Youngs PA malts 1939 - 1945

And how did the recipe change over the war years? Well, let’s take a look. Starting with the malts.

In total, four malts were employed over the wartime years. But only one appeared in every iteration: PA malt. Though there were only a couple of times that it was the only malt.

The second most common malt is, a bit surprisingly, mild malt. I assume this was used because of supply difficulties. And mild malt happened to be what they had plenty of.

Other than in 1941, the grists were all over the place. With several different combinations of PA, mild and enzymic malt. It’s all very chaotic and a sign that they were having to make do with the malts that they could get hold of.

I’m guessing that, had it been available, they would have used enzymic malt all through the war. The patchy way it was used implies that the supply was somewhat irregular.

The percentage of malt is also all over the place. Starting the war at 86% and ending it at 63%. But, between those, it goes up and down quite a bit. Peaking at 91% in 1941. 

Youngs PA malts 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	pale malt	PA malt	mild malt	enzymic malt	total malt
27th Jul	1939	32.14%	50.36%		3.21%	85.71%
22nd May	1940	28.93%	53.57%		3.21%	85.71%
1st May	1941		88.30%		3.19%	91.49%
3rd Jul	1941		88.72%		2.74%	91.46%
8th Jul	1941		88.72%		2.74%	91.46%
23rd Oct	1941		36.97%	46.48%	3.17%	86.62%
7th May	1942	27.27%	56.64%			83.92%
9th Jul	1942		51.40%	31.47%	3.15%	86.01%
20th Oct	1942		33.71%	47.19%		80.90%
30th Apr	1943		76.67%			76.67%
20th Jul	1943		74.48%		3.15%	77.62%
1st May	1944		63.33%	16.67%		80.00%
8th May	1944		80.00%			80.00%
19th Oct	1944		41.96%	37.76%		79.72%
8th May	1945		53.89%	17.96%		71.86%
3rd Jul	1945		45.71%	22.86%		68.57%
12th Jul	1945		62.87%			62.87%
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.

 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1943

We’ll roll right along with a couple of processes.

Nothing much happening with the boil. Exactly the same as in 1940. Pretty boring, that.

The pitching and maximum fermentation temperatures are just about exactly the same as in 1940. Pitched at 58º F or 59º F and peaking in the high 60sº F. I suppose that they had no reason to change, so why would they?

Slightly longer fermentation times or around a day are a bit unexpected. I do need to point out here that they were quite variable, from five to nine days. When it comes to the fermentation times, the examples I have taken are pretty random. Well, totally random, really.

That's me done with Young's beers in 1943. Where should I go next? 1944 or straight to 1945? Or should I go backwards to 1941 0r 1942? I'll have to have a think. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1943
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. ferment-ation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)	dropped after (hours)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	59º F	64.5º F	8
X	Mild	2	2	58º F	67º F	8	38
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	66.5º F	7
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	58º F	70.75º F	7	37
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	58º F	67.75º F	6
	Average	1.95	1.95	58.40º F	67.30º F	7.2	37.5
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Youngs XXX Ale

Youngs were still producing their standard-strength Burton XXX, though they had dropped the stronger XXXX.

The gravity isn’t quite as high as in 1939 – it’s 6º lower – but a higher degree of attenuation leaves the ABV a little greater. We’ve seen something similar with Youngs other beers.

The recipe has changed a bit since 1939. The pale malt has been replaced by more mild malt. And the crystal malt content has almost doubled at the expense of the No. 3 invert sugar.

A drop in the hopping rate from 7 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt forces down the calculated bitterness from 33 IBU to 21 IBU. Which must have been way more noticeable than the fall in gravity.

The hops themselves were Worcester and East Kent, both from the 1940 season.

1941 Youngs XXX Ale
mild malt	9.00 lb	81.82%
crystal malt 120 L	1.25 lb	11.36%
malt extract	0.25 lb	2.27%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.40 lb	3.64%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.10 lb	0.91%
Fuggles 120 min	0.875 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.875 oz
OG	1051
FG	1016.5
ABV	4.56
Apparent attenuation	67.65%
IBU	21
SRM	20
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

Youngs hops in 1943

A lack of excitement continues with the hops. Which are the same in every single beer. Just the two types, both from the 1942 harvest.  One Worcester, the other Mid-Kent “BG”. I’m guessing that stands for Brewer’s Gold.

What’s notable? All English hops and all from the most recent season. I think I can understand why. All English hops, because no hops had been imported since 1939. All from the most recent season because all the stocks of older hops had already been used up.

This demonstrates something about WW II brewing. UK brewers became almost totally dependent on UK-grown ingredients. Something which, WW I excepted, hadn't been the case since the first half of the 19th century. Though reductions in the strength and quantity of beer brewed after WW I, made the UK much less dependent on imported hops between the wars.

I hope you're enjoying all this stuff about Youngs during WW II. It's a preview of the book I'm writing about Youngs. Rather imaginatively called ""Youngs!". Who could have guessed that? 

Youngs hops in 1943
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2
A	Mild	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
X	Mild	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
PAB	Pale Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
PA	Pale Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
XXX	Strong Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Youngs PA

Just like PAB, PA has seen a fall in gravity since the outbreak of war. In its case, that was 5º. Again, an increase in the rate of attenuation has mitigated that fall somewhat. It still clocks in at 4.5% ABV, a very decent strength for a beer in 1941.

Which makes it surprising just how much PA Youngs brewed. Batches were usually 200 barrels or so. While the weaker PAB was only brewed 100 barrels at a time. And sometimes PA was brewed single-gyle. PAB only ever being brewed in a parti-gyle with PA.

There’s not much to say about the recipe, as this was parti-gyled with the PAB which we’ve just seen. In a nutshell, less sugar, more malt than in 1939.

One of the biggest changes since the start of the war is the hopping rate. Which is down from 8 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. And that is reflected in a much lower calculated bitterness level: 26 IBU compared to 42 IBU in 1939. 

1941 Youngs PA
pale malt	8.50 lb	90.23%
malt extract	0.25 lb	2.65%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.67 lb	7.11%
Fuggles 120 min	0.67 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.67 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.67 oz
OG	1043
FG	1008.5
ABV	4.56
Apparent attenuation	80.23%
IBU	26
SRM	5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1943

Onwards with adjuncts and sugars.

Now that Porter and Stout have been dropped, there’s no longer any oats. Just the government-mandated adjunct, flaked barley. Though, come to think of it, this is 1943. It’s possible that it could be oats. The brewing record is very vague, just saying “flakes”.

The average sugar percentage is up a little. About 0.75%. There's less No. 1 in the Pale Ales, but more No. 3 in the Mild Ales. I've no idea what that might mean.

Also up is the proportion of malt extract. From a bit under 3% to a bit over 3%. Not sure that I would call that significant.

What can I say about the caramel? It’s pretty much exactly the same as in 1940. Nothing more that I can spin out of that. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars  in 1943
Beer	Style	flaked barley	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild	12.02%	3.00%		6.01%	0.88%	9.89%
X	Mild	14.17%	3.15%		6.30%	0.79%	10.24%
PAB	Pale Ale	13.33%	3.33%	6.67%			10.00%
PA	Pale Ale	13.33%	3.33%	6.67%			10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale	12.39%	3.10%		6.19%	0.90%	10.19%
	Average	13.05%					10.06%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Youngs malts in 1943

Ingredients time now. Beginning, as always, with the malts.

There are fewer malts than in 1940, five rather than seven. There's a simple explanation for that: black and amber malt only appeared in Porter and Stout and those beers have been dropped. 

That's not the big story. Which is the reduction in the total malt percentage. Down from an average just short of 90% to 77%. Why such a drop? Because Youngs didn't use adjuncts in most of their beers pre-war. And during the war they were compelled to use adjuncts, at this point, that was flaked barley.

The Pale Ales have a base of all pale ale malt, without the standard pale malt that they had in 1940. While the Mild Ales remain a mix of mild malt and pale malt. The crystal malt content of the Milds and the Burton Ale is unchanged.

Enzymic malt, in both of the Pale Ales in 1940, is only in the full-strength Pale Ale here. But it wasn't consistent. It turns up sometimes in the Pale Ale parti-gyle. Only sometimes. Perhaps they were struggling to get supplies of it. 

Youngs malts in 1943
Beer	Style	pale malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt
A	Mild	30.04%	36.05%		12.02%		78.10%
X	Mild	37.80%	28.35%		9.45%		75.59%
PAB	Pale Ale			76.67%			76.67%
PA	Pale Ale			73.33%		3.33%	76.67%
XXX	Strong Ale	61.94%	6.19%		9.29%		77.42%
	Average						76.89%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Youngs PAB

What have a couple of years of war done to Young’s weaker Pale Ale? A few things. But nothing too dramatic.

For a start, the gravity has been reduced by 4º. Though a higher degree of attenuation leaves this version actually a teeny bit stronger. I think I would have been able to live with that. A slightly thinner, but more alcoholic, beer.

Exactly the same elements are present in the grist: pale malt, No. 1 invert sugar and malt extract. Though I have included in the base pale malt a small quantity of enzymic malt. I’m pretty sure that enzymic malt no longer exists, so I’ve just substituted pale malt.

There has been a change in the quantities of the grist elements. The quantity of No. 1 invert has been halved, replaced by more base malt. Meaning that the percentage of malt has increased, from 85% to 90%.

Two types of hops, Worcester and Est Kent, both from the 1940 harvest. 

1941 Youngs PAB
pale malt	7.00 lb	90.32%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.23%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.50 lb	6.45%
Fuggles 120 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1035
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.77
Apparent attenuation	81.43%
IBU	20
SRM	4.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

Youngs beers in 1943

Let’s jump a couple of years forward and see what things are like at Youngs in the middle of the war. How, exactly, had their beers changed?

The most obvious change is that three beers have been dropped: Porter, Stout and XXXX. The last isn't much of a surprise. The strongest beers were some of the first to disappear. The first isn't a great shock, either. All London brewers discontinued their Porters in the early war years.

But Stout, that's another matter. At the time, it was still a fairly standard draught beer in London. It's really odd for a London brewery to have no Black Beer in their portfolio. In fact, it was unusual for any English brewery to not brew a Stout.

Let's look at the remaining beers in more detail. Kicking off with the gravities. Which, unsurprisingly, have been reduced since 1940. Though the reduction was very inconsistent across the different beers.

The biggest fall was in PAB and XXX. In both cases around 15%. AX Ale was a little behind with a 12% drop. Interestingly, the smallest reductions were in PA, one of the strongest beers, and A, one of weakest. In the latter case, there's a pretty obvious reason. It didn't have anywhere further to go. Because of the tax system, 1027º was effectively the lowest economic gravity. You could brew a weaker beer, but you'd have to pay the tax for a beer of 1027º.

I'm not quite so sure why PA should have got off so lightly. Interestingly, after falling 1040º in 1942, the gravity was raised again in early 1943 to 1042.7º. Which is weird. The gravities of beers very rarely increased during the war.

The rates of attenuation are pretty similar to in 1940. Around 80% for the Mild Ales, 75% for the Pale Ales, 68% for XXX. Which means that The ABVs have fallen in line with the gravity drop. Though the two strongest - PA and XXX - are still both over 4%. Which was a pretty decent strength for this stage of the war.

There's also been a significant reduction in the hopping rates. In the case of the Mild Ales, it's fallen from 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to 4.5 lbs. For the Pale Ales, the reduction is from 7 lbs per quarter to 5.5 lbs. 

Youngs beers in 1943
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1026.8	1005.5	2.81	79.33%	4.41	0.51
X	Mild	1029.9	1005.3	3.26	82.40%	4.40	0.57
PAB	Pale Ale	1032.9	1008.3	3.25	74.74%	5.56	0.74
PA	Pale Ale	1042.7	1011.1	4.18	74.05%	5.56	0.96
XXX	Strong Ale	1045.9	1015.5	4.02	66.20%	4.54	0.89
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Youngs beers gravity changes 1940 - 1943
Beer	Style	1940	1943	% drop
A	Mild	1029	1026.8	7.59%
X	Mild	1034	1029.9	12.06%
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1032.9	15.64%
PA	Pale Ale	1047	1042.7	9.15%
XXX	Strong Ale	1055	1045.9	16.55%
	Average			12.20%
Sources:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Youngs Ale

If you know anything in the UK tax system, you’ll understand why the gravity of Ale hadn’t fallen very much. A gravity of under 1027º wasn’t economically sensible.

A reasonable degree of attenuation leaves it at just a touch under 3% ABV. So just about intoxicating. And stronger than the beer in most of Europe at the time.

Have there been any changes to the grist? Well, a few. The base malt is now all mild malt, rather than a mixture of pale and mild malt. There’s rather more crystal malt. Possibly, to compensate for the quantity of No. 3 invert being halved.

There were two types of hops: Sussex from 1940 and spent hops. The latter are always fun in a recipe. How do I take them into account? With great difficulty is the answer. 

1941 Youngs Ale
mild malt	5.00 lb	82.37%
crystal malt 120 L	0.67 lb	11.04%
malt extract	0.175 lb	2.88%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.175 lb	2.88%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.05 lb	0.82%
Fuggles 120 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1028
FG	1006
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	78.57%
IBU	14
SRM	14
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

War in brewing records

For the most part, brewing records note the details of a specific brew. With, perhaps, details of the weather that day. But, occasionally, the outside world intrudes on the cosy industrial documentation.

I came across this one yesterday. In a Young's brewing record. (PA, it you're interested. Which was 4.5% ABV. I doubt that there was anywhere else in Europe you could have found a beer that strong on that date.)

VE Day was a big deal. Especially in London, which had been under attack for virtually the whole of the war. VE Day represented a return to normality. Even though the war ewith Japan continued. AT least there was no longer a need for the blackout.

Going back a couple of years, on 9th September 1940, a brew of Porter and several Stouts noted:

Air Raid Warnings:_
5:15 p.m. to 6:25 p.m.
AND 8:40 p.m. to 5:45 a.m.

This was the fag end of the Battle of Britain and the start of the Blitz. Look at how long those warnings were. Around ten hours in total. That must have been both disruptive and scary.
 
A few months later, things were even worse for Boddington in Manchester. Their brewery suffered sever damage

"BIG AIR RAID ON MANCHESTER
ON NIGHTS OF DEC 23RD & 24TH
BREWERY BADLY DAMAGED
BY FIRE & EXPLOSIVES
ALL BEER IN F.V.S & R.S.S
SPOILT
RAN AWAY"

The damage was so bad, that the next brew was around 9 months later, on 25th August 1941. 

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. 

This is Sixty Shilling part two

Another of my little videos. In this one, I discuss my recipe for 1940 Drybrough P 60/. It's one I recently published on the blog.

 

Let's Brew - 1940 Drybrough P 60/-

Continuing my look at modern Shilling Ales, here’s a 60/- recipe from the start of WW II.

Being brewed early on in the conflict, the gravity hasn’t been reduced yet from its interwar strength. By the end of the war, the gravity was reduced to not much over 1030º. Or about as weak as beer got. Though a shitty level of attenuation leaves this beer not much over 3% ABV.

You’ve probably heard me bang on about how Scottish beers usually had no coloured malts in them at all. This beer is an exception, as there’s a tiny quantity of black malt. I assume just for colour. Other than that, it’s just base malt and sugar.

There were three types of sugar: Fison, Avona and invert. I’ve substituted No. 1 invert for all three. Perhaps No. 2 invert would be a better choice. I’ll leave that decision up to you.

Just one type of hops: English from the 1938 season. Not all that many of them, either. Leaving the finished beer at a mere 20 IBU.

It’s quite likely that this beer was coloured to several different shades through the addition of caramel at racking time.

1940 Drybrough P 60/-
pale malt	7.00 lb	89.06%
black malt	0.04 lb	0.51%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.75 lb	9.54%
malt extract	0.07 lb	0.89%
Fuggles 135 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1036
FG	1013
ABV	3.04
Apparent attenuation	63.89%
IBU	20
SRM	7
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale