Sunday 23 October 2016

Shepherd Neame grists in 1956

Time to look at what went into Shepherd Neame’s beers in 1956. What fun that’s going to be.

Let’s kick off with their Pale Ales. Because they’re the simplest. Just pale malt and the merest hit of malt extract. All-malt beers were extremely rare in Britain in the 20th century. I’m trying to think of any others I’ve come across, but am stumped. Just about every beer, other than Guinness, contained some sugar.

Do you see what else is missing? Crystal malt. Most Milds and Brown Ales would have contained some. This is the fun of looking at new breweries. Every so often there are real surprises. Like the malts Shep’s used. Who would have guessed that the four would be pale malt, black malt, wheat malt and oat malt? There’s only one dark malt and that was only used in one beer.

Talking of which, the black malt wasn’t mashed to the Stout but added during the boil. There’s a very good reason for that: the Stout was parti-gyled with BA. The first wort was used for BA and the second wort, which had the black malt and all the sugar added to it, formed the majority of the Stout. Robert Younger did something similar. Presumably they were forced to brew this way due to low demand for Stout. They didn’t need as much as a full brew length.

The Strong Ales, Brown Ales and – weirdly – LDA – all have the same recipe and were parti-gyled together. They contain about 19% sugar, which is towards the high end. 15-20% was pretty normal. No. 3 is what you would expect. No idea what Wortex is, other than a type of proprietary sugar.

The hops all came from their own gardens.

Shepherd Neame grists in 1956
Beer Style OG pale malt black malt wheat malt malted oats no. 3 sugar malt extract caramel Wortex UKCS cane hops
Br Brown Ale 1026.3 76.51% 4.03% 13.42% 0.67% 5.37% Kent
DB Brown Ale 1029.4 76.51% 4.03% 13.42% 0.67% 5.37% Kent
MB Mild 1030.2 88.11% 5.59% 0.70% 5.59% Kent
LDA Pale Ale 1029.4 76.51% 4.03% 13.42% 0.67% 5.37% Kent
BB Pale Ale 1030.2 98.63% 1.37% Kent
BA Pale Ale 1032.4 98.63% 1.37% Kent
PA Pale Ale 1035.5 98.63% 1.37% Kent
SXX Pale Ale 1039.3 98.63% 1.37% Kent
SS Stout 1026.3 74.07% 11.11% 3.70% 1.23% 4.94% 4.94% Kent
AA Strong Ale 1044.3 76.51% 4.03% 13.42% 0.67% 5.37% Kent
ESXA Strong Ale 1052.6 75.50% 3.97% 13.25% 0.66% 6.62% Kent
Source:
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery.

3 comments:

StuartP said...

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about putting roasted grains in the boil.
A nice way to get two beers from one mash, but it makes a mess of the boiler.
Someone won't be happy when they have to clean that up.

Moaneschien / Ingo said...

Is that Right Ron, LDA == DB? LDA doesn't look that "pale", looks like an dark "Enkel", half a Dubbel.

Ron Pattinson said...

Moaneschien,

no it doesn't look that pale. And I'm not sure how it differs from DB.