London X Ales adjuncts and sugars 1880 - 1899

Moving on to other fermentable materials, there is a bit of a shock: that there are so few adjuncts.

Unmalted grains were first allowed as a result of the 1889 Free Mash Tun Act and it’s odd to see how long it was before breweries picked up on their use. In the 20th century, the vast majority of breweries used adjuncts, usually in the form of flaked maize.

Of this set of brewers, Barclay Perkins were the only one to have embraced adjuncts. Initially, in the form of flaked rice, later switching to flaked maize. Both Truman and Fullers would later go down the same road. Whitbread, on the other hand, other than during wartime, never did. Sticking to just malt and sugar.

Sugar, first allowed in brewing in 1847, wasn’t really used much before 1880. Very quickly after the Free Mash Tun Act it became almost universal. Only Irish brewers seemed immune to its charms.

In the 20th century the classic sugar for Mild Ales was No.3 invert. It does turn up in a couple of the beers in the table. Probably in more. It’s just impossible to know for certain, due to brewing logs mostly being vague about the type of sugar being employed. Hence most I can only describe as “other sugar”.

There’s a lot of variation in the proportion of sugar in the grist. Ranging from under 5% to over 26%. When things had settled down, 10% to 15% was the norm. It would be a mistake to assume that economy was the only reason for adding sugar to recipes. It was also used for flavour and, in the case of Mild Ale, to add colour.

London X Ales adjuncts and sugars 1880 - 1899
Year	Brewer	flaked maize	flaked rice	total adjuncts	no. 3 sugar	other sugar	total sugar
1880	Barclay Perkins			0.00%		14.01%	14.01%
1886	Barclay Perkins			0.00%	18.18%		18.18%
1886	Barclay Perkins			0.00%			0.00%
1887	Barclay Perkins		10.43%	10.43%		11.30%	11.30%
1890	Barclay Perkins		11.44%	11.44%		12.71%	12.71%
1899	Barclay Perkins	9.47%		9.47%		18.45%	18.45%
1881	Whitbread			0.00%		8.16%	8.16%
1885	Whitbread			0.00%		7.69%	7.69%
1891	Whitbread			0.00%		4.41%	4.41%
1895	Whitbread			0.00%		6.15%	6.15%
1898	Whitbread			0.00%	16.67%		16.67%
1887	Fullers			0.00%		21.25%	21.25%
1893	Fullers			0.00%		19.14%	19.14%
1898	Fullers			0.00%		18.60%	18.60%
1880	Truman			0.00%		26.85%	26.85%
1885	Truman			0.00%		14.26%	14.26%
1890	Truman			0.00%		13.79%	13.79%
1895	Truman			0.00%		10.64%	10.64%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/579, ACC/2305/1/584, ACC/2305/1/583, ACC/2305/1/586 and ACC/2305/1/593.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/047, LMA/4453/D/01/050, LMA/4453/D/01/057, LMA/4453/D/01/061 and LMA/4453/D/01/064
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Truman brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers B/THB/C/161, B/THB/C/166, B/THB/C/171 and B/THB/C/175.