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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954
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It seems several lifetimes ago that I was last discussing Whitbread's post-WW II beers. Surely time to return to them?
And where better to begin than Mild? At the time, one of Whitbread's biggest sellers. At the start of the period, they brewed just one Mild - XX. This had been introduced in 1940, replacing X Ale. Initially with a gravity of 1031, tthough by 1942 it was below 1030. A level it remained at until its demise in 1949. For a brief period in 1949, Whitbread brewed two Milds, XX at 1027.7 and B or Best Ale about three points higher.
Between 1950 and 1954, Best Ale was Whitbrewed's only Mild, then they introduced XXX at 1037.5 What I guess would have been called Best Mild, if their other Milds hadn't already been called Best Ale.
There are a couple of points I'd like to make about the brewing techniques. The boil times a very short, almost certainly a consequence of the war. In 1914, the two coppers used for X Ale were boiled for 1.75 hours. In the 1930's it was 1.25 hours for the first and 1.5 hours for the second. In 1940, it was down to 1.25 hours and 1 hour. By 1944, it was just 1 hour and 0.75 hours. The reasonong was simple: saving fuel.
Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954 |
Date |
Year |
Beer |
OG |
FG |
ABV |
App. Attenuation |
lbs hops/ qtr |
hops lb/brl |
boil time (hours) |
boil time (hours) |
Pitch temp |
length of fermentation (days) |
colour |
31st Dec |
1945 |
XX |
1027.8 |
1009.0 |
2.49 |
67.63% |
5.77 |
0.68 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
5 |
15 + 40 |
19th Oct |
1945 |
XX |
1028.2 |
1008.5 |
2.61 |
69.86% |
5.77 |
0.72 |
1 |
1.33 |
65º |
6 |
13 + 40 |
22nd Jan |
1946 |
XX |
1028.3 |
1009.0 |
2.55 |
68.20% |
5.77 |
0.70 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
5 |
14 + 40 |
29th Jan |
1947 |
XX |
1027.7 |
1005.5 |
2.94 |
80.14% |
6.28 |
0.72 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
4 |
14 + 40 |
21st Jun |
1948 |
XX |
1027.7 |
1006.0 |
2.87 |
78.34% |
7.03 |
0.82 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
4 |
11 + 40 |
22nd Jun |
1949 |
B |
1030.5 |
1007.5 |
3.04 |
75.41% |
6.33 |
0.78 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
6 |
16 + 40 |
20th Oct |
1949 |
Best Ale |
1029.1 |
1010.0 |
2.53 |
65.64% |
6.73 |
0.81 |
1 |
1.08 |
65º |
8 |
16 + 40 |
21st Jun |
1949 |
XX |
1027.7 |
1007.5 |
2.67 |
72.92% |
7.26 |
0.83 |
1 |
1.25 |
65º |
5 |
13 + 40 |
16th May |
1950 |
Best Ale |
1032.3 |
1008.0 |
3.21 |
75.23% |
7.13 |
0.89 |
1 |
0.75 |
65º |
5 |
18 + 40 |
17th Jul |
1951 |
Best Ale |
1031.8 |
1009.0 |
3.02 |
71.70% |
7.32 |
0.93 |
|
0.75 |
65º |
5 |
15 + 40 |
4th Feb |
1952 |
Best Ale |
1030.8 |
1008.0 |
3.02 |
74.03% |
7.35 |
0.88 |
1 |
0.75 |
65º |
5 |
16 + 40 |
28th Jan |
1953 |
Best Ale |
1030.6 |
1008.5 |
2.92 |
72.22% |
6.66 |
0.83 |
1 |
0.75 |
65º |
8 |
17 + 40 |
21st Jan |
1954 |
Best Ale |
1031.0 |
1010.0 |
2.78 |
67.74% |
5.49 |
0.71 |
1 |
0.75 |
65º |
7 |
18 + 40 |
29th Sep |
1954 |
MA |
1030.8 |
1010.5 |
2.69 |
65.91% |
5.66 |
0.72 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
6 |
120 |
29th Sep |
1954 |
XXX |
1037.5 |
1012.0 |
3.37 |
68.00% |
5.66 |
0.88 |
1 |
1 |
65º |
7 |
125 |
Sources: |
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122. |
The pitching temperature, at 65º F, is pretty high, but more likely just a simple reflection of the very modest gravity of these beers. In general, the stronger the beer, the lower the pitching temperature, presumably because of the greater amount of heat generated by the fermentation of a stronger wort.
Talking of modest gravity, you'd have struggled to get very pissed on just about any of these beers.Only a couple poke their heads above 3% ABV. The weakest, I'd barely count as alcoholic drinks.
Moving on to the ingredients, you can see that there were some odd hops and hop extract or substitute used in the immediate postwar period. Britain was basically broke by the time hostilities ended and the first few years of peace were difficult ones. By the time the 1950's kick in, you can see that there's been a transformation in hop usage, with almost exclusively British hops being used, with the exception of occasionally a few Californian (CF) hops. It's one of the ironies of British brewing that imported hops became much less important after WW I and mostly disappeared in the two or three decadess after WW II.
Whitbread Mild Ale 1945 - 1954 |
Date |
Year |
Beer |
OG |
hops |
pale malt |
crystal malt |
MA malt |
no. 3 sugar |
other sugar - Hay |
flaked barley |
31st Dec |
1945 |
XX |
1027.8 |
American and MK hops. Hopulon. |
|
7.51% |
63.33% |
10.02% |
1.97% |
17.17% |
19th Oct |
1945 |
XX |
1028.2 |
Oregon, Old Continentals, and MK hops. |
|
7.51% |
63.33% |
10.02% |
1.97% |
17.17% |
22nd Jan |
1946 |
XX |
1028.3 |
MK and EK hops. Hopulon. |
|
7.51% |
63.33% |
10.02% |
1.97% |
17.17% |
29th Jan |
1947 |
XX |
1027.7 |
MK and Jugoslav hops. Hopulon. |
|
8.09% |
82.08% |
7.71% |
2.12% |
|
21st Jun |
1948 |
XX |
1027.7 |
MK and KT hops. Hopulon. |
20.79% |
7.87% |
63.48% |
5.99% |
1.87% |
|
22nd Jun |
1949 |
B |
1030.5 |
MK hops. |
|
8.22% |
84.25% |
5.48% |
2.05% |
|
20th Oct |
1949 |
Best Ale |
1029.1 |
MK and KT hops. |
|
7.66% |
84.31% |
5.84% |
2.19% |
|
21st Jun |
1949 |
XX |
1027.7 |
MK and KT hops. |
|
7.98% |
85.55% |
4.56% |
1.90% |
|
16th May |
1950 |
Best Ale |
1032.3 |
MK, EK and Worcester hops. |
|
7.29% |
86.46% |
4.17% |
2.08% |
|
17th Jul |
1951 |
Best Ale |
1031.8 |
MK and CF hops. |
|
7.30% |
86.61% |
4.17% |
1.91% |
|
4th Feb |
1952 |
Best Ale |
1030.8 |
KT hops. |
|
7.30% |
86.61% |
4.17% |
1.91% |
|
28th Jan |
1953 |
Best Ale |
1030.6 |
MK hops. |
|
7.41% |
85.71% |
4.94% |
1.94% |
|
21st Jan |
1954 |
Best Ale |
1031.0 |
MK, EK and SX hops. |
|
6.74% |
80.31% |
11.05% |
1.90% |
|
29th Sep |
1954 |
MA |
1030.8 |
MK, EK and KT hops. |
|
6.35% |
80.42% |
11.29% |
1.94% |
|
29th Sep |
1954 |
XXX |
1037.5 |
MK, EK and KT hops. |
|
6.35% |
80.42% |
11.29% |
1.94% |
|
Sources: |
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122. |
The grists aren't the most exciting you'll ever see. Whitbread hadn't used adjuncts before the war and the use of flaked barley was almost certainly dictated by the authorities. After 1946, no adjuncts were used. Though obviously lots of lovely sugar. Which is where most of the dark brown colour came from. As was typical in Milds of this period, there was no malt darker than crystal. I'm not sure why the sugar content fell in the first few years of the 1950's. That aside, the recipe was pretty stable: 7% crystal malt, 80-85% MA (mild ale) malt, 11% No. 3 sugar, 2% Hay sugar. That latter is some sort of proprietary sugar, which was presumably dark.
What should I do next - follow Mild through subsequent decades or look at the other styles for this same period?
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