Friday 5 January 2018

Kidd beers in mid-1917

1917 must have been a stressful year to be a brewer. Because the rules and restrictions changed several times.

Between 1914 and the end of 1916, beer output had been limited and the beer tax more than trebled, but the beer itself hadn’t changed that much. Until July 1st 1917, when a new regulation came into force stipulating that half the beer a brewery produced had to have a gravity no greater than 1036º.

This new rule had an immediate effect on the gravity of beers, especially the more popular ones. At many breweries a few beers made up a large percentage of sale. For example, in 1917 Whitbread London Stout made up 42% and X Ale 28% of their total output. Though a more typical brewery would have sold mostly Mild Ale and lower-gravity Bitter.

You can see here proof of how little average OG changed before 1917.

UK beer production and average OG 1913 - 1920
Year bulk barrels average OG
1913 36,296,317 1052.64
1914 37,558,767 1052.80
1915 34,765,780 1052.35
1916 32,110,608 1051.88
1917 30,163,998 1048.54
1918 19,085,043 1039.81
1919 23,264,533 1030.55
1920 35,047,947 1039.41
Source:
Brewers' Journal 1921, page 246.

You can see here the effect of the gravity restriction of Kidd’s beers:

Kidd beers in mid-1917
Date Year Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) Pitch temp
13th Jul 1917 GA X Mild 1033.8 1009.4 3.22 72.13% 9.95 1.43 2.25 2 58º
18th Jul 1917 GA Mild 1033.2 1008.3 3.30 75.00% 9.95 1.42 2.25 2.25 58º
27th Aug 1917 GA Mild 1034.9 1007.8 3.59 77.78% 9.96 1.50 2.25 2 58º
30th Aug 1917 GA Mild 1035.5 1008.3 3.59 76.56% 10.00 1.47 2.25 2 58º
24th Aug 1917 LPA Pale Ale 1037.1 1010.0 3.59 73.13% 9.53 1.54 2.25 58.5º
31st Aug 1917 LPA Pale Ale 1039.3 1011.1 3.74 71.83% 10.04 1.68 2 2 59º
24th Jul 1917 Porter Porter 1034.9 1008.9 3.44 74.60% 10.29 1.55 2.5 58º
28th Aug 1917 Porter Porter 1037.1 1008.3 3.81 77.61% 10.29 1.80 3.25 58º
Source:
Kidd brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/305/16/013.

Sure enough, their most popular beer, X Ale, has dropped below 1036º. The its name was changed to GA (Government Ale) after the first brew. At the same time the range of beer produced has been drastically reduced to just three: Porter, Mild and Bitter.

We’ll be taking a look next at how Kidd’s beers evolved as 1917 and 1918 unfolded.

2 comments:

organicsab said...

G'day Ron

I just wanted to ask why they boiled for so long. Loved the Scottish Ale podcast on beersmith, too.

Cheers!

Ron Pattinson said...

organicsab,

not sure why they liked long boils. Some of it might have been to concentrate the wort.