Boiling in the 1970s

Short, short, short. Often as little as 60 minutes. That describes most boils in the 1970s.

Boil times had been declining since the end of the 19th century. There were various reasons for this. The most obvious was simple economy: the shorter the boil, the less fuel used. Which brings us to the second reason: two world wars. Brewers were compelled to economise on their use of coal, leading to shorter boils.

You can see proof of the third reason in the table below. With the reduction in gravity, there was no real need for long boils to concentrate the worts. And which are the only beers with long boils?  Final Selection and Gold Label. Two unusually strong beers.

Other than that, there’s nothing really longer than 90 minutes. And most of Whitbread’s boils were little more than 60 minutes. 

Boil times 1968 - 1975
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	boil 1 (hours)	boil 2 (hours)	boil 3 (hours)	boil 4 (hours)
1972	Boddington	Bitter	IPA	1.5
1971	Boddington	Special Stout	Stout	1.25
1972	Whitbread	Tankard	Pale Ale	1.08	1
1972	Whitbread	Best Mild	Mild	1	1
1973	Whitbread	Gold Label	Barley Wine	3	3
1973	Whitbread	Extra Stout	Stout	1	1
1972	Whitbread	Final Selection	Strong Ale	2	2
1975	Elgood	Elgood Bitter	Pale Ale	1.58
1968	Fullers	London Pride	Pale Ale	1.25	1.25
1968	Fullers	Hock	Mild	1.5	1.5
1969	Truman	London Mild	Mild	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
1969	Truman	Stout	Stout	1.5
1969	Truman	London Lager	Lager	1.5
Sources:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Truman Ale book held by Derek Prentice.
Elgood brewing record held at the brewery
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery