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.

 

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

Boddington grists in 1971

We're back with Boddington beers in the early 1970s. And what were these beers conjured up from? Well, let’s take a look.

Just the two base malts, pale and lager. The latter appearing in the two Pale Ales. Which were both very pale in colour. Pretty obvious what the reason for its use was. The most popular other malt was wheat. At least I think it might be malt. The brewing record isn’t really clear. I assume it’s there for head retention.

Enzymic malt? I’m not sure what the point was of that. But loads of brewers threw some into their mash tuns.

Crystal malt is in the three darker Ales, the two Milds and the Strong Ale. For body and some colour, I would guess. Note that there’s none in either of the Pale Ales.

With its use of brown and chocolate malt, the Stout is reminiscent of those of Whitbread. An odd coincidence, that. Given what happened later. 

Boddington grists in 1971
Beer	Style	pale malt	brown malt	choc. Malt	crystal malt	lager malt	wheat malt	enzymic malt
XX	Mild	64.59%			13.60%		3.40%	2.55%
BM	Mild	65.24%			13.73%		3.43%	2.58%
Light Ale	Pale Ale	61.13%				16.09%	3.22%	3.22%
IP	IPA	63.48%				15.11%	3.02%	3.02%
SA	Strong Ale	68.57%			14.44%		3.61%	2.71%
WSS	Stout	65.96%	7.61%	7.61%
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1940 Boddington CC

There’s only been a little shaved off the strength of Boddington’s Strong Ale, CC, since the outbreak of war.

Don’t ask me what CC stands for. Or means. Absolutely no fucking idea. None. But dead cool to find a recipe for a Manchester-style Strong Ale.

There’s only been a minimal reduction in the gravity – 1.5º. But this was brewed very early in the year, on 4th January. Having said that, as late as October the gravity remained 1055º

Just as with XX, the flaked maize has been replaced by flaked rice. Though, in contrast to the Mild, the proportion of adjunct has been significantly reduced, roughly halved. The slack being taken up by the base pale malt. There’s also been a significant reduction in the sugar content.

Most, though not quite all, of the hops were English from the 1939 crop. The dry hops were a combination of more English from 1939 and Styrian from 1938. The latter having been kept in a cold store.

1940 Boddington CC
pale malt	8.50 lb	69.19%
crystal malt 60 L	1.50 lb	12.21%
flaked rice	1.50 lb	12.21%
malt extract	0.33 lb	2.69%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.33 lb	2.69%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.02%
Cluster 170 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 170 mins	3.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	4.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1055
FG	1014
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	74.55%
IBU	97
SRM	18
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	170 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

This recipe is from my recently-released Blitzkrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

Get your copy now!

The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.

Buy one now and be the envy of your friends!

 

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Lees Bitter

If you like WW II recipes you're going to be in for a treat over the coming weeks. As I've got my book, Blitzkrieg!, on the topic to push. Come on you bastards. I deserve some reward for the five years of work I put into it.

Just like with Mild, there had been a gravity reduction in Lees Bitter. Though compared to post-war standards, it’s still a decently strong beer.

Again, there haven’t been any changes to the elements of the grist, but the relative proportions have shifted. There’s been an even bigger reduction in the percentage of sugar, from around 15% to 5%. Surely simply because sugar was being diverted for other food uses.

The hops were all relatively fresh, from the 1939 and 1940 harvests. All were English, obviously. 

1941 Lees Bitter
pale malt	9.25 lb	95.21%
black malt	0.01 lb	0.10%
glucose	0.13 lb	1.29%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.33 lb	3.40%
Fuggles 90 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1043
FG	1009
ABV	4.50
Apparent attenuation	79.07%
IBU	29
SRM	5
Mash at	149º F
After underlet	151º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

This recipe is one of 553 in my recently-released BlitzKrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

Get your copy now!

The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.

Buy one now and be the envy of your friends!

 

Northwestern Bitter in 1971

Where next with Bitter? I know - let's stay in the North. Just flipping over the Pennines to the Northwest.

When I started my, still unfinished, drinking career back in the 1970s, Manchester was renowned for its cheap beer. Something which might have been related to the survival of many regional and small breweries.

So let's start with the prices. Which average out to 12.4p per pint. Exactly the same in the Northeast. Which sounds pretty good. Except that the average OG is 1.6º lower. Though a higher degree of attenuation leaves the average ABV only a little lower.

Which segues nicely into a look at value for money. From what we've already learnt, it should be expected that in terms of OG, this set scores worse than the Northeast. And that in terms of ABV, it's roughly similar.

Once again, the Carlisle State Brewery is the cheapest pint and the best value at 10.5p for a beer of 1036º. You just can't beat nationalised breweries for price. I like that both the cask and keg version of the beer are included. It demonstrates just what bad value most keg beers were. 2p more per pint in this case. For a beer which probably tasted worse. Though it's still better value than three of the other beers in the  set.

Crappiest value is another keg beer, Greenall's Festival Keg. Again, the cask version is also in the table. This time a full 4p per pint more expensive. One of the reasons I was never tempted by keg beers as a youngster was the terrible value they represented.

Not that many in this bunch that I drank. Threlfalls and Duttons were still brewing when I started drinking. But I completely ignored them as they produced no cask beer. In common with all Whitbread's northern breweries, other than Castle Eden. Note that the two versions of Trophy are clearly different beers.

I drank Wilsons and Greenalls. Not sure if I had their Bitters, as I mostly stuck to Mild. The same is true of Tetley Walker. Drank in their pubs a few times, but almost certainly only drank the Mild. Boddies Bitter I definitely tried. As you can see a very dry and surprisingly strong beer, given its modest gravity. 

Northwestern Bitter in 1971
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (p)	º gravity per p	% ABV per p	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Whitbread (Duttons)	Trophy	12	2.92	0.28	1035.1	1009	3.38	74.36%
Whitbread (Threllfalls)	Trophy	13	2.58	0.28	1033.6	1005.8	3.62	82.89%
Carlisle State Brewery	Bitter	10.5	3.46	0.35	1036.3	1008.2	3.65	77.41%
Carlisle State Brewery	Keg Bitter	12.5	2.93	0.27	1036.6	1010.2	3.42	72.13%
Wilson	Bitter	12.5	2.86	0.29	1035.8	1007.5	3.68	79.05%
Tetley Walker	Bitter	12.5	2.86	0.29	1035.8	1007.5	3.68	79.05%
Greenall Whitley	Bitter	11.5	3.13	0.33	1036	1007	3.77	80.56%
Greenall Whitley	Festival Keg	15.5	2.37	0.24	1036.8	1007.6	3.79	79.35%
Boddington	Bitter	12	2.99	0.33	1035.9	1005.1	4.01	85.79%
Average		12.4	2.90	0.30	1035.8	1007.5	3.67	78.95%
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 21 March 1971, page 25.