Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Cairnes IV Porter

This low-gravity Porter was a relatively new beer, having first been brewed in 1933. Though it seems to have been a replacement for 6d Porter. A slightly stronger beer (1030º) that was itself introduced just a couple of years earlier in 1931.

Not totally sure of the name. It’s just scribbled into the brewing record and isn’t very easy to read.

Unless there was a whole lot of priming or addition of “heading” going on, this is pretty much a non-intoxicating beer. I’m sure that the intention was to provide drinkers with a cheap alternative. Much like the 4d Ales that were brewed in the UK between the wars.

Nothing much to say about the recipe, as this brew was parti-gyled with the Single Stout above. 

1935 Cairnes IV Porter
pale malt	4.50 lb	75.89%
roast barley	1.00 lb	16.86%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	5.56%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.10 lb	1.69%
Cluster 120 mins	0.75 oz
Cluster 60 mins	0.50 oz
Cluster 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1025
FG	1008.5
ABV	2.18
Apparent attenuation	66.00%
IBU	39
SRM	28
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.75º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

Let's Brew - 1935 Cairnes Cairnes Ale

The stronger pale beer had by now been renamed to simply “Cairnes Ale”. It had lost a couple of degrees of gravity in the process. But it remained over 5% ABV.

The recipe hasn’t changed a bunch sine 1923. A touch more sugar, a touch less maize. That’s about it for changes. At least as far as the grist goes. The hopping is a completely other matter.

Because that’s totally different. Whereas the earlier beer had all English hops, here they’re a combination of US West Coast and Yugoslavian. Given the quantities used, this must have led to an appreciable difference in flavour. Though the changes, were spread over time. First going to English and Oregon and only several years later to Oregon and Styrian.

The Oregon hops were from the 1933 harvest. While the Styrians are from 1932 and 1933.

1935 Cairnes Cairnes Ale
pale malt	9.75 lb	86.44%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	4.43%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	8.87%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.27%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Cluster 90 mins	1.00 oz
Styrian Goldings 60 mins	1.00 oz
Styrian Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1052
FG	1012.5
ABV	5.23
Apparent attenuation	75.96%
IBU	66
SRM	9
Mash at	148.5º F
After underlet	155.5º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Cairnes Bitter Ale

With the loss of a few degrees of gravity, this is looking very much like a postwar UK Ordinary Bitter. Though perhaps a touch more bitter.

Nothing is very different from in 1923. The recipe contains the same four elements: base malt, flaked maize, sugar and caramel. The only real change is that some of the base malt has been replaced by sugar.

The replacement of the English hops used in 1923 by higher-alpha acid North American and continental hops leaves the calculated bitterness a good bit higher at 49 IBU rather than 38 IBU. All of the hops were from the 1933 season. 

1935 Cairnes Bitter Ale
pale malt	6.75 lb	84.06%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	6.23%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	9.34%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.37%
Cluster 120 mins	0.67 oz
Cluster 90 mins	0.67 oz
Styrian Goldings 60 mins	0.67 oz
Styrian Goldings 30 mins	0.67 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1037
FG	1008
ABV	3.84
Apparent attenuation	78.38%
IBU	49
SRM	8
Mash at	147.5º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

Let's Brew - 1934 Cairnes Double Stout

Yet another Cairnes recipe today. Well, I need to somehow justify all the time I've been spending going  through their brewing records.

Unlike Single Stout, which had seen its gravity whittles away over the years, Double Stout was the same strength as in 1923. Remaining at the same strength as Guinness Extra Stout.

Though there have been some changes to the recipe. Namely, the addition of flaked maize and a type of sugar. Not exactly sure what type of sugar it was, as it’s only described as “Saccharum”. It’s probably a kind of invert. Though I can’t be sure. I’ve guessed No. 2 invert.

The base malt was mostly made from Irish barley. Though 10% was made from Californian barley.

The hops are very different from in 1923., when they were all English. Here, they’re a split between Oregon and Styrian. The hopping rate is about the same at around 8 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt.  However, as the types of hops were higher in alpha acid, the calculated bitterness level is quite a bit higher 53 IBU.
 

