Thursday 19 January 2012

England vs Scotland, part 2d: the 1840's

The end of the Milds is in sight. Or rather, here already. I'm already dreading trawling through the next set of William Younger logs. It's about 20 hours of work. Just as well I don't have a family.

This set is in the range 1100 to 1120º. Imperial Mild, you could call it. Really there just be a fourth group, 1120 and above. Except there are no London beers of that strength. To be honest, I wasn't totally sure how to classify the stronger shilling Ales from Younger. The weaker ones are definitely Milds. But what about 140/- and 160/-? In later years there's a clear pattern. Shilling Ales are the versions for bottling. The draught versions of the same beers were either X, XX, XXX Mild Ales and the stronger ones Stock Ales: XS, XXS, etc. We'll have to see. I may throw in some of the 140/- and 160/- Ales into the Stock Ale comparison, too.

Let's begin with the numbers:

Date Year Brewer Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Attenuation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermentation temp length of fermentation (days)
20th Apr 1841 Whitbread XXX Mild 1101.4 1030.7 9.34 69.67% 7.45 3.11 1.5 2 3 60 78 3
25th Aug 1840 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1104.7 1029.9 9.89 71.43% 7 4.07 60.5 75.5
14th Jul 1845 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1105.5 1031.0 9.86 70.60% 10.0 5.94 58.5 80 9
11th Jul 1840 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1106.1 1031.9 9.82 69.97% 9 4.97 59 75 11
12th Jan 1846 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1106.6 1031.9 9.89 70.13% 7.0 3.38 58 80.5 11
3rd Sep 1845 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1107.2 1034.3 9.64 67.96% 11.0 5.34 58.5 82 9
17th Sep 1840 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1110.5 1035.2 9.97 68.17% 9 5.63 58.5 77 8
8th Sep 1840 Truman XXX Ale Mild 1112.2 1037.9 9.82 66.17% 10 6.41 59 72 9
Average



1106.8 1032.9 9.78 69.26% 8.81 4.86 1.50 2.00 3.00 59.0 77.5 8.6
17th Feb 1848 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1100 1039 8.07 61.00% 3.87 2.00 1.08 1 55 67 8
6th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1100 1034 8.73 66.00% 7.00 3.42 0.92 58 72 10
12th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1100 1041 7.81 59.00% 7.00 3.33 1 0.92 55 70 9
5th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1101 1039 8.20 61.39% 4.52 2.16 1 59 70 9
6th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1101 1039 8.20 61.39% 4.65 2.25 1 1 57 69 9
29th Mar 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1101 1030 9.39 70.30% 10.00 5.14 1.25 1.25 54 68 11
20th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1101 1039 8.20 61.39% 8.00 4.00 1.08 1.08 56 71 11
11th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1102 1036 8.73 64.71% 4.52 2.22 1 1 55 69 8
6th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1102 1035 8.86 65.69% 8.00 3.87 1 1 55 69.5 9
10th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1102 1039 8.33 61.76% 7.00 3.39 1 0.92 56 70 10
25th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1102 1039 8.33 61.76% 6.00 3.00 1.08 1.08 55 71 10
13th Nov 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1102 1038 8.47 62.75% 5.00 2.63 1.08 1.17 55 69 10
23rd Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1103 1040 8.33 61.17% 5.00 2.59 1 1.17 54 70 10
6th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1103 1039 8.47 62.14% 4.69 2.27 1 1 54 68 10
17th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1104 1039 8.60 62.50% 4.19 2.13 1 1 57 68 9
25th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1104 1040 8.47 61.54% 4.10 2.00 1.08 54 68 10
28th Mar 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1104 1041 8.33 60.58% 5.00 2.50 1 1 54 68 10
5th Jun 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1105 1037 9.00 64.76% 8.00 4.07 1.08 1.08 55 69 10
6th Apr 1849 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1106 1040 8.73 62.26% 5.00 2.54 1 54 68 10
21st Apr 1848 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1111 1040 9.39 63.96% 9.02 5.09 1.17 1 54 71 9
19th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 140/- Ale 1112 1046 8.73 58.93% 10.00 6.49 0.83 54 72 10
12th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 140/- Ale 1112 1046 8.73 58.93% 11.88 6.49 1 54 71 10
18th Feb 1848 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1112 1045 8.86 59.82% 4.17 2.70 1 58 61 10
16th Mar 1848 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1112 1044 9.00 60.71% 5.00 3.43 1 54 70 9
10th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1112 1046 8.73 58.93% 5.00 3.28 1.17 1.66 56 71 10
1st Jun 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1113 1038 9.92 66.37% 11.00 6.60 1.17 54 69 10
19th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 140/- Ale 1114 1046 9.00 59.65% 10.00 6.15 0.83 56 72 10
30th Mar 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1114 1041 9.66 64.04% 10.00 5.75 1.17 1.17 53 71 10
19th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1115 1047 9.00 59.13% 5.50 3.38 1 54 72 10
5th Apr 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1115 1040 9.92 65.22% 13.58 6.36 1.08 55 69 10
30th May 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1115 1045 9.26 60.87% 11.00 6.77 1.08 54 69 10
21st Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1115 1047 9.00 59.13% 7.92 5.00 1 56 72 9
8th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1116 1043 9.66 62.93% 5.50 3.38 1 55 71 11
26th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1116 1048 9.00 58.62% 6.00 3.66 1 56 72 9
26th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 120/- Ale 1117 1045 9.53 61.54% 6.00 3.69 1.08 53 72 11
Average



