Youngs sugars in 1990-1991

The most common type is No. 3 invert. Appearing in six of the ten beers. Rather surprisingly, one of those six is John Young’s London Lager (JYLL). Which seems an odd candidate for a dark sugar.

No. 3 invert also turns up in all of the Pale Ales. Though in relatively small quantities: around 4%. What was its purpose? To add colour, I suppose. Possibly also for flavour.

Youngs’ Special Mix, he second type of sugar turns up in all the dark beers: Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Winter Warmer and Old Nick. What was this sugar? This is how an internal Youngs document described it:

“YSM was a blend of glucose syrup, cane molasses and caramel. The actual percentages varied as the product specification was to achieve an extract of 303 lo/kg and a colour of 220 EBC (25mm).  The percentage of each would therefore have varied batch on batch depending on the raw materials.” 
The Young’s “Bible”, held at Sambrook's Brewery Heritage Centre, Wandsworth.

A typical composition was:

73%    glucose
25%    molasses
2%    caramel 2000 SRM

At a certain point, Youngs decided that, rather than using three different types of sugar, it was easier to buy them pre-mixed.

The quantity of YSM used in dark beers was quite high. Which made sense as it was the principal source of colour in some of the beers.

Old Nick contains far more sugar than any of the other beers. I assume that this was mostly to hit the high gravity. Also, possibly, to stop the beer getting to sweet and sticky. 

Youngs sugars in 1990-1991
Year	Beer	Style	no. 3 sugar	Youngs Special Mix	total sugar
1990	JYLL	Lager	6.11%		6.11%
1991	Premium Lager	Pilsner			0.00%
1990	Light Ale	Pale Ale	3.83%		3.83%
1990	PA	Pale Ale	4.09%		4.09%
1990	SPA	Pale Ale	3.94%		3.94%
1990	Export	Pale Ale	3.97%		3.97%
1990	Porter	Porter		8.70%	8.70%
1991	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		8.50%	8.50%
1991	Winter Warmer	Strong Ale		12.55%	12.55%
1990	Old Nick	Barley Wine	21.14%	8.13%	29.27%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/59.

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.