Boddington 2nd Dec 1901 mashing scheme

We’ll finish with mashing. Which was a pretty simple process at Boddington. Much simpler than at most English breweries. Where the minimum was an infusion mash, underlet and a couple of sparges.

Interestingly, the brewing record does include columns for an underlet, which are filled in with just dashes. Presumably, at one time they had used an underlet but had discontinued the practice.

In this example, there’s just a single infusion with a strike heat of 160º F, followed by a rest of two hours. The process was completed with three sparges at descending temperatures. 

Boddington 2nd Dec 1901 mashing scheme
operation	barrels	strike heat	rest	tap heat
mash	70	160º F	2 hours	150º F
sparge 1		168º F
sparge 2		164º F
sparge 3		160º F
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Boddington boiling and fermentation in 1901

A couple of processes now. Boiling and fermentation.

Starting with boiling. Interestingly, most of the beers only had a single wort.  Which was definitely not typical. You would usually only see that in two circumstances. First, at breweries where the brew length was short. Second, when a batch size was very small.

The boil lengths are sort of middling at mostly two hours plus. About 1.5 hours is the minimum you would see around this time. In this case, the boils are probably a bit longer as there’s only one wort. And some of the boil would be to concentrate the last runnings.

Very consistent is how I would describe the pitching temperatures. Which only vary by 0.5º F. 60º Fis pretty much a standard pitching temperature. Though for stronger beers you would expect it to be a little lower.

There’s nothing odd about the maximum temperatures, which are all around 70º F. Generally, a little higher for the stronger beers. As you would expect.

Around a week for primary fermentation was fairly typical. Some brewers did manage to run their weaker beers through in four or five days.

Boddington boiling and fermentation in 1901
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
TA	Table Ale	1.83		60º F	68º F	5
X	Mild	2		60º F	68º F	7
XX	Mild	2	2.17	60º F	69º F	7
XXX	Mild	2.5	2.25	60.5º F	69º F	7
XXXX	Mild	2.33		60.5º F	70º F	7
AK	Pale Ale	2.08		60º F	69º F	7
IPA	IPA	2.25		60º F	69º F	7
S	Stout	2.25		60º F	69º F	7
DS	Stout	2.25		60º F	70º F	7
BB	Strong Ale	2.75		60º F	72º F	7
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Boddington hops in 1901

Hops to finish. Quite a lot of different types. But not very many details, sadly.

About half the beers had four types of hops. Three English and one Californian. The other half had five types. The extra type also being English.

The only beer for which I have details of the hops’ vintage is TA. Which was brewed in 1902. And a majority of the hops are on the old side. As Boddington had pretty much the same hops in all their beers, using old hops wasn’t exclusive to TA, Meaning the other beers in the table probably also contained hops of varying ages. 

Boddington hops in 1901
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
TA	Table Ale	English 1898	English 1899	English 1900	English 1901	Californian 1900
X	Mild	English	English	English	Californian
XX	Mild	English	English	English	English	Californian
XXX	Mild	English	English	English	Californian
XXXX	Mild	English	English	English	English	Californian
AK	Pale Ale	English	English	English	Californian
IPA	IPA	English	English	English	English	Californian
S	Stout	English	English	English	Californian
DS	Stout	English	English	English	English	Californian
BB	Strong Ale	English	English	English	Californian
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Boddington grists in 1901

Time to look at what went into these beers. Which, it turns out, wasn’t a whole lot.

Only two types of malt were employed: pale and black. That’s pretty minimal. Especially as only three beers – the two Stouts and the Strong Ale – contained black malt. And, even in those, the quantity is pretty small. There’s not really anything else to say about the malts.

Similarly, there were just two types of sugar: Garton and invert. Both of which are pretty vague descriptions. And pretty similar, as Garton was a producer of invert. I did wonder if they were different names for the same thing. Until I came across beers that included both.

In general, the malt content is very high. Over 90% in most cases. And there are no adjuncts of any type. Which, as you’ve probably noticed, wasn’t very typical. By 1900, most breweries had taken advantage of the opportunity to use unmalted grains given by the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act.

Boddington grists in 1901
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	Garton	invert	total sugar
TA	Table Ale	91.30%		8.70%		8.70%
X	Mild	92.86%		7.14%		7.14%
XX	Mild	91.58%		8.42%		8.42%
XXX	Mild	88.89%			11.11%	11.11%
XXXX	Mild	93.75%			6.25%	6.25%
AK	Pale Ale	90.70%			9.30%	9.30%
IPA	IPA	91.84%			8.16%	8.16%
S	Stout	86.98%	1.97%	5.52%	5.52%	11.05%
DS	Stout	85.86%	1.42%	9.54%	3.18%	12.72%
BB	Strong Ale	91.13%	0.19%		8.68%	8.68%
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Boddington beers in 1901

Let’s take a look at the beers Boddington was brewing at the turn of the 20th century.

There were ten of them, in all. Ranging from Table Ale to Strong Ale.

