Flying down to Rio

Preamblle
“What about South America? That shouldn’t be too hot in July.”

I was discussing with the kids where we could go in the summer. Alexei’s college limits the times we can go.

“Japan and Korea would be the obvious choice.”

“You’re such a Weeb, Dad.” Andrew interrupts.

“But they’ll be way too hot for Andrew.”

The kids weren’t overenthusiastic. Luke warm, at best. Andrew does perk up a little when I tell him how cheap the cocktails are on Ipanema beach.

“We can fly into Rio, then onto Buenos Aires and Santiago. It’ll be the middle of winter.”

I check the temperatures Rio should be mid-20 ºs C. The others more like 10º C. Andrew should be able to cope fine.

I’ve dreamt of visiting Buenos Aires for years. For some reason, it’s never happened.

We were still in the planning stages when Argentina elected a lunatic. Which put Andrew off.

“I wouldn’t feel safe.”

“Fair enough.” I reply. Even though I’m heartbroken.

We substitute Montevideo.

Off we go
Roadworks on the A10 motorway have us worried. Last weekend, it caused traffic chaos around our neighbourhood. We were worried it would make a cab impractical. It turned out to be no problem at all.

We get to Schiphol a little after nine. Where the longest wait if for the taxi to drop us off. There's basically no queue at either security or passport control. After a quick visit to the duty free, we're in the lounge barely forty minutes after leaving home.

Me and Andrew visit the bar first. A Pils each for the kiddies, two whiskies for me. No Teachers today. I have to make do with two Jim Beams. One with ice, one without.

“Why do you get ice in one and not the other?” Alexei asks, rather logically.

“It’s so they don’t think that both are for me.”

With the skimpy measures they serve – just a single – you need to get more than one. Otherwise, you’d just be walking to the bar the whole time.

Next, me and Alexei go for the food. Scrambled egg, potatoes, mushrooms and meatballs for me. A pile of stuff for him.

“That’s the spirit, Lexie.” Stuff down as much as you can.”

“Are you taking the piss?”

“No. Just making sure we get our money's worth. “

“You made that joke last time. It hasn’t got any funnier.”

I need to justify the 52 euros I had to pay for one of the kids. I haven’t decided which one yet. It’ll be going on their bill. That they’ll pay me when they get a job. If that ever happens.

As I go for my third round, Alexei says: “Don’t go crazy with the whisky.”

“When did I ever do that?”

“Er, every time free whisky is on offer.”

“That’s not true. Not 100% every time.”

“Close enough.”

“I’m just preparing for the stress of flying. Self-medicating, you might say.”

“Or say that you’re just a piss head.”

“That’s a bit unfair.”

“Is it? Really?”

We lounge around for a while, eating and drinking. It's been pretty much stress-free, so far.

I try not to cut it too fine with heading for our gate. It’s reasonably close at least, on pier E. Andrew gets nervous if I leave it too late. Especially after that time in Korea, when the ground crew were already looking for us.

As it is, we time getting to the gate perfectly. They're just at the end of boarding zones 1 and 2. We waltz directly on.

The flight is slightly held up by a no-show with a checked in bag. But we still leave about on time.

I do my typical thing of watching shit films. Vacation, Terrible Bosses 1 and 2, The Millers. All easy-to-watch crap. Alexei has 300 episodes of House loaded onto his phone to keep him entertained.

The food is, well, airline food. It isn't as bad as on some flights. I manage to eat most of it. Through gritted teeth.

I’m glad when we finally plonk down onto the runway in Rio. My arse is aching after 12 hours glued to my seat.

“Now for the fun part, kids. The death march to immigration.”

“Are you sure you aren’t exaggerating, old man.” Alexei says.

“You’ll see, And less of the old man. It’s fat old man to you.”

As ever, the walk from the gate is ridiculously long. Down a bare corridor, with occasional moving walkways. No fun at all.

“It’s like an underpass.” Alexei remarks. “But much longer.”

We're directed to the priority lane at immigration. And are through in a jiffy.

Luggage retrieval is a problem. Despite only having one checked bag paid for, we checked in three. Which was great for lightening our load in the airport. Mine and Andrew's bag pop out straight away. It's a longer wait for Alexei's. Long enough to get worried. Especially as it has a priority tag and should have been one of the first bags out.

