What is parti-gyling?

I explain parti-gyling. Real parti-gyling, as performed by traditional UK breweries. And, no, it doesn't mean using each running to make a different beer.

 

Back from my holidays

I recently returned from a trip to Bangkok and Saigon. I would write the trip up. Except that it wasn't really a beery trip. And it was with Mikey.

Just so you aren't disappointed, I am going to post pictures of my breakfasts. As I know you always look forward to those. Quite a diverse set of breakfasts compared to those on my South American trips. 

I would also post photos of all the beers I drank. Except there weren't that many of them And most of them were crap. Just boring, industrial Pale Lager. I mostly drank cocktails. Why? Because I'm a decadent bastard.

Anyway, here are the breakfasts. In chronological order.

 

 

 

Long service at Youngs

Nowadays, people flit around jobs, moving every few years. When I was younger, I can remember workers clocking up fifty years’ service. But raising the school-leaving age to 16 and compulsory retirement at 65 mostly put an end to that. Along with the destruction of Britain’s manufacturing industry in the 1970s and 1980s. (Thank you Mrs. Thatcher for that.)

This is even more impressive. Mr. Cornish managed 60 years at Youngs. And undoubtedly more, as he wasn’t retiring, even after such long service. Though that might have been because he couldn’t afford to. Pensions weren’t great back in the 1930s.

SIXTY YEARS IN-A BREWERY.
Fine Record at Wandsworth
Sixty tiny candles, all green, were lighted on the top of a huge cake in the coopers' shop of the Ram Brewery, Wandsworth, yesterday afternoon. Merrily they blazed, showing up the chocolate icing and the green ornaments, and the model of a shire horse. Chocolate and green are the Ram Brewery colours. It was whispered yesterday, though not as an established fact, that years ago they were the proprietor's racing colours. Mr. John Cornish could, perhaps, have said something about that. It was in honour of Mr. Cornish that the cake was made and the candles were lighted. He has been with the firm 60 years, though nobody would think it to look at him. A lot of fine, hale, young fellows were assembled yesterday afternoon, but scarcely any of them had a keener eye or a firmer expression than Mr. John Cornish, for all his 76 years. Whoever has seen and admired the great horses that draw the drays from Wandsworth Brewery has seen evidence of Mr Cornish's ability and good service. He is the foreman horsekeeper, and apparently he is likely to discharge that office for many a year to come. Sixty years is a long time for a man to be in one job. Mr. Cornish holds the record at the brewery; and the brewery is proud of it and of him.

The presentation of the cake and of a silver bowl for flowers - Mr. Cornish loves flowers - was made to him yesterday afternoon by Mr. Daniels, the bead brewer. Mr. Cornish was called on to cut the cake. He would rather, we believe, have tackled a horse, for he is

A VERY MODEST MAN, 
and the cake, being solid, required heavy pressure on the big knife. There appeared to be some hesitation on his part in entering the building in which the ceremony took place, but two sturdy chaps, mere boys as it were, took him one by each arm and marched him to a seat at the chairman's table. Loud was the handclapping from the onlookers, typical brewery men, strong, determined, and more than a little disposed to be cynical with regard to the critics and detractors of their calling.

Sixty years ago, when John Cornish took service at Young's Brewery, Wandsworth was smaller than it is now. Mechanical traffic, however, had scarcely been thought of; therefore there was no lack of horses to be attended to, horses that then were the pride of the district. There were, as the company learned yesterday, “right handed horses and left handed horses " — horses that would go only towards the “Ram” and others whose house of call was the “Bull". At some houses, probably, they disdained to pause at all, for in those days "home-brew'd beer“ and "well air'd beds" still lingered.

In honour of Mr. Cornish, the room yesterday was plentifully beflagged and the slogan “Beer is best," was prominently displayed. More than that, beer was served and that not in any niggard fashion, but was poured from big copper cans. There did not appear to be any teetotallers present, though the company were so stalwart and so healthy. Several of the draymen made up their minds to beat the record of Mr. John Cornish, whose health they heartily drank.
 

A LIFE-SAVER
A brave man as well as a strong man he is, for it was told how during one bitter winter be saved a colleague who had fallen through the ice of the frozen Wandle. He still looks after 28 horses.

The flower bowl was inscribed "1875-1935. Presented to John Cornish by his fellow workmen at the Ram Brewery." Mr. Cornish had previously been presented with a cheque from his firm.

Among those present were Mr. W. Gooding, the foreman of the bottling stores, who has been with the firm since 1905; Mr. C. F. Hayes, a former clerk in the Arm. with 42 years' service: Mr. G. N. Parsons (second brewer), and Miss V. Cornish, Mr. Cornish's daughter.

Mr. Daniels called upon Mr. Hayes, who, he said, was almost as young as Mr. Cornish — (laughter) — to say a few words.

Mr. Hayes said he was Mr. Cornish's oldest friend, although, perhaps, some of them might have known Mr. Cornish longer than him. “I have been 60 years in the brewery trade." Mr. Hayes continued. “18 years at Croydon and 42 years here. Mr. Cornish and I both went into the liquor trade at the same time. Almost

77 YEARS AGO
we both went in for mother's milk (Laughter.) We grew up to grow whiskers and when the beaver crisis came along and the young men shaved their faces until they looked like a lot of babies, Mr. Cornish and I remained true to type." Mr. Hayes recalled an incident that happened many years ago, when the Cut was frozen. While they were all sliding on the ice it cracked and everybody rushed off except Cock Wingrove, who fell through, and Mr. Cornish. who stayed to try and save him. He (Mr. Hayes) fetched a plank. Mr. Cornish crawled along it and pulled Wingrove to safety. That showed that Mr. Cornish was a man, and a white man.

HIS WONDERFUL RECORD.
Mr. Daniels, on behalf of Mr. Cornish's colleagues, then presented him with the flower bowl as a small mark of their esteem and appreciation, and what they thought of his wonderful record. He hoped Mr. Cornish would live for a long time.

"I didn't think I should have this to say 60 years ago." said Mr. Cornish, after his health had been drunk. "You have all behaved very kindly to me as fellow workmen. I must thank you for all you have done for me to-day. I can't say much about it. You all know me. I have done my best for everybody and they have done their best for me."

Mr. Parsons thanked Mr. Daniela for making the presentation, and also thanked Mr. Hayes. He added that they were also very pleased to see Miss Cornish.
South Western Star - Friday 15 February 1935, page 10.

At more go-ahead breweries, Mr. Cornish might well have been out of a job by 1935, as lorries replaced horse-drawn drays. Youngs were particularly old-fashioned in this respect, still using horses right up until the brewery closed in 2006.

Though, given the brewery’s location and the close proximity of most of their tied houses, using horses did make some economic sense. Horses not burning fuel when stuck in traffic. Something which wasn’t unusual in London.
 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Youngs PA

Moving on up to draught Bitter, it’s a little bit stronger than in 1932, when the OG was a little lower at 1046º. Hooray!

What I find fascinating, is that it’s a very similar strength to post-war Special Bitter. That tells me something. Special was an attempt to reintroduce pre-war Bitter. A very laudable aim, if you ask me. But not unique to Youngs. Several other London brewers did something similar. For example, Fullers and Watneys. 

A decent strength beer, then. About the same as a continental Pilsner. Which is what all the hip young things were drinking in Europe. Whereas most of Youngs drinkers were slurping down Mild.

Want to know something about the recipe? Refer to the PAB above. With which this was parti-gyled. Youngs were dead into parti-gyling at this point. Single-gyle brews were pretty rare. Limited to just X Ale and PA. 

1939 Youngs PA
pale malt	8.50 lb	85.00%
malt extract	0.25 lb	2.50%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.25 lb	12.50%
Fuggles 120 min	1.125 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.125 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.125 oz
OG	1048
FG	1011.5
ABV	4.83
Apparent attenuation	76.04%
IBU	42
SRM	6
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

What is Scottish Pale Ale?

A tricky question, that one. Which I hops is answered in this short video.

 

Mashing scheme of X/MS 6th July 1960

Just about done with Youngs beers in 1960. We conclude with the mashing scheme. Always one of my favourites. 

It’s a rather typical London scheme, featuring an initial infusion, followed by an underlet. The process concluding with a couple of sparges. Nothing at all unusual about that. It’s much the same as you’d find at other breweries in the capital

A further 80 barrels of liquor were added to the first copper before the boil. Giving a total pre-boil volume of 350 barrels. The post-boil volume was 267 barrels. The first copper had an extended boil of three hours to hit the required gravity of 1041º for MS.

Mashing scheme of X/MS 6th July 1960
action	barrels	strike heat	tap heat
mash	64	157º F	145º F
underlet	10	165º F
sparge 1	26	170º F	149º F
sparge 2	160	155º F	153º F
liquor	10
total	270
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

AK Light Bitter

Due to public demand - well, one person requested it - here's a short discussion of AK. One of my many beery obsessions.

 

Canada here we come

I've just booked the summer trip with the kids. As you may have guessed from the title, we're headed to Canada. 

The main purpose is a family holiday for me and the lads. But I will be up for any money-making possibilities. Such as giving talks, brewing collaboration beers. Anything beer-related, really.

This may be your last chance to hear me talk in Canada. I'll be 70 later this year. Who knows how long my health will hold out. Intercontinental trips are becoming more tiring as I age. I won't continue with that shit forever. 

We'll be visiting four cities: 

Toronto         Wed 15th July to Sat 18th July
Ottawa           Sun 19th July to Mon 20th July
Montreal        Tue 21st July to Fri 24th July
Quebec City   Sat 25th July to Mon 27th July

Just get in touch if you'd like to stage an event with me. My rates are very reasonable, considering my age, experience and likelihood of dropping dead.

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1960/1961

That’s ingredients dome. Processes next. The excitement!

Boiling is pretty easy.  Two hours. In just about every case. And on average. What else can I say? It’s all pretty boring. Let’s see if fermentation temperatures are any more exciting.

Most beers were pitched a bit under 60º F. Other than the Milds, which were started a bit warmer.

The length of fermentation is pretty dull, too. Eight days. In all but a couple of cases. Which does seem quite long, given the temperatures and gravities involved.

Dropping was mostly for lower gravity beers. Like X Ale and PA> It also happened pretty quickly. Around 24 hours into the fermentation.

You know what we can do now? Look at a full fermentation record. Always such a treat. When I can be arsed to transcribe them.

Luckily, I am in an arsing sort of mood.

From pitching to racking was 158 hours. Though the bulk of the attenuation was achieved in the first 48 hours. And for the last four days it basically just sat in the fermenter cooling down.

In this batch of X Ale, three fermenters were employed and only one of them was dropped. I’ve no idea why that was. This fermenter was dropped, after 24 hours. When approximately a third of the eventual attenuation had occurred.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t record when the attemperators were switched on. But, judging the temperature of the wort, it seems to have happened sometime after the 40-hour mark.

There wasn’t a huge rise in temperature during the fermentation. Just 7.75º F. With most of the fermentation occurring at around 67º F.

I assume that the skimming after 48 hours was to obtain healthy yeast for later pitching in another beer.
 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1960/1961
Year	Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)	dropped?
1961	X	Mild	2	2	60.5º F	68.5º F	8	25 hours
1960	XS	Mild	1.75	1.75	60º F	67.5º F	8	no
1960	PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	71º F	8	no
1960	PA	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	69.25º F	8	22 hours
1960	SPA	Pale Ale	2.25	2	58º F	71.5º F	9	no
1960	QSPA	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	71º F	8	no
1961	Ex PA	Pale Ale	2	2	58.5º F	68.25º F	8	no
1961	MS	Stout	2	2	58.5º F	69.5º F	6	no
1961	XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	58.5º F	69.75º F	8	no
1960	XXXX	Strong Ale	2	1.75	58º F	70.75º F	8	no
1961	CA	Barley Wine	2	2	58.5º F	66.5º F	8	no
		Average	2.00	1.95	58.9º F	69.4º F	7.91
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

Youngs X fermentation 4th July 1960
hours	FV	heat	gravity	action
0	4	60º F	1030.5	pitched
14		62.5º F	1026.6
19		62.75º F	1000.0
24		63.25º F	1022.7	dropped
38	7	66.5º F	1012.7
43		67º F	1009.4
46				RS
48		67.75º F	1006.6	Skim PY
62		67.75º F	1005.5	Skim PY
67		67.5º F	1005.5
158		58º F	1005.5	racked
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

 

 

Let's Brew - 1939 Youngs PAB

I’m really glad that the gravity of PAB increased by 3º between 1932 and 1939. Because otherwise the two recipes would have been near identical.

On the other hand, the hopping rate had declined from 10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to 8 lbs. A fall which is reflected in the bitterness level of the finished beer.

The base malt is still divided into three types: pale malt, pale ale malt and enzymic malt. The quantity of the last being pretty small. Other than that, there’s just a little bit of malt extract and some No. 1 invert sugar.

There were two type of Worcester hops, both harvested in 1938, one of which had been cold stored.  

1939 Youngs PAB
pale malt	7.00 lb	84.85%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.03%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.00 lb	12.12%
Fuggles 120 min	0.875 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.875 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.875 oz
OG	1039
FG	1011
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	71.79%
IBU	35
SRM	5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Scottish Shilling Ales

Back from my hols, so time to make some more short videos. This time, I discuss Scottish Shilling Ales, the indigenous style of Scotland.

 

Youngs hops in 1960/1961

The last of the ingredients: hops. Lots of English hops. Nothing but English hops, in fact. Which makes things a little boring.

Sadly, the brewing record contains very few details regarding the hops. Nothing, other than the grower’s name and, now and then, the year they were harvested. Not brilliant.

I could start guessing where they might have come from. Saying that the proximity of Kent probably meant that was the main source. However, London was also where all the hops from all over the country were stored and traded. Leaving hops from anywhere in the UK easily accessible. Even ones from overseas, too.
Most beers contain two types of hops. Only Export PA and Celebration Ale have three. The two beers that used the largest quantities of hops.

All the beers seem to have used the same hops: Hulme (1958) and Duckett (1959). Though the harvest year isn’t always given. At least, that’s true for 1960. In 1961, the hops were from Cotton and Highwood. For all beers.

Youngs hops in 1960/1961
Year	Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
1961	X	Mild	English	English
1960	XS	Mild	English 1958	English 1959
1960	PAB	Pale Ale	English 1958	English 1959
1960	PA	Pale Ale	English 1958	English 1959
1960	SPA	Pale Ale	English 1958	English 1959
1960	QSPA	Pale Ale	English 1958	English 1959
1961	Ex PA	Pale Ale	English	English	English
1961	MS	Stout	English	English
1961	XXX	Strong Ale	English	English
1960	XXXX	Strong Ale	English 1958	English 1959
1961	CA	Barley Wine	English	English	English
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

Youngs sugars in 1960/1961

Sugar time. Always fun.

Including malt extract, there are five types of sugar.

Malt extract is the only one to appear in every beer. It’s also the only one which wasn’t added in the copper. Instead, it went into the mash tun. As it was diastatic malt extract, used to aid conversion of the mash.

Every beer contains an invert sugar. Just not necessarily the same one. With the Pale Ales going for No. 1 invert and all the other beers – the dark ones – opting for No. 3. Which makes a lot of sense.

Oddly, the only beers containing caramel are most of the Pale Ales. Admittedly, the quantities are tiny. Presumably just for colour correction.

That leaves just CDM. Or Caramelized-Dextro-Maltose, to give it its full name. It’s a type of caramelised, poorly-fermentable sugar used to add colour and body to a beer. It turns up in just two beers, XS and XXXX. Though, as both of these were parti-gyled with X, it must appear in some versions of that, too. 

Youngs sugars in 1960/1961
Year	Beer	Style	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	CDM	caramel	total sugar
1961	X	Mild	3.03%		6.06%			9.09%
1960	XS	Mild	2.83%		4.71%	2.02%		9.56%
1960	PAB	Pale Ale	2.72%	5.44%			0.03%	8.19%
1960	PA	Pale Ale	2.72%	5.44%			0.03%	8.19%
1960	SPA	Pale Ale	2.35%	4.70%			0.02%	7.08%
1960	QSPA	Pale Ale	2.56%	5.13%			0.01%	7.70%
1961	Ex PA	Pale Ale	2.33%	9.30%				11.63%
1961	MS	Stout	3.03%		6.06%			9.09%
1961	XXX	Strong Ale	3.03%		6.06%			9.09%
1960	XXXX	Strong Ale	2.85%		4.75%	1.19%		8.79%
1961	CA	Barley Wine	3.49%		5.81%			9.30%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Youngs X Ale

Youngs strongest Mild, X Ale, was fairly weak, by London standards. Just 1035º and 3.7% ABV. Where some brewers had versions over 4% ABV. Barclay Perkins, for example.

I’m being lazy again, taking the X Ale that was parti-gyled with the Ale above. Saves time writing the recipe. While also given you a realistic view of the relationships between the beers in a parti-gyle. At least, that’s my excuse.

It’s not all that dark. Though Mild did come in a variety of shades in London in the 1930s. All of Barclay Perkins Milds came in semi-dark and dark versions. As brewed, they were semi-dark. The dark versions were created by adding caramel at racking time.

Youngs brewed bucketloads of this beer. Mild was still very popular in London. 

1939 Youngs X Ale
pale malt	1.50 lb	19.82%
mild malt	4.75 lb	62.75%
crystal malt 120 L	0.50 lb	6.61%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.30%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	6.61%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.07 lb	0.92%
Fuggles 105 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1035
FG	1007
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	80.00%
IBU	25
SRM	14.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Youngs grists in 1960/1961

Time to move on to the ingredients. Starting with what went into the mash tun: malts and adjuncts.

Quite a few malts again. Five in total, mostly base malts. So let’s begin with those.

All of the Pale Ales use PA malt as their base. Which makes sense. PA malt being the highest quality pale malt, specifically designed for use in Pale Ales.

On the other hand, the Mild Ales and all the strong beers have mostly mild malt as their base. Though sometimes this was in conjunction with standard pale malt. Mild malt was generally of a slightly lower quality than standard pale malt and killed a little darker. It was also a little cheaper.

The same set of beers – minus Celebration Ale – are also the ones containing crystal malt. Around 9% of the total. Which is a reasonably large amount.

Only one malt appears in every beer: enzymic malt. Which, rather than containing lots of enzymes, was acidified and was used to lower the pH of the mash. It was extremely popular in the 1950s and 1960s, used by dozens of breweries.

All the beers contain between 75% and 80% malt. That’s slightly below the national average, which was 80%. With adjuncts at 5% and sugar at 15%. 

Moving onto the last column, you can see that the proportion of adjuncts is much higher than the national average, in most cases, running at around 14%. That’s almost treble the average. A shitlaod. And in every single beer. 

Youngs grists in 1960/1961
Year	Beer	Style	pale malt	PA malt	mild malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt	flaked maize
1961	X	Mild	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1960	XS	Mild			63.59%	8.48%	4.24%	76.31%	14.13%
1960	PAB	Pale Ale		72.43%			5.10%	77.53%	14.28%
1960	PA	Pale Ale		72.43%			5.10%	77.53%	14.28%
1960	SPA	Pale Ale		76.74%			4.41%	81.15%	11.77%
1960	QSPA	Pale Ale		74.35%			5.13%	79.48%	12.82%
1961	Ex PA	Pale Ale		74.42%			4.65%	79.07%	9.30%
1961	MS	Stout	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1961	XXX	Strong Ale	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1960	XXXX	Strong Ale			64.13%	8.55%	4.28%	76.96%	14.25%
1961	CA	Barley Wine	22.67%		45.35%		5.23%	73.26%	17.44%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.