1934 Cairnes Double Stout
pale malt	10.00 lb	80.65%
roast barley	1.00 lb	8.06%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	4.03%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.05%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.15 lb	1.21%
Cluster 120 mins	1.25 oz
Cluster 60 mins	0.50 oz
Styrian Goldings 60 mins	0.50 oz
Styrian Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1055
FG	1014
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	74.55%
IBU	53
SRM	34
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

 

Analysing Cairnes brewing records

The Cairnes records are ones where I'm glad that I have a long set. Both in terms of records spanning a long period and lots of photos for each year.

An unusual feature of the records is that there are pre-printed headers for specific ingredients. Which was probably really handy when the records were first used. Only problem is, that they had multiple books printed up and, due to the horizontal format, each book lasted for many years. Sometimes more than ten years. And, inevitably, the ingredients used changed over time. Making some of the header irrelevant. With the columns used for different ingredients.

Now, sometimes, the printed header was crossed out and the correct ingredient pencilled in. But only occasionally. Which is why it's handy to have lots of photos. Worst is the column headed "Pat. Malt". It's still there on the forms in the 1940s: several decades after they switched to roast barley.

There's only really one way to tell which ingredients were being used. That's by looking at the monthly totals. Which indicate how much of each ingredient was used in the previous month and the year to date. That's the way I know Cairnes were definitely using roast barley and not patent malt.

Also pre-printed are the headings for the type of beer. Which also ended up being incorrect through time. And where, again, they would sometimes (but not always) cross out a beer type and scribble in another.

"X" crossed out and "2d" pencilled in.

It's so much fun.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1914 Cairnes Single Stout

By far Cairnes most popular beer was Single Stout. Accounting for at least 50% of what they brewed.

With a gravity of just 1050º, it’s really more like a Porter than a Stout. At least by the standards of the day. For example, in 1914 Whitbread Porter had an OG of 1052º, slightly higher than this “Stout”.

The grist is pretty simple. There’s just the one malt and two adjuncts. The amount of roast barley is quite limited at just 6.5% of the total. Which leaves the colour relatively pale. Only around the shade of Dark Mild.

Two types of suage were used. Glucose acting as a malt substitute. And caramel for colour. Without which this would be far too pale for the style.

Two thirds of the hops were Oregon from the 1912 harvest. The remainder were Belgian, simply described as “old”. Presumably used as they were cheap, costing just 83 shillings per hundredweight, While the Oregons cost 135 shillings. 

1914 Cairnes Single Stout
pale malt	8.00 lb	74.21%
roast barley	0.75 lb	6.96%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	9.28%
glucose	1.00 lb	9.28%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.28%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Cluster 60 mins	1.00 oz
Strisselspalt 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1050
FG	1014
ABV	4.76
Apparent attenuation	72.00%
IBU	49
SRM	20
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

What I missed

the first time I went through the Cairnes records. Was something very important, in terms of a peculiarity of Irish brewing.

It's not unusual for me to either miss or misinterpret things in brewing records. Hopefully, I spot my mistake not too far in. Because then I need to go back and fix all the table entries that I've already transcribed. Not the most fun work. Not that transcribing brewing records is ever something I would describe as fun.

On the face of it, it appears that every batch of Single Stout had a small quantity of what looks like Double Stout parti-gyled with it. And I mean a small amount. For example, there might be 194 barrels of Single Stout and just 14 barrels of "Double Stout".

But what's odd, is that there isn't a full fermentation record for the "Double Stout". Just one or two entrie. While there is a full record for Single Stout, right up to racking. Why would that be?

Eventually I twigged. There's a reason there isn't a full fermentation record. Because that wort wasn't fully fermented. At least not on its own. I'm pretty sure that this is "heading". One of the elements of Irish Stout. It's a strong wort in a high degree of fermentation which was blended in at racking or packaging time. It's effectively a sort of Kräusen.

Based on the amount of Single Stout and heading brewed, about 7% was added. Which would have increased the effective OG a little, as well as providing condition. It's the equivalent of the primings added in England, except it was in the form of wort rather than a sugar solution.

This is the relevant section of a brewing record. Where the Single Stout, with an OG of 1039 in the first row and the heading, with an OG of 1050, is the second.

