Frustratingly, the specific type of sugar wasn’t detailed in any of the records. Probably some sort of invert is the best guess I can make.
The lack of adjuncts can be explained by most examples being pre-1890, when they weren’t used so much. And the ones after 1890 are from Whitbread, who eschewed unmalted grains.
London XX Ale malts and sugars 1880 - 1899 | |||||||
Year | Brewer | Beer | pale malt | amber malt | crystal malt | total malt | other sugar |
1880 | Barclay Perkins | XX | 85.71% | 85.71% | 14.29% | ||
1886 | Barclay Perkins | XX | 100.00% | 100.00% | |||
1881 | Whitbread | XL | 91.84% | 91.84% | 8.16% | ||
1885 | Whitbread | XL | 92.31% | 92.31% | 7.69% | ||
1890 | Whitbread | XK | 89.29% | 89.29% | 10.71% | ||
1895 | Whitbread | XK | 93.85% | 93.85% | 6.15% | ||
1899 | Whitbread | XK | 91.16% | 91.16% | 8.84% | ||
1887 | Fullers | XX | 78.75% | 78.75% | 21.25% | ||
1893 | Fullers | XX | 75.25% | 4.86% | 80.11% | 19.89% | |
1880 | Truman | 40/- Ale | 73.15% | 73.15% | 26.85% | ||
Average | 87.62% | 13.76% | |||||
Sources: | |||||||
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/579 and ACC/2305/1/584. | |||||||
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/047, LMA/4453/D/01/050, LMA/4453/D/01/056, LMA/4453/D/01/061 and LMA/4453/D/01/065. | |||||||
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery. | |||||||
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/161. |
Have you written much on the history of invert sugar in brewing? I'm awfully curious when brewers decided on using it instead of regular sugar, which I assume would have been cheaper and easier to procure. I realize there are yeast-related reasons for using inverts, but it's not clear to me whether brewers used them due to high level scientific understanding, or just trial and error.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI'm always banging on about it.
Invert sugar is quite different to sucrose, especially No. 2 and No. 3. For one, it's easier to handle as it doesn't crystallise. But also brings a whole range of flavours to the table. No. 3 in particular has a lot of dark fruit flavours. I don't think yeast-related reasons were very important.