Hops in WW II

Britain was in a far less vulnerable position in regard to hop supply in WW II than it had been in WW I, for the simple fact that the UK was far less dependent on imports.

In 1914, the UK was far from self-sufficient in hops. Large quantities of hops were imported, the biggest source by far being the USA. Hops were still travelling East across the Atlantic in 1939, but in nothing like the quantities they had been before WW I.

The main other sources of hop imports were central Europe, which provided classy one like Hallertau and Saaz, and Belgium which provided cheap and cheerful Poperinge.

Due to shortages, the government compelled brewers to reduce their hopping rates:

"Consumption of hops by brewers was cut in June, 1941, under instructions of the Ministry of Food, by 20% of the rate used per standard barrel."
1955 Brewers' Almanack, page 64.

Problems with hop supply began early in the war:

"The reduction in hop supplies has been serious. In June, 1941, a 20 per cent cut was imposed in the gross amount available to the trade. The actual quantity which passed through the Hops Marketing Board (which controls hops and their distribution) was 75 per cent of the total brewers' nominations. These nominations would have been the same in 1941 as the consumption during the datum year, if as many standard barrels had been brewed as in that year. But in 1942 the nominations, themselves, had to be cut by 20 per cent, and then only 80 per cent of the nominations were available, i.e., 64 per cent of the prewar quantities. In the present year hop rates in practice are about 1 to 1.2 lb per standard barrel, i.e., about 0.3 per cent, whereas in normal times this would have been almost double.

Hops are obtainable only under license, and a brewer who runs short may apply to the Brewers' Society for permission to secure a further allowance from his nominated merchants. Brewers usually carry a stock of hops over from one season to the next, new hops rarely being used. By now all reserves of this kind have been used up and brewers are living from hand to mouth; in many cases they have to use the new season's hops as soon as these are delivered. Matters were not helped during the London blitz back in late 1940, when some 50,000 pockets of hops were burnt. It was also on this occasion that the historic building, Brewers' Hall — the home of the Institute of Brewing — was completely destroyed."
"Wallenstein Laboratories Communications, December 1943, Volume VI, number 19" pages 156 - 157.

 This is an excerpt from, if all goes well, will be my 2020 book. Can you guess what the subject is?

Hop and hop product imports 1938 - 1949
Year ended 31st March	Hops	Hop Oil	Hop Extracts. Essences, and similar Preparations	Net Receipts from Duty
	Cwt.	Oz.	Oz.	£
1938	45,336	125	487	177,660
1939	44,056	101	—	170,930
1940	2,024	72	—	7,860
1941	11,055	32	—	42,009
1942	171	161	24,392	883
1943	3,254	684	7,712	13,669
1944	134	100	209,152	1,479
1945	30	—	967,061	4,413
1946	563	—	3,558,892	18,118
1947	26,928	—	1,424,748	113,937
1948	7,766	—	—	30,710
1949	§174	—	—	738
§ Excess of Drawbacks.
Source:
1955 Brewers' Almanack, page 64.

US Northwest in May

I've got either end of the trip in Seattle sorted out. Now I just need the sandwich filling.

I'm looking at setting up a couple of events in Idaho and Montana. These are the days that I need to fill:

Sunday 17th May
Monday 18th May
Tuesday 19th May
Wednesday 20th May

I'm pretty easy about exactly where, though I do need to be able to get there easily from Seattle.

If you're a brewery or a home brew club and would like to hear one of the world's leading beer historians*, get in touch.





* There are only around a dozen of us.

Beers on sale in a post-war pub

I just came across this rather useful price list from just after the war.

Useful, in that is shows the range of beers on sale. At least the ones brewed by Flowers themselves. There's at least one beer from another brewer excluded: Guinness Extra Stout.

The selection isn't enormous. Just two draught and four bottled beers. The draughts are what you would expect: Bitter and Mild. Not many surprises in the bottles, either: a strong Pale Ale, Light Ale, Brown Ale and Stout. It's about the minimum you would expect from an English brewery.

