Fullers vs Youngs in the early 1930s

Now we’ve gone all the way through Youngs beers in the 1930s, I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast them with what local rivals Fullers were up to over the other side of the river.

The ranges of the two breweries are generally pretty similar. The biggest difference being that Fullers brewed three Pale Ales, compared with just two at Youngs. And, while both brewers produced two Mild Ales, they weren’t in the same classes.

Milds came in three classes, based around the price per pint. 4d was around 1028º, 5d around 1035º and 6d around 1043º. Fullers brewed the 5d and 6d types, while Youngs brewed 4d and 5d.

There something similar with the Bitters, where the strongest at Young, PA, was a 7d per pint beer, while Fullers PA was an 8d beer. Also Fullers Porter seems to be in a 1d per pint more expensive class than Youngs version.

The Stouts and Strong Ales correspond pretty much exactly, in terms of strength.

Some things the breweries shared. Like parti-gyling. Pretty much everything was parti-gyled at both. And both parti-gyled the Strong Ales with the Mild Ales. Which wasn’t the case at all London brewers. Barclay Perkins and Whitbread had separate grists for their Strong Ales.

The rates of attenuation are generally similar. Mostly 70%-ish. No huge differences are discernible in the hopping rates, either. The Strong Ales were a bit more heavily hopped at Youngs. But that’s about it for differences. 

Young's beers in 1932
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1027.7	1005.0	3.00	81.95%	7.81	0.91
X	Mild	1035.5	1006.1	3.89	82.82%	6.90	1.00
XXX	Strong Ale	1056.0	1016.6	5.21	70.36%	8.22	1.91
XXXX	Strong Ale	1078.7	1029.4	6.52	62.64%	8.22	2.68
PAB	Pale Ale	1035.7	1007.8	3.69	78.15%	9.80	2.14
PA	Pale Ale	1045.7	1011.6	4.51	74.62%	9.80	2.74
P	Porter	1034.1	1009.1	3.31	73.31%	7.00	1.02
S	Stout	1052.1	1014.4	4.99	72.36%	7.00	1.55
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/1.

Fuller's beers in 1931
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
X	Mild	1033.7	1007.8	3.43	76.99%	7.10	0.98
XX	Mild	1043.3	1010.2	4.37	76.33%	7.10	1.26
AK	Pale Ale	1032.3	1006.1	3.46	81.12%	9.85	1.27
XK	Pale Ale	1040.4	1009.4	4.10	76.68%	9.85	1.58
PA	Pale Ale	1052.3	1011.6	5.38	77.74%	9.85	2.05
P	Porter	1041.4	1013.9	3.64	66.51%	7.96	1.50
BS	Stout	1056.4	1020.5	4.75	63.65%	7.96	2.05
BO	Strong Ale	1058.4	1015.5	5.68	73.45%	7.26	1.74
OBE	Strong Ale	1072.0	1019.7	6.93	72.69%	7.26	2.14
Source:
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.