When it does finally pop out, we get a taxi voucher from the machine. And soon we're on our way, rocking and rolling on the road to Rio.

Not that we can see much, as it’s dark. Just the shiny lights of the DIY superstores that flank the motorway.

It takes a while, but eventually we pull up outside our Ipanema hotel. The one I’ve stayed in the last couple of times I’ve been in Rio. It’s handy for the beach and shops. And not to too stupidly expensive.

After checking in, we head to a nearby shop for essential supplies. Mostly beer. But also some bits and bobs to eat.

We spend a couple of hours chilling in my room, watching the TV.  They drink beer. I sip my duty-free Tomantin.

The kids turn in around midnight. While I watch the test highlights.

It's been, happily, quite a stress-free day.

Whisky whisks me smoothly down the road to sleep.

Back home again

I had a day of rest yesterday. I deserved it, after an intercontinental flight.

Back to work today. Editing and adding to my notes about the South America trip. About which I'll be boring you for a couple of weeks. I just need to put all the jokes in.

Other than the wide temperature swings, everything was perfect. The kids didn't push me in front of a metro. And, other than a couple of mosquito bites, the kids are unscathed, too. We didn't get robbed and the pack of wild dogs just ignored us. What more could you ask?

Travelling with the kids is lots of fun. I'm trying to do as much as I can while I'm still up to it and they're still up for it. At the moment, an all-you-can-drink holiday is something Andrew just can't pass up.

We've a few days in the UK in August. Visiting my family. And maybe a few pubs. Well, definitely a few pubs.

Cleansing vessels.

Something that annoys me - among many, many other things -  is when Burton unions are described as fermenting vessels. They aren't. They're cleansing vessels. The fermentation started in rounds or squares and the wort was only later moved to the unions to, primarily, remove excess yeast.

It wasn't the only system or cleansing. Pontoes were an older system, with unions really being a more sophisticated and automated, development of it.

Cleansing vessels.
Where the fermentation was completed and excess yeast removed. There were three types of cleansing vessels: pontoes, unions and settling tanks or squares. Pontoes were single barrels, placed on stillions into which yeast was expelled through the bung hole. The casks were kept full by refilling, by hand, with wort which had been expelled with the yeast. Unions were similar, but a series of casks were connected together in a "union", pipes being so arranged as to automatically return expelled beer to the casks without the need for manual refilling. 

Watney's pontoes in 1902

Settling tanks were quite different. They were shallow tanks, placed beneath the gyle tuns into which the wort was dropped after between 12 and 24 hours. Rather than being expelled from a barrel by the action of fermentation, yeast was removed by a combination of skimming the head and allowing it to settle to the bottom. It was also known as the "skimming system" for this reason. It was also known as the dropping system. It was used by some of the large London breweries. Fullers used this method until the 1970's. Brakspear's beers were fermented this way until quite recently. Fitted with attemperators, when the final gravity had been reached, the beer was slowly cooled over a few days to a temperature of around 60º F before racking.

"Unions are noted for the clean tasted beers they give; pontoes are most fitted for porter and stouts, while a skimming system is specially adapted for stock beers."
"The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 139.

Quite impressive that Watney ponto room I wonder when the last ponto system was removed?

The above couple of paragraphs come from one o my many unpublished manuscripts. Namely. "Beer, Ale and Malt Liquor". A history of UK brewing from 1700 to 1973.

There's a funny story about how I wrote it. In the second half of my programming career, I had several contracts where I had little to no work. At one*, there wasn't even internet. Out of sheer boredom, I loaded pdfs of old brewing manuals onto a memory stick and took it into work. Where I spent the day trawling through them and knocking up text/notes for my mega book.

I've used bits of it over the years. For reference. Or for low-effort blog posts, like this one If all has gone well, I'll be in Montevideo with the kids 

Note sure where I'm going with this. Hi from Uruguay. (Where, unless I die in Brazil or Chile, that where's I'll be when this is published.)

 

 

* We had so little work, that when something came in half a dozen of us would huddle around the terminal watching the lucky chap who got to start the job. For 8 hours, 59 minutes each day, I had nothing work-related to do.

Best thing was, every Friday, someone went to a fish shop and got, er, fish for the office. Broodje kibbeling (fried fish nuggets in a bun) was always my order. So much so, I continued the tradition for 10 years in my next, and last, job.