1107.5 1040.9 8.82 62.02% 6.95 3.82 1.04 1.08 0.00 55.1 69.7 9.7
difference



0.8 8.0 -0.96 3.10% -1.86 -1.04 -0.46 -0.92 -3.00 -3.9 -7.8 1.2
Sources:
Truman brewing record document numbers B/THB/C/122 and B/THB/C/127 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/004 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Hopping rates continue to confuse. At first glance it looks clear: Younger's beers have on average 1 lb less per barrel. But it's not that simple. The four most heavily hopped beers are all from Younger. As are the 12 least heavily hopped. There's a great deal of variation. The differences between even one specific type are large. One 100/- has over 5 lbs per barrel, another just 2 lbs. Part of it appears seasonal - i.e. the hopping is heavier in the summer - but that doesn't explain all the variation. You're going to want some sort of conclusion, aren't you? Bit tricky. How about this: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were sometimes more heavily hopped and sometimes less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

With only one London beer to compare to, there's not much I can say about boil times. Except that the Scottish ones are extremely short, with none longer than an hour and a quarter and many under an hour. No comparison, but a conclusion of sorts: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds had very short boils.

Fermentation temperatures have shown one of the clearest patterns so far. It's repeated here. The pitching temperature of Younger's beers was on average 4º F cooler. The maximum fermentation temperature was almost 8º F cooler. Excuse me if you've heard this before:  in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 7 - 8º F.

There's no surprise with the length of fermentation, either. Just over a day longer on average for Younger's beers. Though, if you remove the Whitbread beer which had a much shorter fermentation time than any other beers in the class, the difference is only 0.2 days. Or bugger all in layman's language. So: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds took marginallly longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

I was surprised by the average attenuation of Younger's beers in this class. It's the highest of any of the groups of Younger's Milds. I'd have expected it to be the other way around. The result is that the gap with London Milds is much smaller, just under 5% or about half what it was for the other groups. With lower attenuation, it's no shock than the ABV of the Younger's beers is lower. About 1% ABV, on average. Which is why I'm slightly confused by the difference in FG - a full 8 points. Or nearly 25%. It's a fair comparison, too, as the average OG is very similar for both groups. I'm starting to sound like a broken record: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were slightly less attenuated and lower in alcohol than London Milds of a similar gravity.

Mild finally done, where to go now? As I'm working alphabetically through the styles, it'll be Pale Ale.

No comments: