Youngs X Ale boiling and fermentation 1939 - 1945

Finally, we come to processes. They’re always fun.

Both coppers were boiled for 1.75 hours at the beginning of the war. You might find it odd that some of the brews in 1941, 1942 and 1943 were boiled for two hours. That’s because these were parti-gyles which included XXX.

A change came in 1944, when the time was reduced to one and a half hours. Where it was to remain for decades. I assume the reduction was to save fuel. It’s something which happened at most breweries.

As with PA, there was a reduction in the pitch temperature right at the start of the war. Dropping from 60º F to 58º F. Where it remained for the duration. Nothing much to say about that. Other than to wonder what the reason for the reduction was.

There’s much more inconsistency in the maximum fermentation temperature, ranging from 63.25º F to 67.25º F. Pretty randomly. Mostly it’s around 65º F to 66º F. Which is fairly cool. 68º F to 70º F was more typical.

The length of fermentation is much the same as for PA. Namely, seven or eight days. Though some are a little shorter at five, six or even four days.

Just for fun, I’ve included the dropping time. Which was between one and a half and two days. Which is the same as for PA, pretty much. For some context, at Fullers they usually dropped within 24 hours. 

Youngs X Ale boiling and fermentation 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)	dropped after (hours)
18th Oct	1939	1.75	1.75	60º F	68º F	8
17th May	1940			58º F	63.25º F	5
2nd Dec	1940	1.75	1.75	58º F	65.25º F	8
30th Apr	1941	2	2	59º F	66º F	7
6th May	1941	2	2	58º F	65.5º F	8	37
24th Oct	1941	1.75	1.75	58º F	65.5º F	7	38
4th May	1942	1.75	1.75	58º F	64.75º F	7	37
8th Jul	1942	2	2	58º F	65.5º F	6	41
19th Oct	1942	2	2	58º F	65º F	8	41
5th May	1943	2	2	58º F	64º F	7	36
28th Apr	1944	1.5	1.5	58º F	65º F	5	40
5th May	1944	1.5	1.5	58º F	63.5º F	6	37.5
20th Oct	1944	1.5	1.5	58º F	66º F	7	41
2nd Jul	1945	1.5	1.5	58º F	66.75º F	5	37.75
4th Jul	1945	1.5	1.5	58º F	67.25º F	4	46
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.