Beers I miss (part one)

When you get to be as old as me,  inevitably many of the things you loved in your youth - or middle age - have disappeared. That's certainly true of beer, in my case.

Where to start? At the beginning, I suppose. And that means Barnsley Bitter. The first really good beer I tried. And which disappeared forever not long after I had come to love it. How did it taste? That's been blurred by the passage of time. firmly bitter and dry is about all I can come up with.

Funny thing is: I only ever drank it in two pubs. The Wing Tavern in Newark and some pub in Grantham. Which I only went to once. (And where it was served through a metered electric pump.) For my first CAMRA branch meeting. Possibly my last, too. Despite being a member since my 18th birthday, I've never been very active. Other than volunteering at the GBBF. I've mostly supported cask beer in a drinky sort of way.

The Wing Tavern was an odd pub. With no street frontage. Which may explain why it was the last pub in Newark with working handpulls. And the last serving Barnsley Bitter.

Why, when Newark had its own Courage brewery, was Barnsley Bitter being served? It's all to do with exactly how the takeovers of the two Newark breweries went down. Warwick & Richardson was first bought by John Smith. Who branded the pubs, and served them from, their Barnsley brewery subsidiary.

A couple of years later, Courage bought the other Newark brewery, Holes, and also John Smith. With closure of Barnsley in mind, Newark's former Warwick & Richardson pubs swapped over to the bright beer from the former Holes brewery.

The Wing Tavern, as one ow Newark's least fashionable pubs, wasn't top of the list for conversion. And sold Barnsley Bitter.until the brewery closed in 1976.

Lots more to come. If I can be arsed.

Boiling in the mid 19th century

Another extract from the 1850 to 1880 chapter of "Beer, Ale and Malt Liquor". It seems such a waste to leave all these words unused. Especially if you're as chronically lazy as I am.

To prevent cooling of the wort, which could lead to the creation of lactic acid, Faulkner suggested fitting the underback with a steam coil. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, pages 76.) Wort was vulnerable before it had been stabilised by boiling. Having multiple coppers was a good way of ensuring worts did not to have to wait long before being boiled. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 76.)

There were three purposes in boiling:

1. extracting bitterness, oils, resins and tannin from the hops
2. coagulating proteins (the hot "break")
3. evaporating away some of the water to increase the gravity of the wort.
(Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 77.)

Loftus suggested a short boil: just 1 hour. "To boil it for a longer time is wasteful and pernicious, both to the extract of the malt and to that of the hop." (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 40.) In order to avoid the need for a longer boil (to increase the gravity of the wort) brewers should try to hit the right gravity during mashing. "The gravity of the wort does not increase in proportion as the length decreases by evaporation." Loftus warns. (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 41.)

Faulkner maintained that, while strong worts should not be boiled for longer than 90 minutes, weaker worts could be boiled for as long as three hours. Though the hops were not added until half way through. Having a smaller amount of extract, weaker worts were not as susceptible to caramelisation. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 81.)

Half the hops were added add the start of the boil and the other half after 30 minutes. Loftus: "By this mode of dividing the hops, an aromatic flavour is imparted to the ale which greatly improves it" (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 80.)

Where are you from?

 I've had this question a few times in South America. I haven't always given the same answer.

Where am I from? England? Holland?

When I'm with the kids, it's even more confusing.. I might think of us all as English. But the kids have a couple of other nationalities. And I have another one, too.

What are we? Does it even fucking matter?

I couldn't have imagined this question being so hard a few years ago.

But I'm glad that it is.

Let's Brew - 1885 Mew Langton Gibraltar Porter

Not content with brewing the one Porter, Mew Langton also brewed an export version. And not just for anywhere. It was specifically for Gibraltar. I’m guessing that it was mostly intended for British military personnel.

Like their domestic Porter, three malts were employed. The classic London combination of pale, brown and black. The difference being that there’s no sugar. Making this an all-malt beer.

The hopping was a good bit heavier, as you would expect of an export beer. Ten pounds per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared with just six. Which is reflected in much higher (calculated) IBU count.

The hops themselves were an even split between American and Bavarian, the former from the 1884 harvest, the latter from 1885.

I’ve lowered the FG from the 1021º listed in the log as this beer would have undergone a long secondary fermentation.

