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04-01-2018, 08:11
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Kidd was a smallish brewery just outside London in Dartford, Kent. One for which some brewing records have been preserved due to being taken over by Courage in the late 1930s.

Based on their brew length of around 150 barrels, I estimate their annual production was between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels. To put that into perspective, in 1917 Whitbread brewed 578,502 barrels.* And they weren’t even the largest brewery in London.

Kidd brewed a range of six beers in early 1917, most likely fewer than they had been making at the start of the war. As the war progressed breweries gradually discontinued less popular beers and ones with high gravities. By the time the war ended, many were just brewing four or five beers.

Surprisingly, the weakest beer of the bunch is the only Pale Ale, BB. Which I’m guessing stood for Best Bitter. Both BB and XXXX were very heavily hopped. 14-15 lbs per quarter is about as high as a hopping rate got at that time. The other beers all have a similar level of hopping as equivalent London beers. And London was well-known for hoppy beers.

These are the Kidd beers:



Kidd beers in early 1917


Date
Year
Beer
Style
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp


19th Mar
1917
X
Mild
1044.3
1013.9
4.03
68.75%
8.00
1.52
2.25
2.25
59º


16th Feb
1917
SXXX
Mild
1052.6
1018.0
4.58
65.79%
8.98
2.07
2.5
2
59º


15th Mar
1917
BB
Pale Ale
1038.2
1011.1
3.59
71.01%
14.08
2.30
2.5
2
59º


20th Mar
1917
Porter
Porter
1044.9
1015.0
3.96
66.67%
8.00
1.67
2.5

59º


6th Feb
1917
Stout
Stout
1062.6
1018.8
5.79
69.91%
9.00
2.28
2

59º


23rd Mar
1917
XXXX
Strong Ale
1069.8
1023.3
6.16
66.67%
15.00
4.65
2.5
2
59º


Source:


Kidd brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/305/16/013.



As I’ve already mentioned Whitbread, let’s use them as a contextualising tool. In early 1917, they were brewing 8 beers. Well, 7 really as LS (London Stout) was identical to their Porter. The one Mild that Whitbread brewed fell inbetween the two of Kidd. Though they didn’t brew much of the SXXX.



Whitbread beers in late 1916 and early 1917


Date
Year
Beer
Style
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp


1st Feb
1917
X
Mild
1046.5
1007.0
5.23
84.96%
4.83
0.98
1.75
1.75
60º


21st Feb
1917
IPA
IPA
1046.5
1010.0
4.83
78.51%
11.94
2.42
1.5
1.75
60º


15th Feb
1917
PA
Pale Ale
1050.1
1012.0
5.05
76.07%
9.84
2.13
1.5
2
60º


15th Nov
1916
P
Porter
1050.4
1011.0
5.21
78.18%
5.80
1.34
1.5
1.75
61º


15th Nov
1916
LS
Stout
1050.4
1011.0
5.21
78.18%
5.80
1.34
1.5
1.75
61º


14th Mar
1917
SS
Stout
1076.0
1024.0
6.87
68.40%
7.07
2.48
1.75
1.83
57º


14th Mar
1917
SSS
Stout
1092.2
1035.0
7.57
62.04%
7.07
3.01
1.75
1.83
57º


13th Feb
1917
KKK
Stock Ale
1069.8
1024.0
6.06
65.62%
9.62
2.99
1.5
2
57º


Source:


Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/082 and LMA/4453/D/09/111.



Whitbread’s Porter and Stouts are of a higher gravity than Kidd’s, though the hopping rate is lower. In fact all of Kidd’s beers are more heavily hopped than their Whitbread equivalents. Maybe it was something to do with being located in Kent. Though Shepherd Neame, another Kent brewer, had very low hopping rates.

The other big difference between the two breweries is the boil times, which were quite a bit longer at Kidd. Most breweries reduced their boil times during WW I as part of a deal with the government. Brewers promised to reduce their coal usage in return for not being nationalised.



* Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/082 and LMA/4453/D/09/111.

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