK and never fell below 75%. The war seems to have affected maize usage the most. The dip in the early war years was doubtless due to the difficulties of importing it. The surge in its use in the later war years was probably due to renewed supplies from the USA.

Now for hops.

Hop usage in the USA 1934 - 1940
YEAR HOPS LBS./ BBL.
1941 31,154,676 0.56
1942 34,511,559 0.54
1943 34,833,108 0.49
1944 36,514,843 0.45
1945 37,085,950 0.43
1946 37,555,031 0.44
1947 40,506,913 0.46
1948 41,576,128 0.46
1949 39,629,621 0.44
1950 37,889,576 0.43
1951 36,231,622 0.41
1952 35,233,507 0.39
1953 34,944,509 0.39
1954 35,127,350 0.38
1955 33,736,717 0.38
Source:
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"


The amount of hops used per barrel continued to fall. While in the UK it was much more constant:

Hop usage in the UK 1941 - 1955
year bulk barrels hops( lbs) hops lbs/  Imperial barrel hops lbs/  US barrel
1941 28,170,582 28,151,648 1.00 0.72
1942 29,584,656 24,976,784 0.84 0.61
1943 29,811,321 25,937,968 0.87 0.62
1944 31,380,684 27,316,800 0.87 0.62
1945 31,990,334 27,420,064 0.86 0.61
1946 31,066,950 25,334,064 0.82 0.58
1947 30,103,180 24,389,008 0.81 0.58
1948 28,813,725 25,924,640 0.90 0.65
1949 26,744,457 26,113,696 0.98 0.70
1950 25,339,062 26,093,648 1.03 0.74
1951 24,870,564 25,659,872 1.03 0.74
1952 25,285,589 25,593,344 1.01 0.73
1953 24,789,130 25,263,728 1.02 0.73
1954 24,153,387 24,286,192 1.01 0.72
1955 24,324,623 24,384,192 1.00 0.72
Source:
1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.

Again, using the standard barrel to iron out the difference in average gravity between the US and UK, the difference is even more striking:

Hop usage in the UK 1914 - 1920
year standard barrels hops( lbs) hops lbs/  Imperial barrel hops lbs/  US barrel
1941 18,351,113 28,151,648 1.53 1.10
1942 19,294,605 24,976,784 1.29 0.93
1943 18,293,919 25,937,968 1.42 1.02
1944 19,193,773 27,316,800 1.42 1.02
1945 19,678,449 27,420,064 1.39 1.00
1946 20,612,225 25,334,064 1.23 0.88
1947 17,343,690 24,389,008 1.41 1.01
1948 18,061,390 25,924,640 1.44 1.03
1949 16,409,937 26,113,696 1.59 1.14
1950 16,337,315 26,093,648 1.60 1.15
1951 16,739,464 25,659,872 1.53 1.10
1952 16,958,628 25,593,344 1.51 1.08
1953 16,681,119 25,263,728 1.51 1.09
1954 16,525,316 24,286,192 1.47 1.05
1955 16,161,698 24,384,192 1.51 1.08
Source:
1971 Brewers' Almanack, page 54
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.

There’s still lots more of this to come.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any explanation for who was using the soybeans and for what purpose? I found a reference here --

https://books.google.com/books?id=KEC_dDHw_88C&lpg=PA196&ots=TfnFgkIXnO&dq=soybeans%20in%20beer&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q=soybeans%20in%20beer&f=false

-- that soybeans were used as yeast nutrient, and "hydrolyzed soy protein directly to the beer improves foam stability, flavor and body of the beer."

Does that sound plausible? The only other possibility I can think of is that surplus soy meal might have been a cheap source of starch, but it's hard for me to imagine that it would be cheaper than corn in the US. Any idea if this was done elsewhere?

Gary Gillman said...

Almost a 10% drop in malt in approximately 20 years ('34-'55). And from '55 to now, who knows…? Plus, in parallel the reduction of hop usage over the same time period.

Therein lies the seed of the craft brewery revolt from the mid-1970's onward.

It didn't have to be, but industrialized brewing inexorably created the conditions.

Gary

Ron Pattinson said...

Gary,

who knows about 1955 to now? I do. My figures go until 2012. I'll be gradually working my way through them.

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

I'd tend to believe that it's true because of who is being quoted: Wahl and Wahl. Given the 1937 date, it has to be in "Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint". A book I featured recently.

It sounds as if initially they were using soya left over from other processes, which probably meant it was cheap.

Given that the highest usage of soya was in 1945 and 1946, I'd suspect that wartime shortages were playing a role.