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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Materials used in brewing in the USA 1934 – 1940
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You may have spotted that I’ve silently started a new series. All based around one wonderful table of statistics. Another chance for virtually word-free posts. No point wasting words when I don’t need to.
We’ve leap-frogged over the Prohibition years and are in the second half of the 1930’s. Rather than faff around, let’s dive straight into the number pool. First with absolute numbers:
Materials used in brewing in the USA 1934 - 1940 (lbs) |
YEAR |
PRODUCTION (BARRELS) |
MALT |
C0RN AND CORN PRODUCTS |
RICE |
WHEAT |
BARLEY |
SUGAR AND SYRUPS |
1934 |
37,678,313 |
1,433,359,057 |
256,875,821 |
102,962,470 |
— |
— |
142,445,469 |
1935 |
45,228,605 |
1,725,736,002 |
340,841,047 |
139,728,970 |
— |
— |
155,374,560 |
1936 |
51,812,062 |
1,952,210,101 |
450,230,018 |
116,310,725 |
— |
— |
167,354,485 |
1937 |
58,748,087 |
2,176,928,721 |
423,066,228 |
230,745,621 |
— |
— |
188,028,513 |
1938 |
56,340,163 |
2,059,842,865 |
375,029,816 |
260,224,294 |
— |
— |
175,811,690 |
1939 |
53,870,563 |
1,938,177,252 |
415,689,330 |
198,317,295 |
2,839,922 |
9,000 |
150,765,190 |
1940 |
54,891,737 |
1,958,419,675 |
441,101,545 |
188,943,875 |
3,535,908 |
3,987 |
144,877,697 |
Source: |
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac" |
Interesting that beer production peaked in 1937, then fell back. I wonder why that might have been?
But those numbers are easier to interpret when changed to percentages:
Materials used in brewing in the USA 1934 - 1940 (%) |
YEAR |
MALT |
C0RN AND CORN PRODUCTS |
RICE |
WHEAT |
BARLEY |
SUGAR AND SYRUPS |
1934 |
74.05% |
13.27% |
5.32% |
|
|
7.36% |
1935 |
73.07% |
14.43% |
5.92% |
|
|
6.58% |
1936 |
72.68% |
16.76% |
4.33% |
|
|
6.23% |
1937 |
72.11% |
14.01% |
7.64% |
|
|
6.23% |
1938 |
71.75% |
13.06% |
9.06% |
|
|
6.12% |
1939 |
71.63% |
15.36% |
7.33% |
0.10% |
0.00% |
5.57% |
1940 |
71.56% |
16.12% |
6.90% |
0.13% |
0.00% |
5.29% |
Source: |
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac" |
That’s much clearer, isn’t it? The malt percentage is falling at the expense of maize and rice. Intriguing that the sugar percentage was falling, too.
This next table demonstrates that gravities were falling, too:
Materials used in brewing in the USA 1934 - 1940 (lbs per barrel) |
YEAR |
MALT LBS./ BBL. |
C0RN AND CORN PRODUCTS LBS./ BBL. |
RICE LBS./ BBL. |
WHEAT LBS./ BBL. |
BARLEY LBS./ BBL. |
SUGAR AND SYRUPS LBS./ BBL. |
TOTAL |
1934 |
38.1 |
6.8 |
2.7 |
— |
— |
3.8 |
51.4 |
1935 |
38.2 |
7.5 |
3.1 |
— |
— |
3.4 |
52.2 |
1936 |
37.7 |
8.7 |
2.2 |
— |
— |
3.2 |
51.8 |
1937 |
37.1 |
7.2 |
3.9 |
— |
— |
3.2 |
51.4 |
1938 |
36.6 |
6.7 |
4.6 |
— |
— |
3.2 |
51.1 |
1939 |
36 |
7.7 |
3.7 |
0.05 |
0.000167067 |
2.8 |
50.3 |
1940 |
35.7 |
8 |
3.4 |
0.06 |
7.26339E-05 |
2.6 |
49.8 |
Source: |
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac" |
Why? Because the amount of materials used per barrel was falling. Based on a yield of 89 brewers pound to an imperial quarter, this is my estimate of the average OG in the US:
YEAR |
estimated average OG |
1934 |
1052.79 |
1935 |
1053.61 |
1936 |
1053.20 |
1937 |
1052.79 |
1938 |
1052.48 |
1939 |
1051.61 |
1940 |
1051.10 |
Now compare and contrast time. Or an excuse for loads more tables. First absolute numbers:
Materials used in brewing in the UK 1934 - 1940 (lbs) |
year |
malt |
unmalted corn |
rice, maize, etc |
sugar |
total malt & adjuncts |
bulk barrels |
1934 |
895,504,288 |
1,323,392 |
61,360,880 |
172,841,536 |
1,131,030,096 |
20,378,879 |
1935 |
945,778,624 |
1,227,072 |
65,838,192 |
182,775,712 |
1,195,619,600 |
21,598,179 |
1936 |
968,388,064 |
1,202,208 |
66,386,208 |
191,006,816 |
1,226,983,296 |
22,207,859 |
1937 |
1,015,490,000 |
1,198,512 |
72,652,048 |
205,619,232 |
1,294,959,792 |
23,608,658 |
1938 |
1,050,435,456 |
1,589,728 |
77,065,632 |
212,214,576 |
1,341,305,392 |
24,339,360 |
1939 |
1,107,097,936 |
1,109,920 |
82,294,352 |
222,485,536 |
1,412,987,744 |
25,691,217 |
1940 |
1,104,077,856 |
886,144 |
40,721,856 |
171,670,912 |
1,317,356,768 |
24,925,704 |
Source: |
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62. |
Now the more interpretable percentages:
Materials used in brewing in the UK 1934 - 1940 (%) |
YEAR |
malt |
unmalted corn |
rice, maize, etc |
sugar |
lbs per Imp. barrel |
lbs per US barrel |
1934 |
79.18% |
0.12% |
5.43% |
15.28% |
55.5 |
39.8 |
1935 |
79.10% |
0.10% |
5.51% |
15.29% |
55.4 |
39.7 |
1936 |
78.92% |
0.10% |
5.41% |
15.57% |
55.2 |
39.6 |
1937 |
78.42% |
0.09% |
5.61% |
15.88% |
54.9 |
39.3 |
1938 |
78.31% |
0.12% |
5.75% |
15.82% |
55.1 |
39.5 |
1939 |
78.35% |
0.08% |
5.82% |
15.75% |
55.0 |
39.4 |
1940 |
83.81% |
0.07% |
3.09% |
13.03% |
52.9 |
37.9 |
Source: |
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62. |
You can see here the impact of WW II. That’s why the percentage of malt in the grist increases and that of maize and rice declines. The latter two both needed to be imported. The percentage of sugar in the grist was much higher in the UK, 15% compared to 6% in the USA.
Now for hops. First the US figures:
Hop usage in the USA 1934 - 1940 |
YEAR |
HOPS |
LBS./ BBL. |
1934 |
26,235,235 |
0.70 |
1935 |
31,772,887 |
0.70 |
1936 |
34,516,246 |
0.67 |
1937 |
37,004,749 |
0.63 |
1938 |
34,874,575 |
0.62 |
1939 |
32,462,163 |
0.60 |
1940 |
31,926,866 |
0.58 |
Source: |
Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac" |
You can see that there was a steady fall in the hopping rate. Compare that with the UK:
Hop usage in the UK 1914 - 1920 |
year |
bulk barrels |
hops( lbs) |
hops lbs/ Imperial barrel |
hops lbs/ US barrel |
1934 |
20,378,879 |
26,142,928 |
1.28 |
0.92 |
1935 |
21,598,179 |
27,859,328 |
1.29 |
0.92 |
1936 |
22,207,859 |
28,929,600 |
1.30 |
0.93 |
1937 |
23,608,658 |
30,306,304 |
1.28 |
0.92 |
1938 |
24,339,360 |
31,118,752 |
1.28 |
0.92 |
1939 |
25,691,217 |
32,000,080 |
1.25 |
0.89 |
1940 |
24,925,704 |
29,737,344 |
1.19 |
0.86 |
Source: |
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62. |
The UK hopping rate was very steady until the onset of WW II. Note how in some years – 1934 and 1939 – UK and US hop usage was almost exactly the same in terms of pounds. But US gravities were higher. A fairer comparison is based on standard barrels, 36 imperial gallons with an OG of 1055. As that’s based on a more similar gravity to US beers.
Hop usage in the UK 1914 - 1920 |
year |
standard barrels |
hops( lbs) |
hops lbs/ Imperial barrel |
hops lbs/ US barrel |
1934 |
15,043,120 |
26,142,928 |
1.74 |
1.25 |
1935 |
15,577,836 |
27,859,328 |
1.79 |
1.28 |
1936 |
16,386,985 |
28,929,600 |
1.77 |
1.27 |
1937 |
16,985,231 |
30,306,304 |
1.78 |
1.28 |
1938 |
18,055,539 |
31,118,752 |
1.72 |
1.24 |
1939 |
18,364,156 |
32,000,080 |
1.74 |
1.25 |
1940 |
18,738,619 |
29,737,344 |
1.59 |
1.14 |
Source: |
1953 Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62. |
On this basis, UK beers had about double the quantity of hops as American beers.
I’ve got several more decades of these numbers. It’s going to take a while.
More...
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