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Thursday, 29 August 2024

Cairnes Single Stout sugars 1914 - 1923

Moving on to the sugars, this is where Fullers and Cairnes really diverge. At the start of the war, Cairnes Single Stout had a little under 9% sugar, in the form of glucose. In 1916, that disappears in 1916, and for the rest of the war there’s no sugar at all. Sugar does reappear in 1920, but only in the form of caramel.

Things at Fullers were way, way more complicated. Over the war years, they employed seven different types of sugar. Though in any single brew there were never more than three.

The most popular sugars were glucose and something called Special Dark. I’m guessing that the latter was some sort of dark invert sugar. The quantity used was pretty high at the start and the end of the period covered by the table. I assume restrictions on the supply of sugar was responsible for the drastic reduction in the quantity during the war years.

At Fullers, the proportion of sugar in the grist was far higher than at Cairnes. Starting at over 25%. Even in the most difficult later war years, the amount never fell lower than 6.5%. And for most of the time was well over 10%.

Fullers also used way more caramel, varying between 3% and 7.5%. While at Cairnes it went from zero to a maximum of 2%.

While at Cairnes, even at the start of the war, sugar was less than 10% of the grist. From 1916 on, that was reduced to zero. And, other than caramel, no sugar was used after WW I. 

Cairnes Single Stout grists 1914 - 1923
Date Year pale malt roast barley flaked maize glucose caramel
1st Jan 1914 74.45% 6.50% 9.93% 8.82% 0.30%
1st Sep 1914 70.03% 7.74% 13.34% 8.89%  
7th Jan 1915 71.37% 7.22% 12.69% 8.72%  
2nd Oct 1916 79.62% 7.11% 13.27%    
3rd May 1917 79.62% 7.11% 13.27%    
7th Jun 1917 87.83% 6.84% 5.32%    
1st Nov 1917 87.83% 6.84% 5.32%    
3rd Jan 1918 86.70% 6.88% 6.42%    
2nd May 1918 91.17% 6.74% 2.10%    
3rd Oct 1918 93.33% 6.67%      
3rd Feb 1919 93.33% 6.67%      
2nd Oct 1919 85.42% 7.46% 7.12%    
1st Jan 1920 89.05% 7.66% 3.30%    
15th Apr 1920 87.33% 7.37% 5.29%    
4th Oct 1920 81.76% 8.54% 9.28%   0.41%
3rd Oct 1921 95.33% 3.91%     0.76%
2nd Feb 1922 76.04% 10.18% 12.64%   1.13%
1st Jan 1923 89.36% 8.51%     2.13%
Sources:
Cairnes brewing records held at the Guinness archives, document numbers GDB/SUB/0022 and GDB/BR17/1257.

Fullers Porter sugars 1914 - 1925
Date Year glucose invert Special Dark cane sugar Dark Trivert Porteris caramel total sugar
18th Nov 1914 11.34%   12.60%       3.30% 27.25%
17th Feb 1915 3.83%       9.56%   2.91% 16.30%
2nd Jun 1916           15.84% 6.15% 21.99%
4th Aug 1916     4.90%       3.85% 8.75%
12th Apr 1917 3.44%   6.89%       3.59% 13.92%
9th Aug 1917     1.25% 1.25%     3.92% 6.42%
5th Jan 1918     2.35% 2.35%     3.69% 8.39%
19th Apr 1918 8.59%   4.30% 8.59%     4.42% 25.90%
14th Jan 1919 5.69% 5.69%         7.57% 18.94%
10th Feb 1920       6.92%     4.89% 11.81%
16th Jun 1925     13.50%       4.80% 18.31%
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.


3 comments:

  1. Cairnes seems quite simple for home brewers.
    Oscar

    ReplyDelete
  2. Was Fullers using the standard caramel coloring or something else? I thought the standard coloring was potent enough that there wouldn't be a point to adding more than a small percentage.

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  3. The quantities of caramel used in the Fuller's porters suggest that it was used for aromatic properties rather than colouring.

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