Scottish Export/80/- malts and adjuncts in the 1950s

Carrying on with my Eighty Shilling series, here's a look at the malts and adjuncts in the late 1950s.

There aren't a huge number of malts. It's mostly just pale malt. That's all that three of the five beers contain. The only other malts are tiny quantities of enzymic and black malts. The Bernard and Drybrough examples both have a tiny amount of black malt, presumably for colour correction. The Drybrough beer also has a little enzymic malt.

The average malt content is 70%, which is a little on the low side. The outlier being the William Younger beer, which has only 58% malt.

Moving onto the adjuncts, the 28% flaked maize in William Younger's beer explains why the malt content is so low. Every other example also includes flaked maize. No surprise there. Flaked maize was very common and appeared in a majority of UK beers at the time.

The Drybrough beer has a second adjunct: flaked barley. Which is interesting. During WW II, brewers were forced to use flaked barley as a replacement for flaked maize. But, as soon as maize became available again, brewers dropped flaked barley pretty much immediately

The average adjunct content is 15%. Though that's distorted by the William Younger beer. In the others around 10%.

Scottish Export/80/- malts and adjuncts in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	black malt	enzymic malt	total malt	flaked maize	flaked barley	total adjuncts
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	72.17%			72.17%	13.88%		13.88%
1958	Wm Younger	Export	58.21%			58.21%	28.36%		28.36%
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	77.58%	0.61%		78.18%	9.70%		9.70%
1957	Maclay	Export	70.27%			70.27%	10.81%		10.81%
1956	Drybrough	Export	71.13%	0.58%	1.35%	73.06%	5.39%	5.39%	10.78%
	Average					70.38%			14.70%
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

 

 

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 malts in 1939

Time to look under the bonnet at what went into these beers. Bullying off with the malts.

There are quite a lot of base malts. Three in total. Four if you include the enzymic malt. The Mild and Pale Ales all have two base malts. For the Mild Ales, that’s, er, mild malt and pale malt. And for the Pale Ales, PA malt and pale malt. Which, I suppose, has some logic to it.

The Black Beers – Porter and Stout – only have a single base malt: mild malt. The cheapest of the base malts. Which is logical in beers with lots of coloured malts which would obscure the base malt’s flavour.

Enzymic malt, used to lower the pH of the mash, only pops up in the two Pale Ales. Presumably, it wasn’t needed in the other beers ass they contained coloured malts. Youngs were extremely loyal to enzymic malt and were still using it in the 1990s. 

All the beers, other than the Pale Ales, contain some crystal malt. It’s a type of malty which, after WW II, became pretty common in Pale Ales. But before the war, it was pretty well unknown in the style.

There’s lots of roasted malt in the Black Beers: 17.5% in total. That’s split across black and amber malt. It’s a slightly unusual for a London grist. More usual was a combination of black and brown malt. Or, in the case of Whitbread, chocolate malt and brown malt.

Overall, the percentage of malt in the grist is quite high, averaging 87%. Higher than the average for the UK, which was 78%.  

Youngs malts in 1939
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	amber malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt
A	Mild	13.20%			66.02%		9.90%		89.13%
X	Mild	16.60%			63.07%		9.96%		89.63%
PA	Pale Ale	25.81%				54.84%		3.23%	83.87%
PAB	Pale Ale	32.14%				50.36%		3.21%	85.71%
P	Porter		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
S	Stout		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
XXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
XXXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
	Average								86.92%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Youngs grists in 1960/1961

Time to move on to the ingredients. Starting with what went into the mash tun: malts and adjuncts.

Quite a few malts again. Five in total, mostly base malts. So let’s begin with those.

All of the Pale Ales use PA malt as their base. Which makes sense. PA malt being the highest quality pale malt, specifically designed for use in Pale Ales.

On the other hand, the Mild Ales and all the strong beers have mostly mild malt as their base. Though sometimes this was in conjunction with standard pale malt. Mild malt was generally of a slightly lower quality than standard pale malt and killed a little darker. It was also a little cheaper.

The same set of beers – minus Celebration Ale – are also the ones containing crystal malt. Around 9% of the total. Which is a reasonably large amount.

Only one malt appears in every beer: enzymic malt. Which, rather than containing lots of enzymes, was acidified and was used to lower the pH of the mash. It was extremely popular in the 1950s and 1960s, used by dozens of breweries.

All the beers contain between 75% and 80% malt. That’s slightly below the national average, which was 80%. With adjuncts at 5% and sugar at 15%. 

Moving onto the last column, you can see that the proportion of adjuncts is much higher than the national average, in most cases, running at around 14%. That’s almost treble the average. A shitlaod. And in every single beer. 

Youngs grists in 1960/1961
Year	Beer	Style	pale malt	PA malt	mild malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt	flaked maize
1961	X	Mild	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1960	XS	Mild			63.59%	8.48%	4.24%	76.31%	14.13%
1960	PAB	Pale Ale		72.43%			5.10%	77.53%	14.28%
1960	PA	Pale Ale		72.43%			5.10%	77.53%	14.28%
1960	SPA	Pale Ale		76.74%			4.41%	81.15%	11.77%
1960	QSPA	Pale Ale		74.35%			5.13%	79.48%	12.82%
1961	Ex PA	Pale Ale		74.42%			4.65%	79.07%	9.30%
1961	MS	Stout	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1961	XXX	Strong Ale	20.45%		43.18%	9.09%	4.55%	77.27%	13.64%
1960	XXXX	Strong Ale			64.13%	8.55%	4.28%	76.96%	14.25%
1961	CA	Barley Wine	22.67%		45.35%		5.23%	73.26%	17.44%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

Youngs malts in 1990-1991

Moving on now to the ingredients. Kicking off, logically enough, with the malts. Of which there are a few. Not all that many. But that’s made up for by the adjuncts, to which we’ll get later.

Two are base malts: pale and lager. The former being used in most of the beers and the latter in, well, the two Lagers. Nothing odd there. In earlier decades, more base malts had been used. With the bitters using pale ale malt and Mild and Burton using mild malt.

I suppose that you could argue that enzymic malt was also a base malt, as it did have diastatic power. That wasn’t its main use, though. It was to lower the pH of the mash. Which is why it didn’t appear in the Porter or Stout, where the roast grains fulfilled that function.

The Lagers only contain lager malt. With the Premium Lager being all malt. Leaving it Reinheitsgebot compliant. Not sure if that was the intention of the brewery, or just a happy accident.

There’s quite a bit of variation in the proportion of malt in the grist. Ranging from a high of 100% in the Premium Lager, to low of 66% in Old Nick. I think that it’s no coincidence that the percentage was lowest in the latter. The strongest beer that Youngs brewed.

Quite a dark crystal malt was used: 150 L. Which is probably why the Pale Ales all contained less than 2%. Which is a bit contrast with the Porter, where it was a massive 16%. In the two Strong Ales, Winter Warmer and Old Nick, the proportion was a more reasonable 5%.

Youngs malts in 1990-1991
Year	Beer	Style	pale malt	lager malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	Total malt
1990	JYLL	Lager		84.73%			84.73%
1991	Premium Lager	Pilsner		100.00%			100.00%
1990	Light Ale	Pale Ale	83.25%		2.87%	2.87%	89.00%
1990	PA	Pale Ale	85.17%		1.53%	3.07%	89.77%
1990	SPA	Pale Ale	84.22%		1.74%	3.13%	89.10%
1990	Export	Pale Ale	90.48%		1.59%	3.97%	96.03%
1990	Porter	Porter	73.04%		15.65%		88.70%
1991	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	81.00%				81.00%
1991	Winter Warmer	Strong Ale	70.85%		5.54%	6.64%	83.03%
1990	Old Nick	Barley Wine	58.54%		4.88%	2.44%	65.85%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/59.

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Chapman grists in 1880

Time for the ingredients. Of which there aren’t all that many.

We’ll begin with the malts.  Only three of them. And two of those, black and crystal malt, only appear in the Stout. All the other beers only contain base pale malt.

It’s an interesting Stout grist. Usually a three-malt Stout grist would be pale, brown and black malt. While here it’s pale, black and crystal malt. With quite a lot of the latter. Not sure that I’ve ever seen a grist quite like it.

Total malt content averages out at 72%.  Which is on the low side. On the other hand, there are no adjuncts. But the sugar content is high. At 33%, the proportion in the two Mild Ales was particularly high. 

Chapman grists in 1880
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	total malt	fructose	Pale Ref.	total sugar
X	Mild	66.67%			66.67%		33.33%	33.33%
XX	Mild	66.67%			66.67%		33.33%	33.33%
XXX	Stock Ale	78.95%			78.95%	21.05%		21.05%
AK	Pale Ale	77.14%			77.14%	22.86%		22.86%
PA	Pale Ale	69.23%			69.23%	30.77%		30.77%
S	Stout	53.33%	6.67%	13.33%	73.33%		26.67%	26.67%
	Average				72.00%			28.00%
Source:
Chapman brewing record.

 

Adnams malts in 1913

And what went into these beers? Let’s take a look. Starting with the malts.

There are four of them in total. Which is more than you see at many breweries. There are two base malts: pale malt for the Pale Ales and Tally Ho; medium malt for the Mild Ales and Stouts. Not sure what medium malt was. I’m guessing it was something like mild malt, based on which beers it was used in.

You may have noticed that crystal malt doesn’t show up very often in the recipes in this book. It really wasn’t very common before WW I. Occasionally turning up in Mild Ales and Stouts. At Adnams, it was used in the stronger Mild and Tally Ho. An interesting choice there. 

The final type is black malt. Which, unsurprisingly, is found in the two Stouts. Which have the simplest of Stout grists, consisting of just base malt and black malt. Unlike London, where Stout grists always included brown as well as black malt. 

Adnams malts in 1913
Beer	Style	pale malt	medium malt	black malt	crystal malt	total malt
X	Mild Ale		83.17%			83.17%
XX	Mild Ale		68.56%		6.53%	75.09%
BLB	Pale Ale	78.00%				78.00%
PA	Pale Ale	83.72%				83.72%
BS	Stout		69.03%	7.96%		76.99%
DS	Stout		68.85%	7.38%		76.23%
Tally Ho	Old Ale	27.95%	46.58%		4.66%	79.18%
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 1 held at the brewery.

 

Fullers grists in 1910

We’ll now take a look under the bonnet of these beers.

Most of the beers contained only a single malt: base pale malt. Which is pretty much what you’d expect for the period. A time when crystal malt was unknown in Pale Ales and by no means universal in Mild Ales.

Obviously, you can’t brew Porter or Stout without some sort of roast. Fullers went for the classic London combination of brown and black malt. The roast malts making up a hefty 16% of the total.

There’s quite a bit of variation in the malt content. From just under 70% in the Black Beers to 87% in the Strong Ale.

Every beer received a small dose of flaked maize. Nothing odd there. By this point, flaked maize was by far the most popular adjunct and flaked rice had been pretty much abandoned.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Oatmeal Stout was all the rage. Fullers must have joined in the craze. Hence the tiny quantity of oats. The brewing records don’t make clear what form they were in. Probably flaked. Adding a minute quantity of oats to a Stout parti-gyle to be able to legally market some of it as Oatmeal Stout was a typical trick of London brewers. 

Fullers grists in 1910
Beer	Style	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	total malt	flaked maize	oats	total adjuncts
X	Mild	74.05%			74.05%	6.56%		6.56%
AK	Pale Ale	80.76%			80.76%	5.91%		5.91%
PA	Pale Ale	81.59%			81.59%	3.35%		3.35%
P	Porter	53.38%	10.53%	5.26%	69.17%	3.01%	0.85%	3.85%
BS	Stout	53.38%	10.53%	5.26%	69.17%	3.01%	0.85%	3.85%
BO	Strong Ale	87.40%			87.40%	4.07%		4.07%
	Average				77.02%			4.60%
Source:
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.

 

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.