Special Bitter adjuncts and sugars in the 1970s

Yes. Even more about 1970s Bitter. And I'm not even posting everything I've written. I've currently 36,000 words on 1970s beers.

Not a great deal going on in adjunct land. Just three of them. And no more than one of them in any beer. The adjunct content averages out to just 5%.

Old favourite flaked maize only turns up, in modest quantities, in Abbey Ale. There’s rather more flaked barley in Abbey Ale. Slightly exceeded by Truman, with their unusual attachment to pearl barley.

Moving quickly on, sugars. Quite a few of them, again.

OK. Not many that I know bugger all about. Malt extract. We know the deal there. It’s been added to the mash tun for extra enzymes. No.3, would be normal in a Mild. And maybe in small amounts in a Bitter. Over 12% of the grist is a crazy amount for the style.

While the average sugar content is around 13%, a couple of the examples, Abbey Ale and County Ale, contain much more. The former being not far short of 20%. Which about as much sugar as you ever see in a beer.

I’ve already said often enough how clueless I am about the proprietary sugars. No need to repeat it here. 

Special Bitter adjuncts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	flaked maize	flaked barley	pearl barley	total adjuncts
1971	Shepherd Neame	Abbey Ale	3.82%			3.82%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Royal Oak				0.00%
1969	Truman	Ben Truman			8.89%	8.89%
1969	Fremlin	County Ale		7.54%		7.54%
	Average					5.06%
Sources:
As in the table above.

Special Bitter sugars 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	malt extract	no. 3 sugar	cane sugar	Wortex	Flow-sweet	WSI	caramel	total sugar
1971	Shep. Neame	Abbey Ale	0.64%	12.74%		6.37%				19.75%
1981	Eld. Pope	Royal Oak					8.77%			8.77%
1969	Truman	Ben Truman			2.96%			1.48%		4.44%
1969	Fremlin	County Ale						17.87%	0.05%	17.92%
	Average									12.72%
Sources:
As in the table above.

Ireland here I come

The nice people at the Guinness archive are letting me drop by. And, while I'm over, I may as well do as much harvesting as I can.

Like the Perry stuff at the Laois County Library. Filling in a few, of the gaps, in my knowledge of Irish brewing. Filling more in would be great.

I've been asked about writing a book om Irish brewing. Maybe I will, if I can scrape together enough information.

I know they have some brewing records in the Cork archives. But I'm damned if I can find them in their online catalogue. If you can help a poor oldie person to find the relevant documents, do let me know.

Probably in April I'll be over. Any other archive suggestions are very welcome.

Ireland here I come

The nice people at the Guinness archive are letting me drop by. And, while I'm over, I may as well do as much harvesting as I can.

Like the Perry stuff at the Laois County Library. Filling in a few, of the gaps, in my knowledge of Irish brewing. Filling more in would be great.

I've been asked about writing a book om Irish brewing. Maybe I will, if I can scrape together enough information.

I know they have some brewing records in the Cork archives. But I'm damned if I can find them in their online catalogue. If you can help a poor oldie person to find the relevant documents, do let me know.

Probably in April I'll be over. Any other archive suggestions are very welcome. 

Can I add that I'm a bit obsessed with Cairnes. No idea why. These things just take me.

Special Bitter malts in the 1970s

More about Bitter in the 1970s. I hope you're not getting bored by this stuff. But I am trying to write a book. It does take quite a lot of time and effort. In the vague chance that you might be interested, "Keg!" is currently just shy of 100,000 words and 313 pages.

Each of the four beers contains more than just the base pale malt. Though in the case of County Ale, it’s just enzymic malt. Which I can’t imagine had any impact on the flavour.

Two out of four contain crystal malt. See? Crystal malt wasn’t universally employed in any class of Bitter. I wonder if use of crystal malt was tied to home brewing? If you’re brewing with malt extract, as many home brewers did in the 1970s, steeping crystal malt is a way of adding an extra dimension to your Bitter.

Amber malt, as in Abbey Ale, seems like an odd choice. Especially as it wasn’t a malt which was much used at the time. No wonder the beer turned out so dark.

Who would have expected half the examples to contain wheat? Perhaps someone with knowledge of brewing practices at the time. I always assume its presence is for heading purposes.

What can I say about enzymic malt? Other than that it’s weird how many brewers persisted in using it. Was it really to help conversion?

An average malt content of 82% is fairly high. But that is a little less that the 85% of Best Bitter. 

Special Bitter malts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	crystal malt	amber malt	wheat malt	enzymic malt	total malt
1971	Shepherd Neame	Abbey Ale	61.15%	5.73%	5.73%	3.82%		76.43%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Royal Oak	76.57%	8.67%		5.98%		91.23%
1969	Truman	Ben Truman	86.67%					86.67%
1969	Fremlin	County Ale	70.36%				4.19%	74.54%
	Average							82.22%
Sources:
As in the table above.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1898 Cairnes Ale

This to give you a preview of what a discussion of Irish Mild Ale might include. And who doesn't like a nice strong Mild recipe?

One step up from Table Beer is something simply called “Ale”. A term, which, in the 19th century, usually referred to Mild Ale. I’m assuming that’s what this is. An Irish Mild Ale.

It’s a type of beer which, until I got my hands on some Irish brewing records, I was very much in the dark about. Seeing as it gets pretty much zero attention in contemporary brewing literature. Which focuses completely on Stout. I guess English brewers weren’t really interested in Irish Mild.

At 1067º, it’s a good bit stronger than a London X Ale, which, at the time, was around 1055º. It’s around the strength that an XX Ale would have been, had anyone still brewed one in London.

In essence, it’s a scaled-up version of Table Beer. With the same three elements: base malt, sugar and caramel.  The sugar being simply described as “Sacch.” I’ve plumped for No. 2, it being a fairly neutral choice.

The result isn’t a particularly dark beer. Though more colour could have been added through primings.

Just the one type of English hops, for which I’ve guessed Fuggles. A fairly robust hopping rate, leaves a fairly bitter beer.

1898 Cairnes Ale
pale malt	13.35 lb	91.38%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	8.56%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.07%
Fuggles 120 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1067
FG	1017
ABV	6.61
Apparent attenuation	74.63%
IBU	64
SRM	9
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

 

 

 

 

1970s Special Bitter

You can see how far I've got in my book "Keg!". Just about all the way through draught Bitter. I'm cracking on so well, that almost all that's left are the annoying bits I need to research more. 

 Though I did remember that I have all those technical brewing journals from the 1970s. Ones I've never really looked at. Full of rabbit holes, I'm sure.But, what the hell? I' retired. Time is one thing I've loads of. At least for now.

Only one type of Bitter left: Special Bitter. Not as many of these, as by no means every brewery produced one.

A slightly lower degree of attenuation than in the other types of Bitter. Though the high gravities mean that all are above 4% ABV. And Fremlin County Ale manages to just top 5% ABV.

The hopping rate per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, at 5.5 lbs, is the highest, by a shade, of all the Bitter types. No shock, then, that the bitterness levels are also the highest, though only very slightly.

A couple of the beers have very dark colours for the style. Especially Abbey Ale which is darker than some Milds. Though a particularly pale Ben Truman keeps the average colour around the same as for Best Bitter. 

Special Bitter 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	colour	IBU
1971	Shepherd Neame	Abbey Ale	1044.3	1014.0	4.01	68.41%	5.59	1.05	50	28
1981	Eldridge Pope	Royal Oak	1048.2	1013.9	4.54	71.26%	4.33	0.74	40	20
1969	Truman	Ben Truman	1046.8	1010.0	4.87	78.70%	4.13	0.76	16	18
1969	Fremlin	County Ale	1049.5	1011.5	5.03	76.77%	7.99	1.45	26*	41
	Average		1047.2	1012.3	4.61	73.79%	5.51	1.00	33.0	26.8
Sources:
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery, Brewing book 1971 H-5O5.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Arrchives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/93.
Note:
Colour and IBU values marked with * were taken from brewery sources rather than calculated.

An Irish idea

Despite my advanced years, I still get ideas. Not necessarily new or interesting ones. But ideas all the same. I'm just happy that I still have anything going on upstairs.

I was fortunate enough to be sent some brewing records from a couple of Irish Ale breweries: Cairnes and Perry. I find them fascinating. As they demonstrate that Irish brewing was about a lot more than just Stout and Red Ale. Comparing and contrasting with beers brewed on the other side of the Irish Sea is dead instructive.

I would bang out a book on the topic. Except I have nothing like enough information about Irish beer.Just a couple of snapshots rather than a full-length documentary film. Frustrating, but I need to be realistic.

The material I have, however, would make a dead good talk. There's more than enough to fill 45 minutes of me waffling on. Looking at Irish beers of the 1890s and /or 1930s at comparing them to ones from similar-sized English and Scottish brewers. All I need to do is find someone willing to host it.

Anyone care to give it a punt? Anywhere in Ireland is fine by me. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I just want a good excuse to write it. I hate leaving good material unused.

If you would like to host me, get in touch. I'm incredibly flexible as to dates. If you have a brewery, recipes could be arranged. Irish, English, and Scottish. I've loads of interesting ones.

Let's Brew - 1952 Shepherd Neame SS

This is a weird one. Something I’ve only seen Scottish brewers do before: parti-gyle a Stout with a Pale Ale.

How did they do that? By adding black malt and caramel to just one of the coppers. Hey presto! Pale Ale is now Stout. Though they did also end up with a Pale Ale that contained malted oats. I wonder if anyone ever noticed?

Compared to Shepherd Neame’s other recipes, this one looks insanely complicated. A massive three types of malt, plus sugar and caramel. I’ve increased the quantity of black because, as it was added in the copper, it would have added more colour than if it were mashed. 

1952 Shepherd Neame SS
pale malt	5.75 lb	77.91%
black malt	0.75 lb	10.16%
malted oats	0.25 lb	3.39%
raw cane sugar	0.25 lb	3.39%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	4.47%
malt extract	0.05 lb	0.68%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1030
FG	1008
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	73.33%
IBU	21
SRM	36
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	WLP007 Dry English Ale

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

There's also a Kindle edition.

Off licences in the 1970s

In contrast to on-licences, there was considerable growth in the number of off-licences during the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1979, after a long period of relatively stable numbers, off-licences increased by not far short of 30%. A significant enlargement.

You can see exactly how this went in the table below.

It wasn’t just pubs which were tied by brewers. Many off licences were. This was a combination of pubs – where a on-premises licence usually also granted an off-premises one, too – and stand-alone shops.

The simple explanation for this, as with pretty much anything to do with brewing history, is licensing legislation. Temperance-tinged licensing authorities weren’t only in a tizzy about the number of pubs. They didn’t want an expansion of any licences. Including those for off sales.

Brewers reacted by taking control of as many off-sale locations as they could. The lack of licences given to shops is why some pubs had a dedicated out-sales entrance.

The pub closest to our ancestral home on Wilfred Avenue, the Turk’s Head, was demolished and rebuilt in the 1950s. The layout of the new pub was an archetype of the time. Two rooms, either side of the entrance, lounge to the left, public bar to the right.

But, tacked on behind the public bar bogs was a single-storey extension. Which was an off-licence. Not just a door and a counter, but a dedicated, stand-alone shop. The pub is now a Vets. The off-licence closed many years before the pub.

Some off-licences had cask beer. I can remember a couple in Leeds with hand-pulled Tetley’s Mild and Bitter. I wonder if they were tied?

It might seem odd now, but most supermarkets weren’t licensed in the 1970s. And, in those that were, the alcohol was in a separate, gated section only accessible by adults. 

England and Wales Number of off licences 1970 - 1979
Date	Off Licences
1970	27,910
1971	28,166
1972	28,808
1973	29,710
1974	30,556
1975	31,644
1976	32,595
1977	33,758
1978	35,009
1979	36,182
change	29.64%
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1971, page 83.
2011 Statistical Handbook of the BBPA, page 74

Boys Bitter adjuncts in the 1970s

A fairly short post today. More of the stuff I'm currently working on for "Keg!".

