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Friday, 8 December 2023

Barley Wine sugars 1970 - 1982

There are so many sugars that I’ve split them into two tables. This is pretty typical of UK brewing in the 1970s. With all types of specialist sugars still being in use.

Let’s start with the “normal” sugars. That is, ones where I know what the hell they are.

Starting with the most common: malt extract. This turns up a lot in 20th-century recipes. Usually in very small quantities. Presumably, for extra enzymes. Something brewers seemed to be particularly paranoid about. Perhaps because they no longer used malt made from North American barley, which contained more enzymes.

A dark sugar like No. 3 invert is no surprise in a dark beer like Tally Ho. More so, in Golden Pride. Again, I think, on account f the parti-gyling. Caramel only shows up in the two dark versions, other than a minute quantity in Stingo Gold.

Then we have glucose in Golden Pride and fructose in Tally Ho. Both there because, well, they were the sugars that the breweries used in general.

Having fun? Well, we haven’t finished the sugars yet. Now we have the ones for which I have no fucking clue.

Five of the beggars. None of them in multiple beers. CWA I at least know was an enzymatic syrup. Yet another attempt at boosting enzymes. Not really anything I can say about the rest. 

Barley Wine sugars 1970 - 1982
Year Brewer Beer malt extract no. 3 sugar caramel glucose fructose
1977 Adnams Tally Ho   6.29% 0.87%   3.15%
1971 Watney Yorkshire Stingo 3.20%   0.50%    
1981 Eldridge Pope Hardy Ale          
1982 Eldridge Pope Goldie          
1968 Fullers Golden Pride 0.69% 2.31%   0.93%  
1970 Higson Stingo Gold 3.48%   0.04%    
1971 Watney Export Gold 3.00%        
1973 Whitbread Gold Label          
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.


Barley Wine proprietary sugars 1970 - 1982
Year Brewer Beer PEX CWA DS SLS Fermax
1977 Adnams Tally Ho          
1971 Watney Yorkshire Stingo         13.00%
1981 Eldridge Pope Hardy Ale          
1982 Eldridge Pope Goldie          
1968 Fullers Golden Pride 1.62%        
1970 Higson Stingo Gold   3.48% 4.35%    
1971 Watney Export Gold         2.00%
1973 Whitbread Gold Label       21.41%  
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.


2 comments:

  1. Sugardaddy8 December 2023 at 02:42

    Enzymatic syrups are made with the help of enzymes, which makes them fermentable, contrary to the pre-1930's acid converted syrups which were more or less unfermentable.
    "DS" could stand for diastase syrup, which is another term for the same thing. (Although if that's the case CWA and DS must have had different properties since they were used side by side in the same beer here.)

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  2. Bribie G8 December 2023 at 13:04

    The vast majority of malt extracts are not enzymatic as they are produced by mashing then boiling of the extract, albeit at lower temperatures due to the vacuum boiling method but this would kill the enzymes as we see in all grain brewing where this happens at relatively low Mashout temperatures.

    I expect it was the same back in the 1970s when I actually started brewing at the ripe old age of 21.

    Some were enzymatic and valued in the baking / confectionery industries as they could create extra sweetness from otherwise boring flours.

    Talking of home brewing the famous old EDME company (still going: https://www.edme.com/products/malted/) stands for Essex Diastatic Malt Extract, so they were clearly differentiating themselves from the run of the mill non diastatic companies.
    It would be interesting to know how they preserved the enzymes in their product.

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