Analysing Cairnes brewing records

The Cairnes records are ones where I'm glad that I have a long set. Both in terms of records spanning a long period and lots of photos for each year.

An unusual feature of the records is that there are pre-printed headers for specific ingredients. Which was probably really handy when the records were first used. Only problem is, that they had multiple books printed up and, due to the horizontal format, each book lasted for many years. Sometimes more than ten years. And, inevitably, the ingredients used changed over time. Making some of the header irrelevant. With the columns used for different ingredients.

Now, sometimes, the printed header was crossed out and the correct ingredient pencilled in. But only occasionally. Which is why it's handy to have lots of photos. Worst is the column headed "Pat. Malt". It's still there on the forms in the 1940s: several decades after they switched to roast barley.

There's only really one way to tell which ingredients were being used. That's by looking at the monthly totals. Which indicate how much of each ingredient was used in the previous month and the year to date. That's the way I know Cairnes were definitely using roast barley and not patent malt.

Also pre-printed are the headings for the type of beer. Which also ended up being incorrect through time. And where, again, they would sometimes (but not always) cross out a beer type and scribble in another.

"X" crossed out and "2d" pencilled in.

It's so much fun.