Thursday 23 February 2023

Tetley Ale malt specifications

The first post in a series based on the Tetley Beer & Malt Specifications document. A treasure trove of technical information. Especially this stuff on malt. 

Though looking more closely, the malt standards aren't Tetley's. They're Allied Breweries'. As you will see below, the standards weren't the same for all the breweries. Oddly, the standards don't seem to be grouped by the three constituent parts. Burton and Warrington have the same standard, while the former was Ind Coope and the latter Tetley.

Also interesting is how Castlemaine 4X, a Lager, has different standards for its Ale malt. As there are also Lager malt specs, it appears that 4X was brewed from a mixture of Ale and Lager malt.

I'll be honest, I had no idea what some of these things were. Which shows how little I understand about malting and brewing chemistry. I had to look a lot of them up. It was very educational. Even if nitrogen in malt and beer is incredibly complicated.

I'll be imperfectly relaying what I've learnt next time.

Tetley Ale malt specifications
1.1 Extract  282 brl°/336 lb (on dry)
  301 l°/kg (on dry)
1.2 Fine coarse difference 2-7 brl°/226 lb.
1.3 Moisture  not more than 3.5%
1.4 Colour  5.5 ± 1.5° EBC
  6.5 ± 1.5° EBC (Leeds)
  4.5 ± 1.5° EBC (Castlemaine 4X)
1.5 Total N 1.60 ± 0.1% average
  not more than 1.90% on individual samples
1.6 TSN (total soluble nitrogen) 0.60 ± 0.04% (Burton, Warrington)
  0.58 ± 0.04% (Leeds, Romford) -
  not more than 0.70% on individual samples.
  0.65 ± 0.5% (Castlemaine 4X)
1.7 SNR (specific nitrification rate) 38 ± 2 (Burton, Warrington)
  36 ± 2 (Leeds, Romford)
  41 ± 2 (Castlemaine 4X)
1.8 FAN (free amino nitrogen) 180 ± 20mg/1 at 1048 0G
  200 ± 20mg/1 at 1048 0G (Castlemaine 4X)
  150 ± 20mg/1 at 1048 OG (Leeds)
1.9 Arsenic not more than 0.5 mg/kg.
1.10 Lead not more than 1.0 mg/kg.
1.11 Dust and Offal not more than 2.0% (2.2 mm screen)
1.12 NDMA (N-Nitroso-dimethylamine) not more than 5 μg/k
Source:
Tetley Beer and Malt Specifications, 1985, malt page 1.

 

 

2 comments:

Chris Pickles said...

Had Allied closed the Ansell's brewery by this time? And where did they produce Castlemaine XXXX?

Anonymous said...

Used to drink 4X in the 90's and it wasn't that bad...cask beer was so poorly kept and unpredictable that 4X offered a safe and consistently average alternative.