Tuesday 28 February 2023

Tetley Ale malt specifications (part five)

Now for some stuff about the barley itself.

I had to look this one up to see what it was.

3.5. Abraded malt is permitted at proportions of up to 100% of the total malt grist at all breweries.
Tetley Beer and Malt Specifications, 1985, malt page 2.

I'll let the scientists do the explaining again.

It has recently been shown that mechanical abrasion of barley grains, by a process which removed only very small quantities of husk, permitted exogeneous gibberellic acid to reach a larger number of aleurone cells, thus increasing the production of enzymes and modification of the endosperm.

Abrasion of the grain was achieved by a mechanical hand-mill which consistently rendered the pericarp layer at the nonembryo (distal) end of the grain permeable to gibberellic acid without damaging the embryo or the overlying husk. Micro-scale malting trials using gibberellic acid revealed that malts produced from abraded grain were visually identical with control malts but gave higher hot water extracts.

The present results describe the performance, in pilot malting and brewing plants, of comparatively large quantities of abraded barley.
Malting and Brewing with Abraded Barley, Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Vol. 76, 1970, By G.H. Palmer, J. Barrett and B.H. Kirsop, page 65.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1970.tb03263.x
That sounds fairly harmless.

Now the permitted vatieties of barley.
3.4. Permitted varieties.
3.4.1. Proctor
3.4.2. Maris Otter*
3.4.3. Mazurka
3.4.4. Golden Promise
3.4.5. Midas
3.4.6. Ark Royal
3.4.7. Triumph*
3.4.8. Keg
3.4.9. Tipper*
3.4.10 Halcyon
* Permitted for Castlemaine XXXX
Tetley Beer and Malt Specifications, 1985, malt page 2.
It may come as a surpprise that Maris Otter, the classic Ale barley variety, was only only allowed in Castlemaine XXXX, a Lager. Halcyon was added later, as it's just written in pencil.

I don't think I'll bore you with the lager malt specifications. Unless someone insists on it. Otherwise I'll be heading straight onto cask Tetley Bitter.

4 comments:

Dan Klingman said...

Was it that Maris Otter was only allowed in the lager beer, or that the starred varieties were allowed in the ales but also the lager?

Ron Pattinson said...

Dan Klingman,

Maris Otter was only allowed in the Lager.

Anonymous said...

Have you thought about a tribute to O’ Hara’s Leann Folláin

Anonymous said...

Maybe that's why I didn't mind 4X so much! Mind you, the adjuncts...