"RETAIL PRICES
Flower’s Ales and Stout directed to he sold by Flower and Sons, Ltd., at all their houses throughout the Midland Counties

DRAUGHT BEERS
Description	LOUNGE, SMOKE ROOM AND AND BEST BAR	PUBLIC BAR AND OUTDOOR
India Pale Ale	1/4d. per pint	1/3d. per pint
XXX Mild Ale	1/3d. per pint	1/2d. per pint

BOTTLED BEERS
Description	LOUNGE, SMOKE ROOM AND AND BEST BAR		PUBLIC BAR AND OUTDOOR
	Large	Small	Large	Small
India Pale Ale "Gold Top"	-	1/1.5d.	-	1/1d.
Light Bitter Beer "Red Top"	1/4d.	8.5d.	1/3d.	8d.
Brown Ale "Brown Top"	1/4d.	8.5d.	1/3d.	8d.
Flower‘s Stout "Yellow Top"	1/5d.	9d.	1/4d.	8.5d.

FLOWER'S ALE
The Famous Ale from Stratford - upon - Avon."
Leamington Spa Courier - Friday 15 October 1948, page 6.

 One of the reasons I was so keen on finding this particular price list is that I've a Flowers brewing record from just a few years later. The beer range is considerably more extensive.

Flowers beers in 1955
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
PX	Pale Ale	1030.3	1011.5	2.49	62.05%	6.00	0.79
LA	Pale Ale	1030	1007	3.04	76.67%	6.00	0.78
Green Label	Pale Ale	1047	1015	4.23	68.09%	7.24	1.34
BX	Brown Ale	1030.4	1009	2.83	70.39%	5.02	0.59
IPA	IPA	1034.2	1009	3.33	73.68%	7.59	0.98
OB	Pale Ale	1043.4	1011	4.29	74.65%	7.23	1.23
PX	Pale Ale	1030.4	1011	2.57	63.82%	6.19	0.73
XXX	Mild	1032.4	1010	2.96	69.14%	5.08	0.65
Shakespeare Ale	Strong Ale	1075.4	1027	6.40	64.19%	8.86	2.66
Stout	Stout	1039.8	1014.5	3.35	63.57%	7.17	1.14
Source:
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust DR227/215 Brewing Record Book No 2

Some are easy to match up with the price list. IPA and XXX are obviously the two draught beers. BX and LA look like the Brown Ale and Light Bitter.

The bottled Stout and IPA are trickier. At over 2 shillings a pint, bottled IPA was obviously a different beer from the draught version. Green Label or OB would be my guess. At just about 1040º, the Stout in the brewing record looks too strong to retail for just 1d more per pint than the Light Bitter and Brown Ale. My guess is that this version had a lower OG, somewhere around 1035º.

Just reminding you of my tacky merchandise

Mostly Barclay Perkins themed. Or DDR. One of the two. They are two of my favourite obsessions, after all.


make custom gifts at Zazzle

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1855 Truman EI Contract IPA

Truman dabbled with brewing Pale Ale even before they acquired a brewery in Burton.

Their Contract Pale Ale is particularly interesting, being a beer specifically brewed for the East India Company. The company regularly placed advertisements asking breweries to submit tenders for Pale Ale and Porter to be shipped to India.

To all those who insist that IPA is and always has been a strong beer, I’ll point out that this was the lowest OG beer Truman brewed. Their weakest Mild had a gravity of 1066º and even their Porter was 1057º.

At a time when breweries regularly used hops that were two, three or even five years old, it’s worth noting that this beer, which was brewed in November, used all 1855 season hops. So about as fresh as hops get. So for once I’ve not reduced the hopping rate to account for hop deterioration over time. The hops are described as MK, i.e. Mid Kent, in the brewing record.