1885 Mew Langton Gibraltar Porter
pale malt	10.75 lb	82.69%
brown malt	1.125 lb	8.65%
black malt	1.125 lb	8.65%
Cluster 90 mins	2.50 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	2.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1054
FG	1013
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	75.93%
IBU	74
SRM	34
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	65º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ale

 

Mashing in the mid 19th century

This is an extract from the 1850 to 1880 chapter of "Beer, Ale and Malt Liquor". The three-mash scheme described here was already obsolescent by the 1850s, with simpler systems becoming more popular. As the Scottish method of sparging spread to England.

Water was heated to 184º F in the liquor copper and transferred to the mash tun. When the water had cooled to about 180º F the malt was dropped from the hopper into the mash tun and mixed well with the water.

The precise mashing temperature varied depending on the type of water, malt and the brewer's preference. In general, hard water required a lower temperature. (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, pages 34-35.)

In mild weather, these were the striking temperatures recommended by Loftus:

Mid-19th century multiple mash scheme
	hard water	soft water
1st mash	178º F	182º F
2nd mash	184º F	188º F
3rd mash	188º F	186º F
Source:
"The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 36.

The first mash lasted at least two hours, longer as long as the temperature could be kept above 146º F. The remaining two mashes were between one and two hours. (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 37.)

The third mash was either mixed with the other two worts, kept as a return for a later brew of used to make Table Beer.  (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 38.)

Any remaining extract left in the grains could be retrieved by mixing with water (one barrel for every 1.25 quarters of malt) at a temperature of 198º F. After strirring and allowing the mash to stand for 30 minutes, it was put into the copper with some spent hops and, with the fire damped, allowed to stand all night. By the next day, evaporation had reduced the volume by a third and brought the gravity up tp 1022-25º. This was used to make a Table Beer.  (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 39.)

Loving Montevideo

Lots if cool 1929s  bullrings, Some cool food and drink.

But it's all al about showing the kids an alternative of European Society.  One that went a sightly different way.

Some is beautiful. There are lots of art-deco-ey 20s buildings here way better than in Europe

It's a Europe which could have been.

Much like modern Ireland a an England that could have been. They'd sorted out the racism and the trains.

Cairnes Single Stout 1914 - 1923

I've been trudging my way through Cairnes records or the last couple of weeks. Has it been fun? Instructional, perhaps.

Specifically, the interwar years and, one of my favourites, WW I. I hadn't seen a set of Irish records from WW I before. I knew that they were going to look different from English or Scottish ones. For the simple reason that the rules weren't the same.

In April 1918, the average gravity of a brewer's beers in Great Britain was limited to just 1030º, while in Ireland it was 1045º. I think this was simply because pre-war, average OG had been higher in Ireland: 1066º compared to 1052º in England.

You can see in the two tables that Cairnes Single Stout never fell below 1039º during the war. While Fullers Porter dropped to 1027.5º in 1918. Interestingly, Cairnes Single Stout hhit its nadir in 1920-1921. A time when the gravity of Fullers Porter was starting to bounce back. Though, by later in the 1920s, the two beers had near identical gravities.

The rate of attenuation of Cairnes Single Stout fell during the war, due to the FG being maintained at the same level. This was, presumably, to maintain the body. This doesn't seem to have occurred at Fullers.

The hopping rate at Cairnes almost halved in the middle of the war, from 7.6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs)) of malt to just 4.25 lbs. At Fullers, on the other hand, it remained pretty constant at between 6 lbs and 7 lbs per quarter. 

Cairnes Single Stout 1914 - 1923
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1st Jan	1914	1050	1014	4.76	72.00%	7.60	1.34
1st Sep	1914	1050	1014.5	4.70	71.00%	6.70	1.27
7th Jan	1915	1052	1012	5.29	76.92%	6.61	1.17
2nd Oct	1916	1046	1012	4.50	73.91%	4.25	1.05
3rd May	1917	1048	1012	4.76	75.00%	4.25	1.55
7th Jun	1917	1046	1012	4.50	73.91%	6.92	1.13
1st Nov	1917	1046	1012.5	4.43	72.83%	6.92	1.08
3rd Jan	1918	1046	1014	4.23	69.57%	6.74	1.02
2nd May	1918	1039	1012	3.57	69.23%	7.54	0.97
3rd Oct	1918	1039	1013	3.44	66.67%	7.54	0.97
3rd Feb	1919	1039	1013	3.44	66.67%	7.54	0.98
2nd Oct	1919	1039	1012.5	3.51	67.95%	7.69	0.98
1st Jan	1920	1039	1012	3.57	69.23%	7.92	1.04
15th Apr	1920	1039	1013	3.44	66.67%	7.62	0.97
4th Oct	1920	1037	1012	3.31	67.57%	7.64	0.94
3rd Oct	1921	1037	1013	3.18	64.86%	7.60	0.98
2nd Feb	1922	1041	1014	3.57	65.85%	7.56	1.21
1st Jan	1923	1042	1014	3.70	66.67%	7.07	1.10
Sources:
Cairnes brewing records held at the Guinness archives, document numbers GDB/SUB/0022 and GDB/BR17/1257.

Fullers Porter 1914 - 1925
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
18th Nov	1914	1045.5	1012.5	4.37	72.59%	6.74	1.38
17th Feb	1915	1043.8	1010.8	4.37	75.35%	6.33	1.34
2nd Jun	1916	1043.0	1010.8	4.26	74.89%	6.23	1.43
4th Aug	1916	1039.1	1010.0	3.86	74.50%	6.63	1.38
12th Apr	1917	1044.2	1010.0	4.52	77.42%	7.24	1.48
9th Aug	1917	1035.5	1007.8	3.66	78.13%	7.54	1.23
5th Jan	1918	1035.9	1010.0	3.43	72.24%	6.81	1.26
19th Apr	1918	1027.5	1007.2	2.69	73.84%	6.41	0.97
14th Jan	1919	1027.8	1010.2	2.33	63.18%	6.83	0.74
10th Feb	1920	1034.2	1007.2	3.57	78.95%	7.02	1.13
16th Jun	1925	1041.5	1015.5	3.44	62.62%	7.95	1.55
Source:
Fullers rewing records hheld at the brewery.

Football pilgrimage

Dropped by one of the most historically significant football grounds in the world today.

It was dead cool. Slightly weird that they have an Amsterdam stand. Until you look into it more closely.

And found a can of Porter in a shop around the corner from my hotel.

A winning day.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1914 Cairnes Double Stout

There have been quite a few changes to Double Stout since 1900. Starting with a slight, 2º, reduction in gravity.

Then there’s the recipe. Where the patent malt has been replaced by roast barley. It’s hard to tell exactly when this happened, as the pre-printed brewing book pages had “Patent malt” hard-coded in them. Occasionally crossed out and with “Roast Barley” written in.

It’s a similar story with BPG (Beane’s Patent Grist), which is crossed out and “Glucose” written in. At least it means I’m certain o the type of sugar being used. Which isn’t the case with earlier recipes.

There’s no mention of caramel. But I suspect some must have been in the mix. Given that the calculated colour is so pale: about the same as Dark Mild. Which seems far too pale for a Double Stout.

The hops were evenly split between English and Oregon, both from the 1913 harvest. 

1914 Cairnes Double Stout
pale malt	10.50 lb	71.19%
roast barley	1.00 lb	6.78%
flaked maize	2.00 lb	13.56%
glucose	1.25 lb	8.47%
Cluster 120 mins	2.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1067
FG	1023
ABV	5.82
Apparent attenuation	65.67%
IBU	67
SRM	21
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

Montevideo

 Foggy and overcast. Andrew is loving it. His sort of weather.

Restrictions on roasting malt

Following up on my posts about UK beer legislation, here's more detail on theh law concerning roast malt.

You may be wondering: why the hhell were the rules so strict? Basically because the governement was paranoid. And were afraid that brewers would us unmalted grains. Thus dodging tax. These rules effectively made malt roasting a specialist occupation. At least, until 1880.

"AN ACT to provide Regulations for preparing and using Roasted Malt in colouring Beer.

(18th June 1842.)

ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS.

1. Prohibiting the roasting of malt for sale, or the selling thereof except by persons duly licensed.

2. Roasters of malt and dealers in roasted malt to take out a licence. — Penalty.

3. Duty on licences to be under the management of the Commissioners of Excise, who shall grant the same.

4. Roasters of malt to make entry of their premises and utensils.—Penalty.

5. Roasters of malt to mark their premises and utensils corresponding to their entry.

6. Officers of Excise empowered to enter the premises of roasters of malt.

7. Roasters of malt not to receive any other grain than unroasted malt, and dealers no other than roasted malt.—Penalty.

8. A malt book to be delivered to every roaster of malt and dealer in roasted malt, in which they shall respectively enter all malt received, roasted, and sent out by them.

