Yet another discount code

Another discount code (until the end of 23rd April) when you can get 15% off my Lulu print books with this discount code:

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Perry hops just before WW II

Unsurprisingly, the hops were all imported. In all the beers they were a combination of Oregon and English hops. Which is very similar to what you would have seen in England.

What is unusual is the age of the hops: the freshest were two years old. But most were three or four years old. Not sure I’ve seen an English brewer consistently using such old hops. Not even during the war.

The Pale Ales were the only beers to receive dry hops. Which were a combination of English and Styrian hops. Again, quite old ones. Usually pretty fresh hops were used for this purpopse. Odd that Perry used three year old hops.

Perry hops just before WW II
Year	Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	dry hops
1937	X	Oregon (1933)	English (1935)
1938	XX	Oregon (1934)	English (1934)	English (1935)
1938	PA	Oregon (1934)	English (1935)		English, Styrian (1935)
1938	IPA	Oregon (1934)	English (1935)		English, Styrian (1935)
1938	XX Stout	Oregon (1934)	English (1935)
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

Perry grists just before WW II

More Irish 1930's fun. Enjoy.

The bare stats might have looked very similar to those of London beers, but the Perry grists were another matter.

In that, other than the Stout, the grist consisted almost totally of base malt. Which, at this point, was mostly a mix of Irish and Californian. Not that dissimilar from pre-war English practice, mixing local and US malt. But it’s in the rest of the ingredients where the differences are glaring.

A typical English beer in 1939 was 78% malt, 6% adjuncts and 16% sugar.  Which is very different from Perry’s recipes. As the only sugar employed is malt extract, they’re Reinheitsgebot compliant. Though, as top-fermenting beers, they would have been allowed sugar, anyway.

It’s a feature of old Irish brewing that very little sugar was employed and almost no unmalted grains. Note that there’s no roasted barley in the Stout. As with most Stouts brewed in the UK, black malt was preferred. I guess if you’re being a total style Nazi, Perry’s version wouldn’t be true to style for a Stout.

Go back a year, and there was neither black malt nor roast barley. The roasted grains being chocolate malt and brown malt. Not at all how modern style-definers would conceive of an Irish Stout.

The malt extract seems to have been used as primings. While the small quantities of black malt were obviously for colour correction.

The dry hopping is pretty heavy. Barclay Perkins equivalent beers has 3 oz. and 6 oz. per barrel.

Perry grists just before WW II
Year	Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	malt extract	dry hops (oz / barrel)
1937	X	Mild	1035	98.40%	0.48%		1.12%
1938	XX	Mild	1045	99.45%	0.55%
1938	PA	Pale Ale	1046	97.28%	0.29%		2.43%	9.04
1938	IPA	IPA	1052	97.03%	0.06%	0.76%	2.14%	8.64
1938	XX Stout	Stout	1052	76.92%	9.23%	12.31%	1.54%
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

Perry beers just before WW II

More information on Irish brewery Perry, courtesy of Liam and the local studies department of Laois county library.

Had I just been shown this range of beers, I would have guessed that Perry was based in England. Though there are a couple of odd features.

Let’s start with the two Mild Ales. They look very similar to a London 5d per pint and 6d per pint Milds. Though the gravity of the stronger one is a little bit higher than Mild usually got in England.

The hopping rate in terms of lbs per barrel is very similar to what you’d see in London. Though the rate per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is a bit lower. The explanation for the discrepancy being that Perry wasn’t brewing as efficiently and produced fewer barrels per quarter of malt.

The two Pale Ales could pass for London 7d and 8d Pale Ales. The gravities are almost identical to those of Barclay Perkins two draught Bitters, as you’ll see in the second table. Once again, the hopping rate per quarter of malt is a little lower at Perry, but the rate per barrel is rather higher.

XX Stout is again a dead ringer for Barclay Perkins Best Stout (BS) in terms of strength. Though in this case the both hopping rate per quarter and per barrel are higher than at Barclay Perkins.

Overall, Perry’s beers are very well hopped. The rates are higher than you’d find in most of provincial England and match those of London, which was well-known for its heavy hopping.

Perry beers just before WW II
Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1937	X	Mild	1035	1011	3.18	68.57%	5.34	1.02
1938	XX	Mild	1045	1013	4.23	71.11%	4.85	1.26
1938	PA	Pale Ale	1046	1013	4.37	71.74%	5.77	1.54
1938	IPA	IPA	1052	1016	4.76	69.23%	6.48	1.97
1938	XX Stout	Stout	1052	1015.5	4.83	70.19%	6.60	2.07
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

Barclay Perkins draught Beers in 1936 and 1939
Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1939	X	Mild	1034.8	1010.0	3.28	71.26%	7.00	0.95
1939	XX	Mild	1042.7	1015.0	3.66	64.87%	7.00	1.14
1939	XLK (trade)	Pale Ale	1045.7	1017.0	3.80	62.80%	7.50	1.37
1939	PA	Pale Ale	1052.5	1014.5	5.03	72.38%	7.50	1.54
1936	BS	Stout	1051.1	1017.0	4.51	66.72%	6.37	1.48
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/621 and ACC/2305/01/623.

Let's Brew - 1936 Perry XX

Something very special today, courtesy of Liam and the local studies department of Laois county library. An Irish Mild Ale.

Though it isn’t usually associated with Ireland, there was some Mild Ale brewed there. Not by Guinness, nor by the big Cork breweries Murphy and Beamish & Crawford. Instead it was produced in small quantities by breweries in more rural places. Such as Rathdowney where Perry was located.

While bearing a name, XX, that was typical of stronger English Milds, Perry’s version was, in some ways, quite different. For one thing, at 1047º, it was stronger than even a 6d London Mild, which wouldn’t be any stronger than 1043º, at most.

There’s one simple explanation for this: beer in Ireland was stronger. In 1939 average OG in Ireland was 1051.12º while in England it was just 1040.93º.  Though this figure was distorted by the high percentage of Stout brewed in Ireland.

The grist is extremely simple, just base malt, a tiny quantity of black malt and a little malt extract. The big difference with UK brewing is the lack of sugar and adjuncts. In many ways it resembles a late-19th century English Mild. For example, the colour, which is definitely on the pale side.

The hopping rate is quite high. Though that was balanced out by the hops being quite old: Oregon from the 1933 harvest and English from 1933 and 1934. I’ve reduced the quantity by about a third to take this into account, but it still leaves it at over 30 (calculated) IBUs.

1936 Perry XX
pale malt	10.75 lb	98.22%
black malt	0.07 lb	0.64%
malt extract	0.125 lb	1.14%
Cluster 145 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1047
FG	1012
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	74.47%
IBU	35
SRM	7
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	164º F
Boil time	145 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

East Anglian Brown Ale after WW II

The final installment about Brown Ale just after WW II. It's not exactly been a white-knuckle ride. At least I'm back working on my book. I've been very lazy the past month. Which is unusual for me. With writing. I'm lazy as fuck in every other aspect of my life.

As a fairly rural part of the country, I’d expect beers from East Anglia to be on the weak side. And I’d be right. The average OG is equal lowest with the South. Though there is only one example under 1030º, the others aren’t much above it. They all look very much like bottled Ordinary Mild in terms of strength.

The colour looks about right, too, for Mild. They’re all reasonably dark brown, but nothing too extreme at either end of the colour spectrum. But, in general, a good bit paler than London versions of the style. Where the palest was 80 and a good percentage over 100.

There’s some variation in the rate of attenuation. Again, nothing too extreme, from 69% to 85%. Which average out to about average attenuation.

Considering the strength, prices seem relatively high. The average is one of the highest at 19.5d per pint. Which, considering you get a pint of draught Mild in London for 13-14d, is quite a lot.

East Anglian Brown Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1951	East Anglian Brewery	Brown Ale	28	1032.6	1008.3	3.15	74.54%	100
1948	Lacons	Brown Ale	19	1031.2	1009.6	2.79	69.23%	80
1952	Morgans	Brown Ale	22	1034.7	1005.2	3.84	85.01%	71
1952	Steward & Patteson	Brown Ale	23	1032.5	1010.3	2.87	68.31%	67
1946	Tollemache	Golden Brown	13	1029.2	1006.1	3.00	79.11%	83
1947	Tollemache	Brown Ale	16	1030.4	1006.8	3.06	77.63%	67
1950	Tollemache	Brown Ale	15	1030.1	1005.6	3.18	81.40%	61
1952	Tollemache	Brown Ale	20	1032.5	1007.7	3.22	76.31%	80
	Average		19.5	1031.7	1007.5	3.14	76.44%	76.1
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Scottish Brown Ale after WW II

While the Scottish beer market was out of step with that in England in many ways, that didn’t extend to Brown Ale. The style was popular both sides of the border, despite Mild Ale being pretty much dead in Scotland. Not sure exactly why what was essentially bottled Mild should have fared so well.

Knowing how most brewers operated in Scotland, I’m fairly certain that the majority of Scottish Brown Ales were standard Pale Ales coloured up at racking time. Perhaps with some extra primings added, too. The ones in the low 1030ºs look like they have a 70/- base, while those under 1030º look like 60/-.

There are a couple of outliers in the table: the stronger Murray example and Younger’s Double Century Ale. I assume that the former was intended for the Northeast of England, where that type of Brown Ale, in the form of Newcastle Brown or Vaux Double Maxim, was common. Not sure if Double Century Ale was marketed as a Brown Ale, but it falls nicely into this category.

I can’t see any huge stylistic difference with English versions. Though the colour was generally on the darker side. The attenuation is generally lower, 70% as opposed to 75% to 80% in England. Though there are examples of around 80%. Generally, the rate of attenuation seems to have been lower for all styles in Scotland.

Scottish Brown Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1949	Calder	Nut Brown Ale	22	1033.7	1011.6	2.86	65.58%	65
1950	Calder	Nut Brown Ale	24	1034.3	1011.4	2.96	66.76%	71
1949	McEwan	Nut Brown Ale		1029.5	1006	3.05	79.66%
1949	Murray	Brown Ale	12	1037.8	1010	3.60	73.54%	115
1950	Murray	Brown Ale	24	1057.1	1013.4	5.69	76.53%	83
1947	Steel Coulson	Brown Ale		1028.5	1005	3.05	82.46%
1949	Younger, Wm.	Brown Ale	14	1033.6	1011.2	2.90	66.67%	115
1950	Younger, Wm.	Brown Ale	22	1032.6	1011.4	2.74	65.03%	180
1954	Younger, Wm.	Double Century Ale	36	1056.6	1023.3	4.29	58.83%	80
	Average		22.0	1038.2	1011.5	3.46	70.56%	101.3
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document TU/6/11.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1942 Truman XXX

I'm continuing my series of WW II Burton ales ith one which, very unusually, was brewed in Burton-on-Trent. Though it would have been mostly - if not entirely - consumed in London.

This beer was brewed in a weird parti-gyle. Why weird? Because it was brewed alongside two Pale Ales - P1 Bottling and P2. And XXX is identical to P2. You would expect a Buryon to be parti-gyled with Mild Ale rather than Pale Ale. And that was often the case.

What was fermented as P2 was split, at racking time, into 90 barrels of P2 and 53 barrels of XXX. I assume that XXX was primed with some sort of caramel at racking time. It would have to be to hit the expected colour for Burton Ale or around 20 SRM. I’ve added to the recipe sufficient caramel to hit that colour.

It does sort of tally with some 1950s descriptions of Burton of being like a strong, dark Bitter. In this case, it was literally that. What’s weird is that XXX was still often parti-gyled with the Milds. Whose recipe was different, for one thing the Milds contained crystal malt, which the Pale Ale grist didn’t.

Surely people must have noticed the difference between the two versions. Particularly as the Mild parti-gyle was more lightly hopped than the Pale Ale one. Perhaps drinkers had just got used to the taste of their beer changing regularly. You’ll have noticed that the recipes are different for every year of the war. The situation with regard to raw materials was constantly changing and brewers were forced to adapt.

1942 Truman XXX
pale malt	7.00 lb	71.79%
high dried malt	1.50 lb	15.38%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	5.13%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.50 lb	5.13%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.25 lb	2.56%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.33 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1042
FG	1008
ABV	4.50
Apparent attenuation	80.95%
IBU	17
SRM	20
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1028 London Ale (Worthington White Shield)

Another discount code

(until the end of 16th April) when you can get 10% off my Lulu print books with this discount code:

LULU10

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Screensaver

Just set up the screensaver on my new PC. The one on my old PC flicked through a directory of DDR label images.

I didn't want to have just the same old images. So I added a load of DDR labels I scanned a while back. It's so cool. Just a shame that it always starts at names beginning with "A". Which isn't a total disaster as the Adler-Bräu labels are amongst my favourites.

As are some of these other beauties:

Another discount on my books

(until the end of 16th April) when you can get 10% off my Lulu print books with this discount code:

LULU10

The perfect opportunity to pick up some of my wonderful books cheaply.

Random shit

Hi there. Still transitioning from one PC to another. So a limited service is available.

Time for some random shit from the nespaper archives.

First, robbing draymen.

"AN extensive system of robbery by draymen, has been the subject of an investigation before the magistrates at the West Bromwich Police-court. Eight draymen — in the employ of Messrs. Mitchell and Co., the Crown Brewery, Cape Hill, Smethwiek — have been charged with stealing a number of barrels of ale, and several beerhouse-keepers have also been charged with receiving the stolen goods. It appeared that as far back as twelve months ago this systematic robbery commenced at the brewery by connivance amongst certain of the draymen. It scarcely seems credible that such a series of robberies could be carried on for long without detection; but in this case those whose duty it was to check deliveries seem to have been lamentably negligent. The case is not yet concluded, but one or two of the defondants have already pleaded guilty to the charge."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Friday 01 February 1884, page 7.

Wonder how they got away with it for so long? Beerhouse means something specific here, I think. It means pubs with a beer-only licence.

Now the fear of Lager flooding the UK and corrupting young working men:

"We have given up referring to the ridiculous statements which are made by speakers at the Anti- Beer Adulteration meetings now being held in different parts of Kent, but there was one lately made by the chairman of a meeting at Wingham which requires notice. The speaker, alluding to the danger to the brewing interests of this country from foreign competition, said: "That day in London, and no doubt in every other large town in the country, there were houses selling lager beer, and the young men and working men flocked to those houses where they could get it, because they said it was a pure article, and did not have the injurious effects upon them that the other beer did." Now it is ,just as well to give the exact figures to show the extent of this competition. In 1882, 17,423 barrels of foreign beer were imported into this country; as the consumption of British-brewed beer in the same year was 27,371,173 barrels, it appears that for every glass of foreign beer consumed in this country there were no less than 1,588 glasses of home brewed beer consumed; so that, in spite of "young men and working men flocking to drink lager," foreign competition cannot have very seriously affected the brewing interests of this country."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Friday 01 February 1884, page 7

 Those 17,423 barrels were most likely 100% Lager. The UK didn't import anything else. It was fuck all compared to overall consumption, mind.

.

1880s Lager again

As you may well have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with Lager in the UK. Especially in the late 19th century, when it was just becoming a thing.

There was a lot of discussion about the particular flavour of Lager and where it came from.

"The Flavour of Continental Beers.
AS is well-known, English consumers of the so-called "lager beers" are first struck by their essentially different flavour, as compared with beers of continental production, that they possess ; and various theories have been broached to explain the reason of this difference, some ascribing it to the foreign system of boiled mashes, others to the custom of coating trade casks with a vitreous enamel, while the true cause most likely is a combination of several influences, of which the most important is undoubtedly the use cf a special type of yeast, which possesses the capacity of determining the flavour peculiar to itself this flavour resembling in a great measure the well-known taste of garlic. There is nothing fresh, of course, in the fact that yeast possesses power of this kind, since M. Pasteur described how the peculiar flavour of Burton beer depended almost entirely upon a special ferment that existed in the yeast peculiar to that centre of brewing. More than one English firm has attempted to produce lager beer, but we are confident they will never succeed in imitating the exact flavour peculiar to the Continental beers of that name until they cultivate, under normal conditions, the special yeast that is used in all bottom fermentation breweries."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Thursday 01 March 1883, page 13.

In this case, the author seems to have decide that it came mostly from the yeast. Not sure how correct that is.

The oblique reference to Burton beers and Pasteur is fascinating. Could it be Brettanomyces, or a specific type of Brettanomyces, which Pasteur alluded to? It's definitely a possibility, as Stock Pale Ales like Bass definitely contained it.

Another recurring theme whenever Lager was mentioned is it non-intoxicating nature. Having seen hundreds of analyses of 19th-century Lagers, I can attest that they were mostly less alcoholic that British beers. Partly because they had lower gravities, but also because the rate of attenuation was poor: rarely higher than 65%.

"The Necessity for Non-intoxicating Beer.
THERE are certain signs that a portion of middle class society is exhibiting a tendency to prefer beer of low gravity, or brewed on bottom fermentation lines, to those more saccharine and alcoholic fluids that are chieflly produced by English brewers; and, although the experiment of producing Lager beer in England may not be at all times commercially successful, there is no doubt that a great demand would spring up for a beer of low gravity, that combined in itself qualities of brightness, soundness, constant condition, and an easy digestiblity of solid extract. The question arises whether it would be possible to produce such beer on a system somewhat akin to the German method, without the necessity for bottom fermentation, and without possessing the somewhat distinct and, to an English drinker, unpleasant palate flavour of true Lager Beer. It is perfectly evident that for a weak beer to combine the main qualities specified above, it would have to be produced from very superior material to give high dextrine percentage, and that first extract must only be diluted with liquor in place of inferior weak runnings. The necessary high percentage of dextrine might be easily attained by a modified boiled mash, and we are quite sure that with good water of moderate hardness, malt of kinds specified, and careful collection and fermentation of wort, there would be no difficulty in producing a 15 lb. beer of very commendable quality. Brewers' Journal."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Tuesday 01 April 1884, page 14.

Of course, it would be many decades before drinkers really adopted Lager in any numbers. Note again the mention of Lager's peculiar flavour.

Drinkers did eventually move over to weaker beers, but not really voluntarily. Mostly as a result of WW I. The 15 lbs gravity mentioned is 1042º - just about exactly what average strength was between the wars.

Let's Brew - 1942 Fullers BO

Barclay Perkins wasn't the only brewery in London making a Burton Ale in 1942. The much smaller Fullers had their own version: BO. Standing for "Burton Old".

Wartime didn’t removed the need for London pubs to have something a bit stronger and darker. Especially in the dark winter months. Ones which were even darker with the blackout.

Burton was the beer. One whose name confused the hell out of me for a long time. Weirdly, I have an East German book from the 1970’s which correctly describes Burton Ale. Radical.

Fuller’s Burton remains the sort of souped-up Mild I wish I had available in my youth. You jammy London bastards.  I was going to say that you’d cruelly dropped then before my time in the capital. Then I recall Winter Warmer. The last London Burton Ale.

Were they brewing loads of BO? No, obviously. But a reasonable amount. This parti-gyle was split, in barrels, 82, 58 and 241 between BO, XX and X, respectively.

Not far away from 5% ABV – happy days, if you can find BO.

1942 Fullers BO
pale malt	8.50 lb	81.93%
flaked barley	1.50 lb	14.46%
glucose	0.25 lb	2.41%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.20%
Fuggles 90 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1044.5
FG	1008
ABV	4.83
Apparent attenuation	82.02%
IBU	23
SRM	12.5
Mash at	148º F
After underlet	152º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	61.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Thailand

Somewhat of an emergency post this. I'm in the process of swapping to a new PC and my data hasn't yet been copied over. Which sort of buggers most types of post.

I might have decided not to post what I've written about my trip to Thailand. But that oesn't mean that I can't show you some pretty pictures.

Unbelievably, for someone who hates the sun as much as I do, I was on two beaches within. The space of a week. And two beaches on opposite sides of the world. No-one will be saying that for a while.

I didn't drink anything very interesting in Thailand. Mostly Singha of Chang. Though I did manage to find a 6.5% beer in one. I can't remember it's name. It wasn't a particularly memorable beer, but it did have more umph than the standard Lagers.

In more normal times, I'd like to go back. And experience Bangkok properly. Who knows when that might be.