Unsurprisingly, the grist is 100% pale malt. As were most beers other than Porter and Stout at the time. Not really much else I can say, is there?

1855 Truman EI Contract IPA
pale malt	12.75 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1055
FG	1014
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	74.55%
IBU	121
SRM	5
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	69º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

The above is one of the many recipes in my book Let's Brew!

And I've recently created a Kindle version of the book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08348M2D7

2d per pint extra for high gravity beer

One of the unique features of tax rises in the first half of the 20th century is that they usually amounted to an increase in 1d per pint, retail.

At least that's what was usually claimed. But, as the tax was related to the gravity of the beer, the situation was, in reality, more complicated. The 1d was based on average strength beer. Obviously the increase would be greater for a beer of greater strength.

"TWOPENCE A PINT EXTRA ON HIGHER GRAVITY
As a result of the new Budget tax, higher gravity beers will be increased 2d. a pint, and not 1d. per pint as had been generally understood.

At a meeting of Derby and District Bottlers' Association yesterday the chairman said that it was very necessary to make it clear to the public that the new tax was on a gravity basis and that gravity beers are affected to a much greater degree than 1d. a pint.

The meeting fixed prices as under for Guinness Extra Stout, Bass Pale Ale, Worthington I.P.A., and Younger's No. 3 Scotch Ale delivered for home consumption as from Monday next: Bass, Worthington and Younger's, 12s. 6d. per doz. pints, 6s. 6d. per doz. half pints, 5s. per doz. nips. Guinness E.S., 11s. 4d., 6s. 2d., and 4s. 10d. respectively.

Gravity of beer depends on the amount of alcohol, hops, malt, and barley contained. A higher gravity beer is essentially a brewed beer with a higher percentage of these ingredients than the cheaper and chemically treated kind. In most cases brewers use "X's" to indicate the strength of their ales and stouts, and those that will go up by only 1d. pint are, generally speaking, those denoted by one X." "
Derby Daily Telegraph - Saturday 27 April 1940, page 3.

I understand the basic principle. But were the beers mentioned really so strong that the tax increase was 2d per pint? Why don't we take a look?

The increase in April 1940 was from 104 shillings per standard barrel to 135 shillings. A standard barrel being 36 Imperial gallons at 1055º. Luckily, I know the gravity of all four beers mentioned. They were all well above average strength, but nothing like double as strong.

Looking at the table below, you'll see that the increase in tax for an average strength beer was about 1d per pint. For the four higher-gravity beers, it's more like 1.25d.

Effect of April 1940 tax increase
Beer	Tax in shillings	OG	tax per barrel (shillings)	tax per pint (d.)
Average OG beer	104	1041	77.53	3.23
Average OG beer	135	1041	100.64	4.19
Bass Pale Ale	104	1056	105.89	4.41
Bass Pale Ale	135	1056	137.45	5.73
Guinness Extra Stout	104	1054	102.11	4.25
Guinness Extra Stout	135	1054	132.55	5.52
Worthington IPA	104	1055	104.00	4.33
Worthington IPA	135	1055	135.00	5.63
Younger's No. 3	104	1052	98.33	4.10
Younger's No. 3	135	1052	127.64	5.32
Sources:
1955 Brewers' Almanack, pages 50 & 80.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/76.

Looks like the bottlers were taking the piss.

Given that the four beers were of very similar gravities, I wonder why Guinness Extra Stout was cheaper? What do the beers have in common? They were all nationally available.

Scottish Pale Ale in the 1950s and 1960s

Over 90% of what was brewed in Scotland was some form of Pale Ale. Most brewers produced parti-gyled Pale Ales at three strengths, and sometimes spun a Strong Ale out of the same basic recipe. It’s all pretty dull.

Most breweries produced three strengths of Pale Ale, usually parti-gyled from a single recipe, though that wasn’t the case at William Younger, who had always preferred to brew most of their beers single-gyle.