In case you think you could assemble the book yourself from my blog posts I'll warn you that this is a first draught. And the version published might well have minor, or even major, alterations.

Time for the adjuncts. Of which there aren’t a great number. Only half the examples contain any at all.

Flaked maize was the favourite adjunct for most of the 20th century. Yet only appears in the Maclay beer. The only other adjuncts are two forms of barley in the Truman beer. Including their own speciality, pearl barley. Which turns up in all their beers, other than the Lager.

The percentage of adjuncts averages out to around 5%. Though only half the beers contained any. And for those that did, the quantity was over 10%. 

Boys Bitter adjuncts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	flaked maize	flaked barley	pearl barley	total adjuncts
1971	Maclay	PA 6d	11.31%			11.31%
1971	Shepherd Neame	Best Bitter				0.00%
1969	Truman	LK		2.42%	7.97%	10.39%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Dorchester Bitter				0.00%
	Average					5.43%
Sources:
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/46.
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery, Brewing book 1971 H-5O5,
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.

What will replace IPA?

As someone whose beer perspective goes back as far as the Babylonians, I'm well aware that all styles have their day. Waxing and waning with technological changes and the fashions of the day. Making the eventual downfall of IPA ineluctable. (Pils is also doomed, however ubiquitous it now is.)

While not have reached total saturation point quite yet, IPA is already pushing its luck with ridiculous variations. Like Cold IPA. The style is surely not far from falling off a cliff. But what could possibly replace it? Becoming the default order of the lazy customer at the craft beer bar.

It's not easy to predict. Craft beer consumers being, to say the least, a fickle bunch. Always in search of the newest thing.

The style would have to have an easy to pronounce name, not be stupidly strong, but also with a decent amount of oomph. Easy for others to see what you're drinking, so visually distinctive in some way. And not sour.

Weighing all these factors, my guess is: Dark Mild.

But, just like IPA, this would be given an American twist. How similar are American IPAs to the ones brewed in the UK in the 20th century? Hardly at all. American Mild would be the same.

First, the ABV would have to increase. To around 6%. Easily justified: "This is what 19th-century Milds were like." And no pissing around with a pale brown colour, they would be dark. Very dark.

And, to contrast with old-man's IPA, there would be almost no trace of hops. After a while, breweries would get into an IBU arms race, seeing who could hit the lowest number. With some brewers even claiming to have negative IBUs in their Milds.

Colour would be another battleground, with brewers trying to get the darkest possible beers, boasting ridiculous SRM values. Some would eventually resemble ink.

Then all the different variations would kick off: Double Mild, Imperial Mild, Cold Mild, Hazy Mild, Wheat Mild, English Mild, Belgian Mild, Session Mild and, inevitably, White Mild and Barrel-aged Mild.

Plant scientists would develop new barley varieties with new flavours. While maltsters would experiment with new types of malt. Leading to shortages of the most fashionable types, causing some brewers to discontinue their flagship Milds.

The future is looking great.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1884 Mew Langton Porter

Just for a change, not a recipe from a book I'm plugging. But from one I've yet to finish. "Free!" my account of beer ion the UK from 1880 to 1914.

I haven't looked at the manuscript for a while, being busy with other books. It's in a funny state. Some bits are pretty much done. In particular, the introductory sections about the industry, ingredients, equipment and processes. Then there are the beer styles. Ranging from finished to not started.

I couldn't help tinkering a bit as I looked through. Especially bits which I could tell were taken from "Beer, Ale and Malt Liquor"manuscript, which I wrote more than a decade ago. It reads really weird to me. Not how I would write now at all.

Anyway, on with the book excerpt.

One of the big surprises of Mew Langton’s records was the amount of Porter they brewed. Outside of London and Ireland, Porter wasn’t that popular any more. Not sure why that was. Maybe the Isle of Wight was just a bit behind the times.

Mew’s Porter looks very similar to London-brewed versions, both in terms of gravity and recipe. For a start, there’s 10% brown malt. Most brewers outside London had dropped brown malt long before the 1880s, preferring a simple pale and black malt combination.

In addition to the malts, there’s a sugar described as “Natal”. I’ve assumed that’s some sort of raw cane sugar. Which seems reasonable enough.

The only real difference with a London Porter is the hopping, which is noticeably more restrained. Half of the hops were from Kent, the rest split between America and Bavaria. All from the 1883 crop. 

1884 Mew Langton Porter
pale malt	7.75 lb	68.13%
brown malt	1.125 lb	9.89%
black malt	0.75 lb	6.59%
brown sugar	1.75 lb	15.38%
Cluster 90 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.50 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1055
FG	1013
ABV	5.56
Apparent attenuation	76.36%
IBU	41
SRM	30
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ale

Boys Bitter malts 1969 - 1981

Oh look – all the examples have a base of pale malt. Who would have guessed that? Though, to be fair, I’ve seen Bitters that employed mild malt as part, or all, of the base.

One of the drums I often plaintively bang is about the role of crystal malt in Bitter. About how recent a development it is, basically post-WW II. It turns up in three of the beers, though in a fairly small quantity in Trumans. Scottish brewers never acquired the crystal malt habit, as is shown here by Maclay.

The wheat malt is a slightly odd one. Probably present for head retention. Wheat pops up in various forms in Bitters, presumably always with the same purpose.

At a bit over 80%, the total malt content is a little higher than in the Mild Ales we looked at earlier. 

Boys Bitter malts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	crystal malt	wheat malt	total malt
1971	Maclay	PA 6d	79.18%			79.18%
1971	Shepherd Neame	Best Bitter	78.87%	7.73%		86.60%
1969	Truman	LK	74.52%	1.28%		75.80%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Dorchester Bitter	70.39%	7.97%	5.50%	83.87%
	Average					81.36%
Sources:
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/46.
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery, Brewing book 1971 H-5O5,
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.

 

 

Inside 1970s Bitter

Let’s take a closer look at what went into these Bitter Beers of the 1970s. But, because I have quite a lot of examples, I’m going to divide them up by strength.

Starting with what I’m going to call Boys Bitter. It’s a term that was only used in the Southwest and referred to a very weak class of Bitter, which often took the place of Mild Ale. Though only one of the examples, Dorchester Bitter is from that part of the country. Most of these beers could easily pass for a Light Mild.

The Maclay beer is their 60/-, something which often masqueraded as Mild. Especially as it was usually coloured dark brown. Despite being called a Pale Ale by the brewery. 6d, incidentally is the retail price per pint. Or, at least, was the retail price in the 1930s.It cost many times that in 1971.

Despite being of a very watery OG, Decent rates of attenuation leave even the weakest around 3% ABV. With Truman’s example managing to squeeze almost 3.5% ABV.

The hopping isn’t exactly what you’d call intense, averaging a fairly modest 5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Which gives an average of just under 20 (calculated) IBU.

A range of colours is present, starting at 21 for the Truman beer, which is about as Pale as Bitters usually got. While the 32 of the Maclay is on the dark end.

Boys Bitter 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	colour	IBU
1971	Maclay	PA 6d	1030	1008	2.91	73.33%	5.08	0.64	32	23
1971	Shepherd Neame	Best Bitter	1030.2	1008.0	2.94	73.50%	5.98	0.74	24	21
1969	Truman	LK	1030.7	1004.7	3.44	84.68%	5.32	0.63	21	17
1981	Eldridge Pope	Dorchester Bitter	1032.7	1008.9	3.15	72.88%	4.33	0.50	32	16
	Average		1030.9	1007.4	3.11	76.10%	5.18	0.63	27.3	19.3
Sources:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/93.
Elgood brewing record held at the brewery.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/46.
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery, Brewing book 1971 H-5O5,
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Note:
Colour and IBU values marked with * were taken from brewery sources rather than calculated.