In a way, it is totally typical of what went on in the war. Because the drop in gravity - just 5º over the whole period - is quite a bit less than usual. Though the gravity did fall lower: to 1039.7º in 1942. But, rather oddly, increased again early in 1943 to 1042.5º. And stayed at that level for the remainder of the war.
To make changes easier to spot, I’ve highlighted them in red
There are relatively few changes in gravity. But loads in the hopping rate. Which kicked off the war at 8 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Dropping to 7 lbs in May 1940, then just over 5 lbs in May 1941 and 4.75 lbs in July of the same year. That’s quite a fall.
Though the rate did quickly bounce back to 5 lbs per quarter. Over the next couple of years the rate varied between 4.5 lbs and 6 lbs per quarter. Which I think is a reflection of variations in the supply of hops.
| Youngs PA 1939 - 1945 | |||||||
| Date | Year | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl |
| 27th Jul | 1939 | 1047.6 | 1013.3 | 4.54 | 72.09% | 7.98 | 1.50 |
| 22nd May | 1940 | 1047.0 | 1013.3 | 4.46 | 71.71% | 7.00 | 1.29 |
| 1st May | 1941 | 1043.0 | 1010.5 | 4.30 | 75.52% | 5.14 | 0.83 |
| 3rd Jul | 1941 | 1043.0 | 1008.3 | 4.59 | 80.67% | 4.79 | 0.80 |
| 8th Jul | 1941 | 1043.0 | 1010.0 | 4.37 | 76.81% | 5.04 | 0.85 |
| 23rd Oct | 1941 | 1042.4 | 1013.9 | 3.78 | 67.33% | 5.09 | 0.85 |
| 7th May | 1942 | 1040.0 | 1010.5 | 3.90 | 73.69% | 4.48 | 0.72 |
| 9th Jul | 1942 | 1039.7 | 1012.2 | 3.64 | 69.30% | 5.46 | 0.87 |
| 20th Oct | 1942 | 1039.9 | 1011.1 | 3.81 | 72.23% | 4.52 | 0.73 |
| 30th Apr | 1943 | 1042.5 | 1014.4 | 3.72 | 66.11% | 4.89 | 0.82 |
| 20th Jul | 1943 | 1042.3 | 1011.1 | 4.13 | 73.81% | 5.46 | 0.95 |
| 1st May | 1944 | 1042.5 | 1011.1 | 4.16 | 73.93% | 5.56 | 0.93 |
| 8th May | 1944 | 1042.7 | 1011.1 | 4.18 | 74.05% | 6.00 | 0.99 |
| 19th Oct | 1944 | 1042.8 | 1011.1 | 4.20 | 74.11% | 5.46 | 0.93 |
| 8th May | 1945 | 1042.8 | 1008.9 | 4.49 | 79.29% | 5.41 | 0.94 |
| 3rd Jul | 1945 | 1042.5 | 1011.1 | 4.16 | 73.93% | 4.85 | 0.87 |
| 12th Jul | 1945 | 1042.8 | 1011.1 | 4.20 | 74.11% | 4.94 | 0.86 |
| Sources: | |||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/8 YO/RE/1/9 YO/RE/1/10, YO/RE/1/11, YO/RE/1/12, YO/RE/1/13 and YO/RE/1/14. | |||||||
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4 comments:
Interesting that the apparent attenuation fluctuated so much. Was that deliberate, or just typical batch-to-batch variation?
While brewers could easily get the starting gravity rge same every time, the FG was trickier. A lot of factors were in play, including the size and shape of the fermenter.
In the 1990s, there was quite a bit of variation in the IBU value of the same batch from different fermenters.
It would be interesting to know what the public thought of these changes. In the US, there was a similar drop in gravity and hopping rate during and immediately after the war.
When the breweries went back to making full strength beer, a lot of that beer went unsold. The public liked the watery stuff better.
During the war, people were just happy to get any beer at all. Even though beer wasn't technically rationed, the government did limit how much was brewed and pubs could run out.
There were restrictions on brewing for several years after the end of the war. When these were lifted, beer didn't return to its pre-war strength.
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