Most Scottish breweries produced a range of three Pale Ales, often referred to as 60/-, 70/- and 80/- by the brewery and Light, Heavy and Export by drinkers. Robert Younger, a relatively small Edinburgh brewer, had a larger range than most, producing a total of five.

Robert Younger Pale Ales in 1957
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
8th Aug	1957	54/-	1028	1010	2.38	64.29%	4.92	0.58
7th Aug	1957	60/-	1030	1011	2.51	63.33%	4.92	0.58
6th Aug	1957	70/-	1035	1011	3.18	68.57%	4.93	0.67
6th Aug	1957	80/-	1043	1012	4.10	72.09%	4.93	0.83
7th Aug	1957	Ex	1045	1012	4.37	73.33%	4.92	0.87
Source:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.

Note that, in typically Scottish fashion, there’s almost no difference between the FGs of the different strength beers. The hopping is very light, especially for Pale ales. As can be seen by a comparison with Whitbread’s Ales from the same year:

Whitbread's Ales in 1957
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
31st Jan	FB	Brown Ale	1033.9	1007.0	3.56	79.35%	5.27	0.74
7th Jan	IPA	IPA	1035.8	1006.5	3.88	81.84%	8.53	1.26
11th Jan	Best Ale	Mild	1030.4	1010.0	2.70	67.11%	5.56	0.71
14th Feb	PA	Pale Ale	1039.6	1008.5	4.11	78.54%	5.59	0.93
Source:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number LMA/4453/D/01/124.

Robert Younger’s Pale Ales were hopped at a lower rate than even Whitbread’s Mild and Brown Ales.

At Whitbread Best Ale, IPA and PA filled the same gravity slots as Robert Younger 60/-, 70/- and 80/-. Which demonstrates that, while 60/- wasn’t technically speaking a Mild Ale, it played the same role as it in Scotland.

Drybrough’s Pale Ales look very similar to Robert Younger’s.

Drybrough Pale Ales 1954 - 1960
Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1954	B 60/-	1031.0	1011.0	2.65	64.52%	4.48	0.57
1954	60/-	1032.0	1011.0	2.78	65.63%	4.42	0.57
1954	XXP	1043.0	1011.5	4.17	73.26%	4.42	0.79
1954	Export	1045.0	1013.5	4.17	70.00%	4.48	0.83
1960	B 60/-	1030.0	1012.0	2.38	60.00%	4.48	0.56
1960	60/-	1031.0	1012.0	2.51	61.29%	4.51	0.58
1960	B XXP	1037.0	1014.0	3.04	62.16%	4.49	0.69
1960	KH	1037.0	1014.0	3.04	62.16%	4.49	0.68
1960	XXP	1042.0	1014.0	3.70	66.67%	4.51	0.78
1960	Export	1044.0	1015.0	3.84	65.91%	4.48	0.82
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numberD/6/1/1/7.

A slightly worse rate of attenuation, but filling similar gravity slots and with a similar level of hopping. You’ll see that the names for the different strengths weren’t identical at Robert Younger and Drybrough. Both called the strongest Export and the one around 1030º 60/-. But the middle beer was 70/- at Robert Younger and KH – Keg Heavy – at Drybrough.

The above is an excerpt from my excellent book on Scottish brewing:

Which is also available in Kindle form:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q8XHBL2

I love that the lion image isn't exactly centre on the cover. All my credit. Or fault. Or blame.

Christmas beer in Boston

Despite the war having been over for a few months, the public were still concerned about their Christmas beer supply.

The situation was exacerbated by holidaying or discharged servicemen returning. Who were most likely a thisty bunch.

There was good news and bad news. There was likely to be plenty of beer for Christmas itself, but a shortage afterwards.

"Christmas Beer
WHETHER the beer supplies in Boston will be equal to the increased demand over the long Christmas week-end is a problem which is concerning most local licensees. All over the country Service men and women leave and those already discharged will be foregathering at the “local” to celebrate the first peace Christmas. And, of course, all the regular customers will be in festive mood also.

The brewery companies are optimistic. They have been hard at it brewing in quantity and dispatching every available cask and bottle. And the transport situation is not so bad as it was. Boston should have plenty of beer for everyone.

But a temporary shortage is coming. In order to give their employees well-earned rest, the brewery firms in this part of the country are closing down for three days at Christmas, and this is bound to have its effect immediately afterwards. There is likely to be a few days’ dry period at the beginning the New Year."
Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian - Saturday 22 December 1945, page 8.

It took years after the end of the war for restrictions on brewing to be lifted.

Let's Brew - 1940 Barclay Perkins London Stout

The Black Beers of Barclay Perkins get very confusing during the war. This parti-gyle – ostensibly of LS and IBS – is betrayed in its primings record to contain seven different beers.

Exactly how they achieved this, I’m unsure. Especially as one of the beers mentioned is TT, Barclay’s Porter. I can imagine how you could conjure up the other beers through blending and priming, but how do you get one as weak as TT?

Should you want the bottling version of LS, just throw in an extra 0.25 lbs of No. 3 invert sugar. Based on a later brew of BS, the primings are again the difference. It looks like LS with enough primings to raise the effective OG to 1046º.

Not sure how you’d get TT, RNS or SBS. I know the primings but not the underlying blend of LS and IBS.

As was usual with Barclay’s Stouts, there are lots of elements to the recipe. Four malts, two adjuncts and three sugars. Roast barley – atypically for London brewers – provides the dark roast element.

1940 Barclay Perkins LS
mild malt	4.00 lb	40.98%
brown malt	0.50 lb	5.12%
amber malt	1.00 lb	10.25%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	5.12%
roast barley	1.00 lb	10.25%
flaked rice	1.00 lb	10.25%
lactose	0.25 lb	2.56%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	15.37%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.10%
Fuggles 105 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1043
FG	1015
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	65.12%
IBU	31
SRM	32
Mash at	142º F
After underlet	149º F
Sparge at	172º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Christmas as a POW

This letter from a British POW in Germany provides a fascinating insight into the life of prisoners.

It makes life as a POW sound not quite so bad.

"WAR PRISONERS' CHRISTMAS
Beer and Lemonade from Nazis
"Quite a nice Christmas, but of course not anywhere near a Christmas at home," was the verdict of a British prisoner in Stalag XXI D when he wrote to his mother.

In his letter — one of the first descriptions of Christmas and the New Year received by the Red Cross and St John — he states:—

"We had from Wednesday to Monday off, and received half a Red Cross parcel extra, some bulk issue from the International Red Cross  the German Government gave us five R.M. (Reichsmarks), four bottles of beer, and lemonade.

"The cookhouse made special efforts for dinner, and most of us had saved jellies, fruits, &c., from parcels, and the table looked like a schoolgirls' treat — tree and everything. Ken and I decided to have fish cakes for dinner, Ken frying . On frying the last one, he discovered he had gone to the treacle tin for the dripping! Toffied salmon cakes — try them — they are lovely!""
The Scotsman - Friday 30 January 1942, page 7.

There are some significant differences with the life of POWs as portrayed in multiple British films. A revealing phrase being: "We had from Wednesday to Monday off". Because, while films just show POWs hanging around getting bored, that wasn't the experience of most prisoners. Only the officers got to live a life of leisure. Enlisted men had to work.

Just like in WW I. When my uncle Tom was a POW and had to work. It wasn't a happy time for him.

Not sure I'd want to try treacle-soaked fish cakes.

I doubt very much the Germans gave POWs beer in later years. There was precious little for German troops, let alone prisoners.

US Northwest in May

I'm planning a trip to the Northwest in May. And would like to cross off a couple of new states.

Idaho and Utah are in my sights. If you'd like to do some sort of beer-related shit with me, get in touch.

Third week of May is the plan.

Foggy Noggin is obviously at the heart of my trip. I'll be talking my beery stuff a couple of nights.

Fermentation after WW II

In the immediate aftermath of WW II, most breweries still employed open fermenters. Either round or rectangular in shape. By this time they were usually constructed of metal or were at least metal lined.

Fermenters were fitted with attemperators – a series of metal pipes through which cold brine was passed. This was one of the huge innovations of the late 18th-century, allowing brewers to precisely control the fermentation temperature. It led to improved beer quality and the possibility to brew year round.

Many of the older systems of fermentation/cleansing were still in use.

Dropping System
Common in the South of England, in the dropping system two vessels were employed. The wort started fermentation in a tall, round fermenter and after a certain length of time – which could vary between 12 hours and 2 or 3 days, depending on the brewery – was dropped into a lower, shallow, square vessel.

The idea was to remove much of the yeast, which was either left in the upper round or quickly settled out in the lower square. This vessel was often called a “settling square”. The transfer between the two vessels also aerated the wort and reinvigorated the fermentation.

Yorkshire Square
As the name implies, this was popular in Yorkshire, but it was also extensively employed in the Midlands. There was a main square, usually made from slate but sometimes of metal, above which there was a second chamber. The fermenting wort was pumped to the upper chamber and then allowed to drain back down, leaving most of the yeast behind.

As with the dropping system, main purposes were to remove surplus yeast and to aerate the wort. Yeast used to operating in a Yorkshire square often struggles in a standard fermenter due to not being sufficiently roused.

There are still several breweries in the UK that employ this sort of fermenter.

Burton Union
This system was once common across the UK for brewing Pale Ales and wasn’t just limited to Burton. It is not, as people today seem to think, a fermentation vessel, but a cleansing vessel. Fermentation began in a conventional open round or square and the wort was only transferred to a union after a couple of days.

A union set is a series of linked casks. In the bung-hole of each cask there’s a swan-necked pipe through which yeast-laden wort rises and spills into a trough. The trough channels the wort back into the casks leaving the yeast behind. As with the other systems described above, it’s mostly about cleansing, that is removing yeast.


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

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/austerity/23181344

Which is now also available in Kindle format.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1936 Barclay Perkins Doctor Brown

An old-fashioned Broan Ale recipe this time. Yum.

My first sighting of this beauty in the brewing records is April 1928. Which is about when I would guess the beer made its initial bow.

The second half of the 1920s, when the dust of WW I was finally being shaken off, was when many London brewers launched their version of this new style. Interpretations were diverse, but Barclay Perkins, in common with their local rival Whitbread, went for a relatively strong variant. And one brewed single-gyle, with its own specific grist.

The recipe had similarities with that of the Mild parti-gyle, including crystal malt and No. 3 invert sugar. Though it lacked the amber malt and contained rather less flaked maize.

Being honest, the grist isn’t a million miles away from Barclay’s Mild Ales. It was hopped at a similar level, too: 7.5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. It was, however, higher in gravity than any of the Milds. Because of what happened at racking.

The hops themselves were Worcester from the 1935 harvest, Mid-Kent from 1935 and Mid-Kent Goldings from 1934. All had been kept in a cold store.

The quantity of primings: 5 quarts per barrel, compared to just 2 quarts for the X Ale preceding it in the brewing book. Their addition boosted the effective OG from 1040.8º.

1936 Barclay Perkins DB
pale malt	6.00 lb	59.52%
crystal malt 60 L	1.00 lb	9.92%
flaked maize	1.25 lb	12.40%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.25 lb	12.40%
brown sugar	0.50 lb	4.96%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.08 lb	0.79%
Fuggles 150 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1046.5
FG	1016
ABV	4.03
Apparent attenuation	65.59%
IBU	30
SRM	21
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale