Racking during WW II

During the war draught beer was almost all in cask form. As it had been for centuries. About the only change to the process since the early 19th century had been the introduction of sugar primings, which really took off at the beginning of the 20th century.

Primings were a sugar solution with an OG of 1140º to 1150º added at racking time with the principal aim of providing readily fermentable material to condition the beer in the cask quickly. Additionally, the primings could also add colour through the presence of caramel.

With as much as a gallon of primings being added per 36-gallon barrel, they could significantly boost the effective OG of a beer by as much as 10%. The increase was especially prominent in low-gravity beers like Mild Ale.

Frustratingly, most breweries didn’t record details of primings in their brewing records. Those few that do, show how sophisticated a procedure had become.

Barclay Perkins primed many of their beers, not just draught ones, but some of the bottled, too. Here’s how it all looked a couple of years into the war:

Barclay Perkins primings in 1941
Beer	Style	primings (gallons)	OG before primings	OG after ptimings
A	Mild	0.25	1028.7	1029.5
X	Mild	0.75	1031.8	1034.2
XX	Mild	0.75	1037.7	1039.9
KK	Burton	0.5	1051.4	1052.7
LS draught	Stout	0.75	1040.8	1043
LS bottled	Stout	1	1040.8	1043.7
IBS	Stout	0.75	1055.6	1057.4
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/624.

Watney had brewed some keg beer before the war. I’m not sure if this continued after the start of hostilities. However, I know for certain that Barclay Perkins produced their draught Lagers as non-cask. Because the cask sizes for Lagers were 5.5 and 11 gallons. That’s 25 and 50 litres, continental sizes. And they sold CO2 cylinders for their Lager.  

This is an excerpt from my recently-released BlitzKrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

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The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.

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