9. Stock account of malt to be taken.

10. Book may be made up before taking the account, and malt in the cylinders may be included.

11. Malt not to be roasted at night.

12. A certificate book to he delivered to every roaster of malt, and all roasted malt to be sent out by certificate.— Penalty.

13. Brewers intending to use roasted malt to provide deposit rooms in which all roasted malt to be deposited, and the certificate delivered up to the officer of Excise.—Penalty.

14. All malt received by any roaster shall be roasted on his premises; and all roasted malt shall be sent out unground.

15. No roasted malt to be bought of any but a licensed roaster.

16. No maltster at his malt house, or within one mile of it, or any druggist or grocer, to be a roaster of malt or dealer in roasted malt.

17. Power of Commissioners to except maltsters whose premises were within prohibited distance before 1st April 1842.

18. Roasters, &c. of malt subject to like prohibitions as to the custody, &c. of certain articles, &c. as brewers of, or dealers in, or retailers of beer.

19. Act may be altered this session."
"The public general acts, Volume 1902", pages 79-80.

Provision 16 effectively prohibits a maltster from roasting. That, along with provision 14, insisting that roast malt be sent out unground seem to be designed to stop maltsters just roasting raw barley. I assume if it's ground it would be harder to tell if it had been malted or not.

The insistence that roasters bought in barley that had already been malted, and on which the tax had already been paid, was similarly designed to prevent the roasting o unmalted grains.

Not sure why roasting at night was prohibited. But it's probably something to do with preventing tax dodging. As that's what everything else is about.

Summary of UK brewing legislation (part two)

Today it's the rest o my cut-out-and-keep guide to 19th-ccentury UK brewing legislation. Which isn't quite so sugar-heavy this time.

1880, with the Free Mash Tun Act, was a huge dividing line in brewing legislation. Many of the old rules - designed to stop brewers dodging tax by using any fermentable material other than malt - ell by the wayside.

31st July 1865 - 30th April 1874
Brewers prohibited from using a mixture of glucose and treacle.

30th April 1874
The definition of sugar extended to mean any description of sugar, including any saccharine substance or syrup manufactured from any material from which sugar can be manufactured. The use of sugar to make beer colouring also allowed.

14th August 1855 - 30th September 1880
Storage of unmalted grain in a brewery prohibited except for: grain in a malt house; oats or beans for horse food kept in a specific place. Malt only to be crushed by metal rollers with smooth surfaces which were not fluted.

11th October 1862 - 30th September 1880
Brewers of spruce or black beer exempted from new rates of license duty on brewers provided that they used no hops or yeast in making them.

16th September 1862
Duties on hops repealed. Prohibition on hop substitutes removed, also the restrictions on importing extracts, essences and other preparations of hops. This was only extended to Ireland on 25th July 1864.

1st October 1880
"Free mash tun " Act. Duty imposed at 6s 3d per standard barrel of 1057º. All restriction on ingredients removed except those on drugs and harmful substances.

16th May 1888
The use of "saccharin" (a product of coal tar) prohibited.

16th April 1889
A standard barrel changed to 1055º.

17th April 1894
Duty per standard barrel raised to 6s 9d.

1st October 1896
Rice, flaked maize and other similar products, which had been classified as malt or corn with regard to their wort-producing powers reclassified as "sugar".
Source: "Report and minutes of evidence Departmental Committee on Beer Materials, 1899, page 382. 

Notice how strict the rules were on unmalted grains. And the weird rules about mill rollers. I've absolutely no idea why fluted rollers weren't allowed. Maybe that's what you'd use for unmalted grains.

Loving Santiago

The kids, too.We get to ride the metro everywhere. They drink beer, I drink pisco sour. We get to shiver together in the unheated pubs. It's like being back in the 1970s. But in a good way.

Montevideo tomorrow.

Summary of UK brewing legislation (part one)

Something a bit different today. Really a reference guide, rather than anything else. For any budding beer historian who doesn't feel like digging through all the parliamentary statutes.

You'll notice that quite a lot o it relates to sugar in brewing. Which was a tricky subject for the government. Big fluctuations in the duty on sugar used in brewing must discouraged brewers from using it.