Looking at it now, I've noticed something else. There's a gap below where it says "Shift to 6". It looks to me as if they're using the dropping system and the "shift" is when they drop from the round to the sttling square.

Cairnes Single Stout hops

Over to the hops. At the start of the period, Cairnes used exclusively foreign hops in their Single Stout. Either from Oregon or Belgium. That all changed in the middle of the year.

When English hops appear. There were still Oregon hops, but they were getting older as they all remained from the 1915 harvest. The reason is obvious: imports of American hops dried up. Once the war was over, large quantities of fresher American hops came into the mix. Though there were still some English hops used.

Let’s see how Fullers use of hops compared.

There’s a similar pattern to at Cairnes, where new foreign hops disappear in 1916. Though, in this case, rather than American hops they were Belgian and Germany. After that, it’s all English hops until after war’s end. When lots of French and American hops appear.

“MK”, obviously, stands for Mid-Kent. Not really sure what “B” means. I can’t think of a type of hops that starts with the letter “B”, other than Belgian.

Cairnes Single Stout hops 1914 - 1923
Date	Year	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4
1st Jan	1914	Oregon 1912	Belgium old
1st Sep	1914	Oregon 1913	Oregon no date	Oregon 1912
7th Jan	1915	Oregon 1913	Oregon 1913	Oregon 1907
2nd Oct	1916	Oregon 1915	English 1915	Poperinge 1915
3rd May	1917	Oregon 1915	English 1916
7th Jun	1917	Oregon 1915	English 1916
1st Nov	1917	Oregon 1915	English 1916
3rd Jan	1918	Oregon 1915	English 1916
2nd May	1918	Oregon 1915	English 1916
3rd Oct	1918	Oregon 1915	English 1916	English 1917
3rd Feb	1919	Oregon 1915	English 1917
2nd Oct	1919	English 1917	English 1918	Pacifics no date
1st Jan	1920	Oregon 1918	English 1917	English 1918	old Pacifics
15th Apr	1920	Oregon 1918	English 1918
4th Oct	1920	Oregon 1918	Oregon 1919	English 1919
3rd Oct	1921	Oregon 1918	Oregon 1919	English 1919	English 1920
2nd Feb	1922	Sonoma 1920	English 1917	English 1920
1st Jan	1923	English 1921	English 1921	English 1921
Sources:
Cairnes brewing records held at the Guinness archives, document numbers GDB/SUB/0022 and GDB/BR17/1257.

 

Fullers Porter hops 1914 - 1925
Date	Year	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
18th Nov	1914	MK 1913	Poperinge 1913	Hallertau 1912	Farnham 1913	Tolhurst 1914
17th Feb	1915	Poperinge 1913	B 1913	MK 1913	Tolhurst 1913
2nd Jun	1916	Tolhurst 1915	MK 1914	Farnham 1914
4th Aug	1916	Tolhurst 1915	MK 1914	B 1914	old hops
12th Apr	1917	MK 1915	B 1915
9th Aug	1917	No. 2 B 1915	Tolhurst 1916	MK 1916
5th Jan	1918	MK 1916	Tolhuirst 1916
19th Apr	1918	Farnham 1916	MK 1916
14th Jan	1919	MK 1917	Poperinge 1914
10th Feb	1920	Alsace 1917	Alsace 1919	Sonoma 1916	Oregon
16th Jun	1925	Pacifics 1922	English 1923	English 1924
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.

 

Cairnes Single Stout sugars 1914 - 1923

Moving on to the sugars, this is where Fullers and Cairnes really diverge. At the start of the war, Cairnes Single Stout had a little under 9% sugar, in the form of glucose. In 1916, that disappears in 1916, and for the rest of the war there’s no sugar at all. Sugar does reappear in 1920, but only in the form of caramel.

Things at Fullers were way, way more complicated. Over the war years, they employed seven different types of sugar. Though in any single brew there were never more than three.

The most popular sugars were glucose and something called Special Dark. I’m guessing that the latter was some sort of dark invert sugar. The quantity used was pretty high at the start and the end of the period covered by the table. I assume restrictions on the supply of sugar was responsible for the drastic reduction in the quantity during the war years.

At Fullers, the proportion of sugar in the grist was far higher than at Cairnes. Starting at over 25%. Even in the most difficult later war years, the amount never fell lower than 6.5%. And for most of the time was well over 10%.

Fullers also used way more caramel, varying between 3% and 7.5%. While at Cairnes it went from zero to a maximum of 2%.

While at Cairnes, even at the start of the war, sugar was less than 10% of the grist. From 1916 on, that was reduced to zero. And, other than caramel, no sugar was used after WW I. 

Cairnes Single Stout grists 1914 - 1923
Date	Year	pale malt	roast barley	flaked maize	glucose	caramel
1st Jan	1914	74.45%	6.50%	9.93%	8.82%	0.30%
1st Sep	1914	70.03%	7.74%	13.34%	8.89%
7th Jan	1915	71.37%	7.22%	12.69%	8.72%
2nd Oct	1916	79.62%	7.11%	13.27%
3rd May	1917	79.62%	7.11%	13.27%
7th Jun	1917	87.83%	6.84%	5.32%
1st Nov	1917	87.83%	6.84%	5.32%
3rd Jan	1918	86.70%	6.88%	6.42%
2nd May	1918	91.17%	6.74%	2.10%
3rd Oct	1918	93.33%	6.67%
3rd Feb	1919	93.33%	6.67%
2nd Oct	1919	85.42%	7.46%	7.12%
1st Jan	1920	89.05%	7.66%	3.30%
15th Apr	1920	87.33%	7.37%	5.29%
4th Oct	1920	81.76%	8.54%	9.28%		0.41%
3rd Oct	1921	95.33%	3.91%			0.76%
2nd Feb	1922	76.04%	10.18%	12.64%		1.13%
1st Jan	1923	89.36%	8.51%			2.13%
Sources:
Cairnes brewing records held at the Guinness archives, document numbers GDB/SUB/0022 and GDB/BR17/1257.

Fullers Porter sugars 1914 - 1925
Date	Year	glucose	invert	Special Dark	cane sugar	Dark Trivert	Porteris	caramel	total sugar
18th Nov	1914	11.34%		12.60%				3.30%	27.25%
17th Feb	1915	3.83%				9.56%		2.91%	16.30%
2nd Jun	1916						15.84%	6.15%	21.99%
4th Aug	1916			4.90%				3.85%	8.75%
12th Apr	1917	3.44%		6.89%				3.59%	13.92%
9th Aug	1917			1.25%	1.25%			3.92%	6.42%
5th Jan	1918			2.35%	2.35%			3.69%	8.39%
19th Apr	1918	8.59%		4.30%	8.59%			4.42%	25.90%
14th Jan	1919	5.69%	5.69%					7.57%	18.94%
10th Feb	1920				6.92%			4.89%	11.81%
16th Jun	1925			13.50%				4.80%	18.31%
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Cairnes Single Stout

Moving forward a decade and a bit, there have been quite a few changes to Cairnes best-selling beer.  The most obvious being to the strength. Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s the gravity was slowly whittled down 1º at a time. Interestingly, Double Stout remained at the same strength.

Another change is the addition of a relatively small amount of flaked maize. The other elements – roast barley and caramel – remain the same. Though the proportions have been fiddled with a little. There’s almost double the amount of roast barley, but less caramel. A little less than a quarter of the roast barley was added to the copper rather than the mash tun. Presumably to boost the colour.

The rate of attenuation is even lower than in 1923, just 65%. Leaving it just over 3% ABV. Even weaker than a standard English Mild of the period. And similar to the slowly fading away London Porters.

A single type of hop was employed, Oregon from the 1943 harvest. The combination of higher-alpha American hops and a higher hopping rate leave the calculated bitterness much higher than in 1923, at 55 IBU. 

1935 Cairnes Single Stout
pale malt	7.00 lb	78.87%
roast barley	1.25 lb	14.08%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	5.63%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.41%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Cluster 60 mins	0.75 oz
Cluster 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1037
FG	1013
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	64.86%
IBU	51
SRM	33
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.75º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale