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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Let's Brew Wednesday - 1945 Tetley's Bitter
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Apologies for the gap between Let's Brew posts. A lot has been going on.
Here we have the 1945 Bitter to pair with the 1945 Mild. Brew both and you could serve 1945 Tetley's Mixed. I bet people did genuinely do that in pubs. I can remember mixed being fairly popular in Leeds in the 1970's.
A couple of things immediately strike me about this beer. First is the gravity. 1042º is very respectable for an Ordinary Bitter of the period. I haven't a huge number of Bitters from this date, just 15. They have an average OG of 1037.7. And at least one - Barclay Perkins PA - was a Best Bitter. That was just 1038º. The strongest, Courage PA, was 1043.7º.
That tells me something. Tetley must have sold a lot more Mild than Bitter. How do I know that? Because there was a cap on the average OG of all beer produced in a brewery. And that average was well below 1042º. I don't know the figure it was set at in 1945, but as the average OG of all beer brewed that year was 1034.54º*, it must have been around 1035º.
The second point is the degree of attenuation, which is very high. Which means it has a very high ABV of 5.25%. How typical was that? Post-war, every example I have was over 80%. Take a look:
Tetley's Bitter 1928 - 1989 |
Year |
Beer |
Price |
size |
package |
FG |
OG |
colour |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
1928 |
Bitter Ale |
9d |
pint |
bottled |
1014.4 |
1049.6 |
|
4.56 |
70.97% |
1940 |
Pale Ale |
9d |
pint |
draught |
|
1045.6 |
|
|
|
1952 |
Pale Ale |
16d |
pint |
draught |
|
1036.3 |
20 |
|
|
1953 |
Pale Ale |
16d |
pint |
draught |
|
1037.3 |
20 |
|
|
1955 |
Bitter |
12.5d |
half |
bottled |
1004 |
1037.1 |
23 |
4.32 |
89.22% |
1959 |
Bitter Ale |
10.5d |
half |
bottled |
1006.1 |
1039 |
23 |
4.11 |
84.36% |
1960 |
Bitter |
16d |
pint |
draught |
1003.7 |
1037.9 |
20 |
4.28 |
90.24% |
1964 |
Bitter Ale |
12.5d |
half |
bottled |
1005.6 |
1040 |
25 |
4.30 |
86.00% |
1977 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035.5 |
|
|
|
1979 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035.5 |
|
|
|
1981 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035.5 |
|
|
|
1982 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035.5 |
|
|
|
1986 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035.5 |
|
|
|
1989 |
Bitter |
|
pint |
draught |
|
1035 |
|
|
|
Sources: |
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 |
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002 |
You can see that the OG fell below 1040º in the 1950's, rose a little in the 1960's, then settled in the mid 1030's.
How did Tetley's compare with other Bitters? Why don't we take a look:
Bitter in 1945 |
Year |
Brewer |
Beer |
Price per pint (pence) |
package |
FG |
OG |
colour |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
1945 |
Barclay Perkins |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1009.3 |
1038 |
32.5 |
3.72 |
75.53% |
1945 |
Barclay Perkins |
XLK |
|
draught |
1012.25 |
1035.4 |
29 |
2.99 |
65.40% |
1945 |
Charrington |
P.A. |
14 |
draught |
1009.4 |
1037 |
18.5 |
3.58 |
74.59% |
1945 |
Courage |
PA |
16 |
draught |
1010.4 |
1043.7 |
22 |
4.33 |
76.20% |
1945 |
Lees |
B |
|
|
|
1038.0 |
|
|
|
1945 |
Lees |
B |
|
|
|
1038.0 |
|
|
|
1945 |
Mann |
PA |
16 |
draught |
1010.1 |
1042.5 |
27 |
4.21 |
76.24% |
1945 |
Meux |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1007.4 |
1032.1 |
21 |
3.20 |
76.95% |
1945 |
Meux |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1006.4 |
1032.8 |
21 |
3.43 |
80.49% |
1945 |
Taylor Walker |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1011.2 |
1037 |
29 |
3.34 |
69.73% |
1945 |
Truman |
PA |
15 |
draught |
1005.9 |
1041.6 |
24 |
4.65 |
85.82% |
1945 |
Watney |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1006.6 |
1038.3 |
27 |
4.12 |
82.77% |
1945 |
Whitbread |
PA |
14 |
draught |
1009.2 |
1032.8 |
27.5 |
3.06 |
71.95% |
1945 |
Whitbread |
PA |
|
|
1010.0 |
1039.4 |
26 |
3.89 |
74.62% |
1945 |
Whitbread |
PA |
|
|
1012.5 |
1039.5 |
26 |
3.57 |
68.35% |
|
Average |
|
14.5 |
|
1009.28 |
1037.74 |
24.5 |
3.70 |
75.28% |
Sources: |
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/626. |
Lees brewing recods |
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/112. |
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002 |
Tetley's Bitter had a higher OG, greater degree of attenuation and a paler colour than the average. Only one of the other Bitters comes even close in terms of attenuation - Truman PA. Tetley's look pretty atypical, though it should be borne in mind that all the others, with the exception of Lees, were London beers.
Almost forgot the flaked barley. That was a hangover from the war, when the government forced brewers to use it to save the energy used in malting.
I'm all out of crap to tell you, so it's over to Kristen . . . . . . . .
Kristen’s Version:
Notes: Yeah…Tetley’s mild. One of my very favorite ‘drink-theer-piss-outta-eers’. You want to know what invert No2 tastes like, make this. You want to test your metal as a brewer, make this. You want to make a beer that can be done in two weeks, make this. You want me to stop writing, ma…err…yeah…
Malt: The original had a blend of 3 different English pale malts of 29%, 29% and 8%. Choose a blend or just do one. Whatever you fancy. A decent 14% of the doughy flaked barley and then lots of Invert and a touch of caramel which we’ve discussed previously….and can be left out all together.
Invert No2. http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-...brewers-invert
Caramel. http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-...rewers-caramel
Hops: Not hugely hoppy but not nothing either. A decent hop presence so choose whatever you like. Really this time. Go bonkers. Maybe some nice Hallertauer Blanc? Me, I’m using some Brewers Gold, b/c that’s how I feel today, in a golden mood. Goldings of any sort will work just peachy.
Yeast: (Same as before) Any really gang. This bastard is dry as a bone so pick your favorite one that you know how to use. Over pitch. Over oxygenate. Hope and pry she dries out for you.
Sundries: Nothing specific. Make it dry. Use the right sugar. Don’t forget to forget the bleedin caramel.
Cask: Standard procedure:
1) let the beer ferment until finished and then give it another day or so. For me right around 5-7 days.
2) Rack the beer to your vessel of choice (firkin, polypin, cornie, whatever).
3) Add primings at ~3.5g/L
4) Add prepared isinglass at 1ml/L
5) ONLY add dry hops at 0.25g/l – 1g/L.
6) Bung it up and roll it around to mix. Condition at 55F or so for 4-5 days and its ready to go. Spile/vent. Tap. Settle. Serve at 55F.
* Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50.
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