Youngs Pale Ale 1939 – 1945

In order to give some idea of what was going on in UK brewing during WW II, we'll take a look at a single beer, Youngs Pale Ale. And see what happened to it between 1939 and 1945.

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.

 

Young’s AA

At the rear of the wartime brewing books, there’s a table recording the wholesale price of each beer in every month of the year. Frustratingly, some of the beers don’t appear in the actual brewing records.

A couple of Stouts are easily explained away. Most likely blends of Porter and Stout. AA is rather trickier. As its gravity doesn’t match any of the beers in the records. And there’s nothing obvious it could be a blend of. Watered-down PAB, the weaker of the two Pale Ales, perhaps? There was no way to know.

As for the name, Amber Ale was my best guess. Oh, and that it was a bottled beer. In the table, draught beers are to the left, bottled ones to the right. That’s all I had. That is, bugger all.

Until today. When I was looking at the wholesale price table at the back of the 1943-1944 brewing book. Where there’s this note:

"New ratio 5.5 PAB - 4.5 A for AA." 

Now it all makes sense. It probably was called Amber Ale, given that it was a mix of Mild and Pale Ale. PAB had a gravity of 1031º +1º of primings for draught versions. While A, the weaker of the two Mild was just 1026º, again with an 1º of primings. With the AA blend 1030º.

Mix a watery Pale Ale with an even more watery Mild Ale and what do you get? A pretty watery Amber Ale. Much like mixing Light Ale and Brown Ale, really. Or a bottled version of Mild and Bitter mixed.

I wonder if anyone else made a similar beer? Just had a look in my giant table of gravities. There were a few other breweries making something called Amber Ale in the 1930s and 1940s. Mostly a bottled beer of fairly modest gravity. Though there were a few stronger ones. None from London, mind. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940

Yes, I'm still away on holiday. How selfish of me. Going away creates so much work for me. Lining up more than a dozen blog posts before I leave. Then writing the same number of travel posts when I return. It's all very time-consuming.

Boiling times are basically the same. Two hours, for most boils, for most beers. Only the watery A got a little less. And the strongest beer, XXX, got a little longer.

More surprising is that the fermentation temperatures have been reduced. The pitching temperatures are, on average, 1.5º F cooler and the maximum temperatures 4 º F. 

Despite the lower fermentation temperature, the fermentations lasted a day less. Which doesn’t make a whole deal of sense to me. The small drop in gravities wouldn’t have been enough to make that much of a difference. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	59º F	66.25º F	7
X	Mild	2	2	58º F	67.5º F	7
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	65º F	6
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	58º F	67º F	7
P	Porter	2		59º F	68.25º F	4
S	Stout	2		58º F	70.25º F	4
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	58º F	65.5º F	7
XXXX	Strong Ale	2.5	2	58º F	68.5º F	8
	Average	2.03	1.96	58.38º F	67.28º F	6.3
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs hops in 1940

As you read this, I should be on my holidays in Canada. Hence the need to bash out a whole load of posts to cover the time I'll be away. That's why there have been so many Young's posts. 

Hops now. Which are pretty much the same as in 1939. Except there are no Worcester hops. This time they’re all from Kent. Some, in the case of the Pale Ales, being the classiest from the county: East Kent. Which would be something most likely along the lines of Goldings.

The hops are about the same age as in 1939. From the most recent season of the one before. The older ones being cold stored (that’s what CS means). All the beers contain at least two types of hops and some three. 

 

Youngs hops in 1940
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
A	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
X	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
PAB	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
PA	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
P	Porter	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
S	Stout	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1940	Kent 1939 CS
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1940

There’s still just a single adjunct: flaked oats. Appearing in the Porter and Stout in small quantities. Though more than at many rival London breweries, such as Whitbread and Barclay Perkins, where it was often less than 1% of the grist.  I’m assuming the oats are an adjunct. The brewing records don’t indicate their form, simply calling them “oats”.

There’s one new type of sugar, “OM”, a proprietary sugar along the lines of CDM (Caramelised Dextro-Maltose). Used in in the Porter and Stout. 

Otherwise, everything is much the same as in 1939. Though the average percentage has decreased from 11.8% to 9.3%. Which is where the extra malt came from.