Whitbread, for example, briefly flirted with sugar when it was first allowed in 1847. But soon dropped it again and didn't readopt it until 1865. Barclay Perkins, other than in the occasional cheap beer, didn't use sugar before the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act.

1st May 1802 - 20th June 1811
No materials other than malt, hops and water allowed.

26th June 1811 - 5th July 1817
Porter brewers were allowed to use a solution of burnt brown sugar to colour Porter only.

6th July 1817
The burnt colouring solution was forbidden and only malt, hops and water were allowed. Brewers, retailers and dealers of beer were not allowed to possess sugar nor certain specified drugs and adulterants.

11th October 1827
The rules from 6th July 1817 also applied to Ireland.

16th July 1830
Beer duties abolished. Brewers prohibited from having raw or unmalted grain on their premises.

18th June 1842
The use of roasted or black malt in brewing first recognised in law.  Strict rules on the manufacture, sale and storage of black malt were introduced. There was further legislation on this topic in 1856 and 1857. All these were repealed in 1880. 

23rd February 1847
The use of sugar (but not molasses or other types of sugar on which the full duties had not been paid) allowed in the brewing of beer and in the preparation of colouring material for beer.

6th July 1851
A duty of 1s 4d per cwt. introduced on sugar used in brewing.

10th July 1854
Duty on sugar used in brewing raised to 6s 6d per cwt.

1855
Duty on sugar used in brewing reduced to 3s 9d per cwt.

5th July 1856 - 15th April 1864
Collection of duty on sugar used in brewing held in abeyance.

16th April 1864
A duty of 3s 4d per cwt. imposed on sugar used in brewing.

30th April 1867
Duty on sugar used in brewing raised to 3s 6d per cwt.

12th April 1870
Duty on sugar used in brewing raised to 7s 6d per cwt.

8th May 1873
Duty on sugar used in brewing raised to 9s 6d per cwt.

30th April 1874
Duty on sugar used in brewing raised to 11s 6d per cwt.

30th September 1880
Duty on sugar used in brewing repealed.
Source: "Report and minutes of evidence Departmental Committee on Beer Materials, 1899, page 382.

In 1830, when the taxation on beer was purely on malt and hops, restrictions came in on having unmalted grains in a brewery. As their use would be dodging tax.

Let's Brew - 1914 Cairnes Bitter Ale

The replacement for E.I. Ale has the much more understandable brewhouse name of B. Ale. Which I’m pretty sure stands for Bitter Ale.

And an Ordinary Bitter is what it looks like. Something along the lines of Barclay Perkins XLK. The difference being that Cairnes brewed a lot less o their beer. Both in absolute terms and as a percentage of all the beer they brewed.

The main difference with E.I. Ale, other than a 5º, drop in gravity, is the appearance of an adjunct in the grist. Namely, flaked something, which I’ve guessed at being maize. There’s an equally vague type of sugar. Which I’ve conservatively guessed at being No. 2 invert.

Guess what the hops are? Yes, exactly the same as all the other beers: half Oregon, half English, both from the 1912 season.  

1914 Cairnes Bitter Ale
pale malt	6.75 lb	67.50%
flaked maize	1.25 lb	12.50%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.00 lb	20.00%
Cluster 120 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1050
FG	1013
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	74.00%
IBU	64
SRM	9
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

Dry-hopping

It's amusing that some modern drinkers believe that dry-hopping is one of craft beer's innovations. When, in fact, it's been practised or centuries.

Let's take a look at how the process worked in the late 19th century.

"It is usual to dry-hop the casks before filling, this preventing much frothing that would otherwise occur, although it necessitates a second topping over of beer, the dry hops absorbing a great deal of moisture. A certain amount of care is necessary in selecting hops for this purpose; they should be large, well matured, free from leaf, rich in condition, and of undoubted soundness, the twigs exhibiting the absence of mould, even when they are steeped in water, and the water examined microscopically."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, page 227.

Obviously, you wouldn't use mouldy old hops or the purpose. That would just be asking for trouble.

Though it seems that not all brewers were keen on using whole hops, worrying about the clarity of their beer. Instead, they used lupulin.

"Some brewers object to the use of hops, saying that if beer becomes brisk, annoyance is experienced by the publican on account of minute fragments of flower or leaf floating about in the otherwise decently bright beer; but my own impression is, that if we investigate the exact composition of the so-called particles of hops, we shall find that instead of being so, the particles consist of conglomerated yeast cells. If brewers do experience such difficulty, it is quite easy to use a small quantity of lupulin for the purpose of hopping down, which they can procure for themselves by gently rubbing down the flower of hops upon a fine sieve."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, pages 227-228.

Dr hops could produce cloudiness. Orr even turn a beer grey.

"Some little care is necessary in order to prevent cloudiness of beer through the over-use of new hops in cask, such variety yielding a very oleaginous extract for which no proper solvent exists in beer until ethereal products result from slow fermentation in cask.

I dare say most of my readers have noticed the peculiar grey shade that hangs upon heavily hopped pale beers during preliminary stages of storage, this seeming to be due to a larger quantity of oil existing than can be held in perfect solution by the small proportion of solid extract existing after fermentation; and this fact shows us that in spite of the strongly-marked antiseptic and protective agency of lupulin, or the condition of the hop-flower, in spite of the aid of hop-tannin, at the time of artificial fining it is undoubtedly a great mistake to over-hop running beers that are expected to be perfectly brilliant soon after being placed in the cellar of the publican; while it is just as necessary to heavily hop down stock and export beers that have to keep for prolonged periods of time."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, page 228.

What a surprise. Running beers didn't need many dry hops. While beers to be stored a long time before sale needed loads.

Finally, some recommended dry-hopping rates:

"The quantity of hops usually employed for dry-hopping amounts to some 0.25lb. per barrel for beers of 20 to 22 grav.[1056-1061°], 0.5lb. from 22 to 26 [1061-1072°] , 0.75lb. to 1lb. for heavy beers ranking upwards from 27 [1072°]."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, pages 228-229. 

Wasn't that fun? Not really, I suppose. At least for anyone other than me.

Rolling (but not rocking)

I'm not totally sure if, in this next section, Faulkner was referring to Running or Stock Beer. But it does talk about how to keep beer fully carbonated during storage.

Even a Running Bitter was likely to have at least two to four weeks conditioning in the brewery. During which time you'd want the beer to fully carbonate itself. Because which pub would want flat beer? (And for my more craftily-orientated readers, cask beer is not "flat", just with a sensible level of carbonation that won't leave you as bloated as a pregnant warthog after a pint and a half.)

On the other hand, you wouldn't want your cask getting overpressurised. And that's where venting comes in.

"For this reason, if beer be left quiescent and unaerated by “rolling," at a proper storage temperature — which in England, as I have said, is somewhere about 58° — the second fermentation is easily controlled or regulated by venting; and this is much more readily accomplished by the tight peg, eased as required, than by porous pegs, which are supposed to act automatically.

Briefly described, the venting process allows of carbonic acid escaping, when in excess, without any chance of aeration by exposure, and on this principle we have a ready means of preventing flatness of beer during the colder months of the year, since if nonaeration tend to retard cask fermentation, it is evident that motion facilitating mixture of air with beer must encourage it."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, page 254.

He's talking about hard and soft spiles. The former being a solid piece of wood which completely seals the shive hole. Whereas the latter is a porous piece o wood which allows gas to escape (or enter) the cask without any human intervention.

Secondary fermentation in the cask could be a problem if the temperature was too low. And this is where rolling came in.

"Brewers frequently experience the following kind of annoyance when the normal temperature of the atmosphere tends to prevent early cask condition ; their beer racked of necessity fairly clean is immediately stacked, and, the temperature being low, no fermentation results, since the suspended yeast rapidly settles to the bottom of the cask, and remains dormant there on account of the lowness of store temperature.

Now, if we oppose this restrictive influence by the combined agency of motion and resulting aeration, we shall not only prevent the subsidence of yeast, but also bring it into vigorous vital condition, all this being easily done by a daily rolling of the beer for some little time after racking."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, page 254.

Agitating the casks by rolling certainly is likely to liven the yeast up and get it eating again. Though rolling around all the casks in storage once a day is quite a lot of manual effort. Especially if there are hundreds of casks.

I've only come across one case of cask rolling. And I'm not even 100% sure that's really true. I heard that when Courage Russian Stout was being brewed in Tadcaster that it was filled into casks for secondaty fermentation. And every so often they'd kick the casks around the brewery yard to keep the fermentation going.