Beginning at the bottom, the Table Ale has a pretty decent gravity for the style at just a little short of 1040º. And a very decent rate of attenuation leaves it well over 4% ABV. It wasn’t brewed in huge quantities and I’m guessing was mostly aimed at the home trade rather than pubs.

Moving on, we come to a whole clutch of Mild Ales. A full set, from X through to XXXX. Something which was becoming less common, as many brewers concentrated on just one or two examples of the style. Despite its continued huge popularity.

X, the weakest of the set is a bit weaker than an equivalent London beer, which would have had an OG of around 1050º. About the same as Boddington’s XX. While XXX and XXXX are stronger than any London-brewed Mild of the period.

The attenuation of all the Mild Ales is a little on the low side. I assume that this was deliberate, in order to leave some body and residual sweetness.

A hopping rate of around 5.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is a bit lower than in London. But not much. And still enough to leave a decent amount of bitterness.

There were only two Pale Ales. Fewer than found in may Southern breweries. Especially those in Kent. Where Fremlin produced no fewer than eight.

The AK looks about bang on for the style. Though Manchester was quite a long way north for the type. Here, it seems to be playing the role of Ordinary Bitter. Despite being brewed in smaller quantities than the stronger IPA.

As you would expect, the hopping rate is greater than in the Mild Ales, at 8 lbs per quarter of malt. Not crazy heavy for a Pale Ale of the time.

Now we come to the only one of these beers that still exists: IPA. Because this is the beer that we all know as Boddington’s Bitter. Even in the 1980s, the brewhouse name was still IP.

It’s a bit too weak to be a full-strength Stock Pale Ale. And I doubt that it received much in the way of ageing. At almost 10 lbs of hops per quarter, it’s the most heavily hopped of Boddington’s beers.

What can I say about the two Stouts? Well, the weaker of the two looks very much like a London Porter. To be honest, I’m surprised that Boddington produced two Stouts.  I imagine the weaker one was probably sold in bottles as Nourishing Stout, or something similar.

The hopping of both Stouts is pretty low. Very similar to the Mild Ales. While in London, Black Beers were hopped at around 8 lbs per quarter.

Finally, we have BB, the Strong Ale. Though, very confusingly, a few years later the name BB would be used for a Mild Ale. It’s a decent strength and reasonably heavily hopped. It wouldn’t surprise if it was aged a year or more before sale.
 

Boddington beers in 1901
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
TA	Table Ale	1038	1006	4.23	84.21%	5.83	0.86
X	Mild	1045.5	1012.0	4.43	73.63%	5.62	1.03
XX	Mild	1051.5	1014	4.96	72.82%	5.67	1.18
XXX	Mild	1059	1018	5.42	69.49%	5.66	1.33
XXXX	Mild	1068	1022	6.09	67.65%	5.91	1.66
AK	Pale Ale	1046	1012	4.50	73.91%	8.00	1.50
IPA	IPA	1054	1015	5.16	72.22%	9.71	2.10
S	Stout	1051	1015	4.76	70.59%	5.50	1.16
DS	Stout	1067.5	1023	5.89	65.93%	5.38	1.56
BB	Strong Ale	1086	1030	7.41	65.12%	8.42	2.63
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

 

Beer Guide to the 1970s

I've decided to take the plunge and add a guide to all the breweries and beers of the 1970s to my book "Keg!". I'm still not convinced how many people will find this interesting, but what the hell. I'm going to run with it.

This is a small excerpt from the "B" section. 

 

Boddington
Manchester,
Greater Manchester.
Founded:    1778
Closed:        2005
Tied houses:    280

The largest of Manchester’s independent breweries, Boddington managed to fight off a takeover attempt by Allied breweries. The tied estate was spread across Lancashire and Cheshire and into a corner of Derbyshire. Their distinctively pale Bitter had somewhat of a cult following. Bought by Whitbread in 1989, for a while their Bitter was heavily promoted in “smooth” form.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1035	well hopped
Mild	Mild	draught	1031	Dark Mild medium sweet
Best Mild	Mild	draught	1033	medium dark
Strong Ale	Strong Ale	draught	1060	mellow and smooth
Light Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		approaching a Lager in character
Strong Ale	Strong Ale	bottled	1060
Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		Sweet
Extra Stout	Stout	bottled		Sweet Stout

Border
Wrexham,
Clwyd.
Founded:    
Closed:        1984
Tied houses:    170

Border was the largest independent brewery in North Wales.  They were notable for their large range of Mild Ales. Their pubs were mostly either side of the North Wales border with England. Though they did extend as far north as Chester and east to Staffordshire. They were bought by Marston in 1984.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1034.3	hoppy
Light Mild	Mild	draught		more like a Bitter
Dark Mild	Mild	draught	1031.6	medium-strength
Exhibition Mild	Mild	draught	1032.2	stronger
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Exhibition	Pale Ale	bottled		a stronger Pale Ale
Royal Wrexham Ale	Barley Wine	bottled
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled
Strong Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled

 

Brain
Cardiff,
Wales.
Founded:    1713
Closed:        still open
Tied houses:    100

A decent-sized independent brewery in South Wales. Their tied estate was located in South Wales, stretching as far west as Swansea.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1035.3	well balanced
SA	Pale Ale	draught	1040.6	full bodied and malty
Red Dragon Draught Dark	Mild	draught	1035	Dark Mild
Tudor Light	Pale Ale	keg
Gold Dragon	Pale Ale	keg		stronger
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
IPA	IPA	bottled		stronger
Amber Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		strongest
Extra Stout	Stout	bottled	1043	medium sweet
Srtong Ale	Strong Ale	bottled

Light Ale hops 1968 - 1984

We’ll end with the hops, of which there are also loads. Every beer contains at least two different types. While most have three or more.

There was a reason for this: so that when the supply of one hop ran out, it’s replacement wouldn’t alter the flavour of the beer too much. The Watney Mann Quality manual insists that at least three different growths be used in all beers.

The vast majority of the hops were English. Which is what you would expect in this period, when the UK was pretty much self-sufficient in hops. The only foreign hops are two lots of Styrian and one of British Columbian.

Where specified, the English hops are all from Kent or Worcester. Which makes sense as these were the largest hop-producing regions.

As for the varieties, most would likely have been Fuggles or Goldings, simply because they were the most produced types. At least at the start of the period.

Later, Northern Brewer, Bramling Cross, Bullion, Wye Northdown and Wye Challenger became more prominent. The Watney Mann Quality Manual states that no more than a third of the hops should be of these new varieties. The remainder being Fuggles or Goldings.     

Light Ale hops 1968 - 1984
Year	Brewer	Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
1977	Adnams	LBA	English	English	English
1971	Boddington	Bod	English	English
1984	Eldridge Pope	BAK	English	English	English	English	Styrian
1968	Fullers	LA	Worcester 1967	EK 1966	Styrian 1967
1972	Shepherd Neame	LA	Kent 1970	Kent 1971	Kent 1972
1969	Truman	LK	English 1967	English 1967	English 1968	British Colombia 1967
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Shepherd Neame brewing book held at the brewery, document number 1971 H-5O5.
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.

Light Ale in the 1970s

Time to look at some Light Ales in more detail. That most unfashionable of styles.

There’s not a great deal of variation in the gravities: only just over 3º. Which isn’t a great surprise in beers of such a low gravity. Though there’s a way larger spread in ABV, due to hugely differing degrees of attenuation: from 66% to 91%.

This leaves alcohol levels varying from 2.6% ABV to 3.9%. Which, considering the beers were a similar price, means some were way better value than others. With the weakest being barely intoxicating.

A lacking of consistency is also evident in the hopping rates. The highest, 7.5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) in the Adnams example, is Almost double that of Eldridge Pope’s beer. Though that isn’t totally reflected in the IBU level.

Speaking of which, the values in the table are calculated with brewing software and so should not be taken as gospel, more a general indication. As there are too many unknown variables in some brews, such as the variety and age of the hops.

Similar caution should be taken of the colours, most of which, again, are calculated via brewing software. Only the Boddington and Truman values were taken from the brewing record. 

Light Ale 1968 - 1984
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	colour	IBU
1977	Adnams	LBA	1032.0	1011.0	2.78	65.63%	7.56	0.81	22	24
1971	Boddington	Bod	1032.5	1003.0	3.90	90.77%	5.71	0.90	13	28
1984	Eldridge Pope	BAK	1032.7	1005.0	3.66	84.75%	4.00	0.54	24	25
1968	Fullers	LA	1032.2	1010.2	2.90	68.13%	6.08	0.86	22	30
1972	Shepherd Neame	LA	1029.4	1009.5	2.63	67.65%	5.19	0.66	35	16
1969	Truman	LK	1030.7	1004.7	3.44	84.68%	5.32	0.63	21	17
	Average		1031.6	1007.2	3.22	76.93%	5.64	0.73	22.8	23.3
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Shepherrd Neame brewing book held at the brewery, document number 1971 H-5O5.
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1966 Boddington Best Mild

Now here’s a big change: another Mild has appeared. Which is slightly odd. My guess would be that it happened in the middle of the 1950s.

The recipe is near identical to XX. There’s just a little more pale malt, a little less caramel and no black malt in Best Mild. Unsurprisingly, it’s a paler beer.

I can remember Boddington Mild not really being dark, but half dark. Though, compared to their pale Bitter, it did appear dark. Now I can see what’s happened. They brewed a Dark Mild then when they introduced a Best Mild made it pale. Which was usually the way it worked: Ordinary Mild dark, Best Mild pale. Then at some point, probably in the 1970s, Boddington dropped their Ordinary Mild. 

1966 Boddington Best Mild
pale malt	5.25 lb	71.33%
crystal malt 80 L	0.75 lb	10.19%
enzymic malt	0.25 lb	3.40%
malt extract	0.33 lb	4.48%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	10.19%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.41%
Fuggles 120 min	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.75 oz
OG	1033.5
FG	1003.5
ABV	3.97
Apparent attenuation	89.55%
IBU	22
SRM	13
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

The above is an excerpt from my overly detailed look at post-war UK brewing, Austerity!

https://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/austerity/paperback/product-1mkrq4zg.html