Malt extract is in most of the beers, except it’s been dropped from Porter and Stout. No. 1 invert is in the two Pale Ales. As you would expect. And No. 3 invert in all the dark beers.

Bit of a shock that there’s no caramel in the Black Beers. It does pop up in all the other dark beers, however. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1940
Beer	Style	flaked oat	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	OM	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild		3.27%		4.35%		0.95%	8.57%
X	Mild		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
PAB	Pale Ale		2.82%	8.45%				11.27%
PA	Pale Ale		2.82%	8.45%				11.27%
P	Porter	5.00%			5.00%	5.00%		10.00%
S	Stout	5.00%			5.00%	5.00%		10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
XXXX	Strong Ale		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
	Average							9.34%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

 

Youngs malts in 1940

What’s been happening on the ingredients front? Not all that much yet. What with the war still being in its early days. The big changes will come in a couple of years’ time.

On average, the percentage of malt has increased from 87% to 89.5% since 1939.  Which is interesting. With that slight increase being in the base malt. The percentages of the other malts are pretty much unchanged. 

As are the types of malt being used. Three base malts: pale, mild and pale ale. Three coloured malts: black, amber and crystal. Though two of those only appear in the Porter and Stout.  While crystal malt is in everything except the Pale Ales.

Youngs liked combining a couple of types of base malts in their beers. As with pale malt and PA malt in the Pale Ales. Or mild and pale malt in Mild Ales. Only the Black Beers and Burtons (Strong Ales) always have a single type of base malt. X Ale only when it was parti-gyled with a Burton. 

Youngs malts in 1940
Beer	Style	pale malt	mild malt	PA malt	enzymic malt	black malt	amber malt	crystal malt	total malt
A	Mild	13.06%	68.57%					9.80%	91.43%
X	Mild		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
PAB	Pale Ale	33.80%		51.76%	3.17%				88.73%
PA	Pale Ale	33.80%		51.76%	3.17%				88.73%
P	Porter		60.00%			7.50%	10.00%	7.50%	85.00%
S	Stout		60.00%			7.50%	10.00%	7.50%	85.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
XXXX	Strong Ale		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
	Average								89.41%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs beers in 1940

A year into the war, what had happened to Youngs beers? To be honest, not very much.

The situation was very dynamic, so it’s worth saying exactly when this snapshot was taken. All these beers were brewed in August 1940, except for XXXX, which is from December.

Things hadn’t yet become so bad that drastic action was required. Just a few tweaks were necessary. That wouldn’t be the case for the whole of the war. For now, there was little change to the beers being brewed. Other than the price.

For example, the cost price of a 36-gallon barrel of X Ale had risen from 49 shillings and 11d in August 1939 to 111 shillings and 9d twelve months later.  That more than doubling in price was mostly due to increases in tax.

The most obvious change is a slight reduction in gravities. Most beers lost 1º, the exceptions being A, PAB and XXXX, which were unchanged, and XXX, which fell by 2º.

It’s a similar story with hopping rates. Those for the two Black Beers and the Mild Ales are unchanged. While that of the Pale Ales has been reduced by 1 lb per quarter (336 lbs) of malt.

The rates of attenuation look somewhat higher in this set. I wouldn’t read that much into it, as final gravities varied quite a bit from brew to brew. And even across the different fermenters in a single batch. 

Youngs beers in 1940
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1029	1005.5	3.10	80.90%	6.14	0.71
X	Mild	1034	1005	3.84	85.34%	5.60	0.81
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1008.3	4.06	78.69%	7.00	1.07
PA	Pale Ale	1047	1012.7	4.53	72.89%	7.00	1.29
P	Porter	1034	1008.3	3.40	75.56%	7.00	0.99
S	Stout	1052	1016.6	4.68	68.04%	7.00	1.52
XXX	Strong Ale	1055	1017.2	5.00	68.77%	5.60	1.31
XXXX	Strong Ale	1081	1036	5.95	55.54%	6.09	2.00
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Youngs X Ale

What have two years of war done to Young’s standard Mild? 

For a start, it’s whittled off 5º of gravity. Leaving it barely over 3% ABV and not much stronger than Ale had been in 1939. There’s also been a big reduction in the hopping rate, down from 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to just 4 lbs. 

The result is a pretty weak and lightly-hopped beer. Looking very much like a post-war version of the style.

The recipe itself hasn’t change much. Other than dropping the pale malt and going to a 100% mild malt base. There’s also been in an increase in the proportion of crystal malt and a reduction in No. 3 invert. 

Just one type of hops, Sussex from the 1940 season. Which, as this beer was brewed in May, were from the most recent harvest. 

1941 Youngs X Ale
mild malt	5.50 lb	83.33%
crystal malt 120 L	0.675 lb	10.23%
malt extract	0.125 lb	1.89%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.25 lb	3.79%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.05 lb	0.76%
Fuggles 120 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1030
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.11
Apparent attenuation	78.33%
IBU	13
SRM	13.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Whitbread Porter grists 1805 - 1940

Another crazily data-heavy post. Before you ask, I tried to make it into a stacked bar chart, but Excel told me my data was too complicated.

I still think the data in table form does make some trends very visible. Like the near-constancy of brown malt. The rise of black malt and its replacement by chocolate malt. Flirts with sugar in the late 19th century before its definitive adoption in 1902.

No adjuncts. Apart from maybe tiny quantities of oats, which may have been in flaked form. Though they could also have been malted. The records don't specify the form. Their presence is purely on account of Porter being parti-gyled with Stout. Some of which was sold as Oatmeal Stout. The tiny amount of oats was simply there for legal reasons.

The ups and downs of brown malt are also very evident. From a peak of 35% to a low of, well, nothing. Or 3%, if you look at it another way.

Mild malt takes a bow towards the end of Porter's life, making up part of the base malt. I assume for financial reasons.

Whitbread Porter grists 1805 - 1940
Year	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	amber malt	choc. Malt	mild malt	white malt	oats	total sugar
1805	78.95%	21.05%
1807	66.32%	16.84%		16.84%
1808	64.76%	35.24%
1809	76.12%	23.88%
1811	72.41%	27.59%
1812	64.76%	17.62%		17.62%
1813	52.62%	25.51%		21.87%
1814	77.94%	22.06%
1815	74.28%	25.72%
1816	54.56%	26.10%		19.34%
1817	87.89%	11.82%	0.30%
1818	69.57%	8.28%	0.41%				21.74%
1819	91.39%	7.82%	0.78%
1821	94.78%	4.01%	1.20%
1822	95.78%	3.07%	1.15%
1823	75.84%	4.07%	4.07%				16.02%
1824	95.39%	3.41%	1.19%
1825	98.80%		1.20%
1826	98.63%		1.37%
1827	98.78%		1.22%
1828	98.82%		1.18%
1829	98.63%		1.37%
1830	98.27%		1.73%
1831	98.44%		1.56%
1832	88.00%	10.59%	1.41%
1833	87.06%	11.32%	1.62%
1834	87.85%	10.09%	2.06%
1835	88.45%	9.63%	1.93%
1836	76.58%	20.54%	2.88%
1837	89.49%	7.93%	2.58%
1838	85.52%	12.07%	2.41%
1839	85.52%	12.07%	2.41%
1840	85.52%	12.07%	2.41%
1841	81.10%	16.26%	2.64%
1842	81.10%	16.26%	2.64%
1843	81.10%	16.26%	2.64%
1844	80.93%	16.23%	2.84%
1845	80.93%	16.23%	2.84%
1846	76.58%	20.54%	2.88%
1847	77.40%	19.66%	2.95%
1848	76.42%	20.50%	3.08%
1849	77.02%	19.56%	3.42%
1850	76.27%	20.46%	3.27%
1851	76.27%	20.46%	3.27%
1852	76.27%	20.46%	3.27%
1853	77.02%	19.56%	3.42%
1854	75.83%	20.49%	3.69%
1855	75.83%	20.49%	3.69%
1856	76.64%	19.46%	3.89%
1857	76.64%	19.46%	3.89%
1858	76.64%	19.46%	3.89%
1859	75.83%	20.49%	3.69%
1860	75.83%	20.49%	3.69%
1861	75.83%	20.49%	3.69%
1862	76.27%	19.37%	4.36%
1863	76.27%	19.37%	4.36%
1864	75.90%	19.28%	4.82%
1865	80.63%	14.18%	5.20%
1866	81.01%	14.24%	4.75%
1867	43.42%	11.03%	6.07%						39.49%
1868	74.20%	9.42%	4.71%						11.67%
1869	72.68%	11.08%	5.54%						10.71%
1870	79.15%		6.03%						14.82%
1871	84.21%	9.87%	5.92%
1872	94.25%		5.75%
1873	88.72%		5.28%						5.99%
1874	87.20%	7.38%	5.41%
1875	75.47%	14.37%	5.75%						4.41%
1876	79.35%	15.11%	5.54%
1877	79.75%	14.47%	5.79%
1878	80.67%	13.88%	5.45%
1879	83.30%	10.69%	6.01%
1880	84.70%	9.31%	5.99%
1881	85.67%	7.96%	6.37%
1882	83.82%	9.37%	6.81%
1883	80.81%	12.79%	6.40%
1884	77.14%	14.37%	8.49%
1885	76.06%	15.75%	8.19%
1886	84.98%	8.29%	6.73%
1887	84.98%	8.29%	6.73%
1888	86.96%	6.78%	6.26%
1889	84.00%	8.96%	7.04%
1890	86.94%	6.53%	6.53%
1890	83.22%	8.70%	8.08%
1891	78.57%	9.88%	6.97%						4.58%
1892	79.82%	7.02%	7.02%						6.14%
1893	84.00%	8.30%	7.70%
1894	82.34%	9.74%	7.92%
1895	85.44%	6.85%	7.71%
1896	86.31%	6.44%	7.25%
1898	86.30%	6.58%	7.12%
1899	86.56%	6.72%	6.72%
1900	85.67%	7.16%	7.16%
1901	85.67%	7.16%	7.16%
1902	80.34%	10.16%	6.77%						2.73%
1903	80.43%	9.65%	6.76%						3.17%
1904	78.29%	9.54%	7.16%						5.01%
1905	78.01%	9.66%	7.25%						5.07%
1906	76.75%	9.83%	7.62%						5.80%
1907	73.74%	10.29%	8.70%						7.27%
1908	74.27%	10.08%	8.53%						7.12%
1909	75.76%	10.19%	8.49%						5.57%
1910	73.66%	10.06%	7.94%						8.34%
1911	72.35%	10.42%	8.23%					0.36%	8.64%
1912	72.89%	10.19%	7.90%					0.33%	8.69%
1913	73.38%	10.39%	8.31%					0.27%	7.64%
1914	74.63%	10.48%	6.29%					0.34%	8.25%
1915	70.19%	10.19%	8.49%						11.14%
1916	73.31%	10.13%	7.94%						8.62%
1917	70.35%	10.54%	8.35%						10.76%
1918	71.97%	12.32%	9.24%						6.47%
1919	67.49%	11.37%	8.12%					0.71%	12.31%
1920	66.91%	11.33%	8.50%					0.37%	12.89%
1921	62.86%	10.70%	10.17%					0.35%	15.92%
1922	68.39%	11.53%	10.61%					0.61%	8.88%
1924	65.77%	11.44%	2.18%		12.15%			0.36%	8.10%
1925	64.96%	11.25%	3.37%		11.81%			0.74%	7.87%
1926	73.87%	7.09%			9.31%			0.62%	9.10%
1927	72.62%	6.29%			9.35%			0.55%	11.19%
1928	72.26%	6.79%			8.91%			0.49%	11.55%
1929	72.74%	6.83%			8.97%			0.50%	10.96%
1930	72.74%	6.83%			8.97%			0.50%	10.96%
1931	72.71%	6.52%			8.55%			0.61%	11.61%
1932	70.12%	6.75%			8.86%			0.74%	13.53%
1933	71.58%	6.88%			9.03%			0.69%	11.81%
1936	54.57%	6.11%			8.02%	18.46%		0.80%	12.04%
1937	54.28%	6.08%			7.98%	18.36%		0.80%	12.50%
1938	54.42%	6.10%			8.00%	17.61%		1.60%	12.27%
1938	54.57%	6.11%			8.02%	18.46%		0.80%	12.04%
1939	72.83%	6.10%			8.00%			0.80%	12.27%
1940	57.32%	6.07%			7.96%	19.90%		0.80%	7.96%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the Lonndon Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/001 to LMA.4453/D/09/126.