Sunday 5 February 2012

England vs Scotland, part 3b: early 1850's Best Mild Ale

I'm still running, stumbling and falling. Metaphorically, you know. We've moved on to one strength band to what, for the want of a better name, I'll be calling Best Mild

I'll run through the categories I'm using before we go any further. I've split the Milds into these bands:

1060º - 1069º Mild
1070º - 1079º Best Mild
1080º - 1089º Special Mild
1090º - 1099º Extra Special Mild
1100º - 1109º Imperial Mild

That should make the description easier for me.

As you can see, this comparison thing is going to take a while. There are still three more posts to come on Mild Ale alone. And in this set, as I do have Porter and Stout from Younger, there will be more styles to compare. Such fun. What did I do with myself before I discovered Scotland?


England vs Scotland early 1850's Mild 1070º - 1079º
Date Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fer-ment-ation temp length of fer-ment-ation (days)
2nd Oct 1850 Whitbread X 1070.6 1027.7 5.68 60.78% 7.87 2.42 1.17 2 2 64 74 6
9th Oct 1850 Whitbread X 1072.0 1029.9 5.57 58.46% 7.98 2.41 1.5 2 2 64 74 6
24th Sep 1850 Whitbread X 1073.7 1027.7 6.08 62.41% 7.91 2.42 1.5 2 2 64 74 5
7th Oct 1850 Whitbread X 1073.7 1030.5 5.72 58.65% 9.95 3.13 1.5 2 2 64 74 5
8th Oct 1850 Whitbread X 1074.5 1031.6 5.68 57.62% 7.85 2.59 2 2 2 64 74 5
25th Sep 1850 Whitbread X 1077.3 1029.1 6.38 62.37% 8.36 2.76 2 2 2 64 74 5
25th Sep 1850 Truman X Ale 1078.1 8 2.67 61
1st Jul 1850 Truman X Ale 1078.4 8 2.62 63
9th Oct 1850 Whitbread XL 1079.2 1033.2 6.08 58.04% 7.98 2.65 1.5 2 2 64 75 6
Average 1075.3 1030.0 5.88 59.76% 8.21 2.63 1.60 2.00 2.00 63.6 74.1 5.4
5th Apr 1853 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1070 1029 5.42 58.57% 5.00 2.21 1.5 58 64 7
20th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1031 5.16 55.71% 8.00 2.95 1.25 1.5 57 67 7
25th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1032 5.03 54.29% 1.61 1.67 1.33 57 65 7
2nd Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1030 5.29 57.14% 7.00 2.19 1.08 1.25 56 67 8
24th Jul 1852 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1035 4.63 50.00% 8.00 2.74 1.17 1.25 59 69 7
20th Apr 1853 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1031 5.16 55.71% 7.73 2.83 1.5 1.5 56 68 8
23rd Apr 1853 Younger, Wm. X 1070 1027 5.69 61.43% 8.00 2.87 1.33 1.5 55 66 7
4th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1033 5.03 53.52% 9.00 3.08 1.25 56 66 7
28th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1029 5.56 59.15% 8.00 3.15 1.33 1.5 56 67 8
14th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1029 5.56 59.15% 8.00 2.70 1.25 1.5 57 66 8
26th Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1031 5.29 56.34% 7.00 2.26 1 1.25 56 66 7
28th Jul 1852 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1034 4.89 52.11% 8.00 2.73 1 1.17 61 67 6
10th May 1853 Younger, Wm. X 1071 1030 5.42 57.75% 9.00 3.05 1.5 1 57 68 7
14th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1072 1030 5.56 58.33% 1.50 1.13 1.75 56 67 8
6th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1072 1029 5.69 59.72% 9.00 3.20 1.25 1.5 57 67 7
3rd Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1072 1029 5.69 59.72% 1.5 57 66 8
27th Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. X 1072 1031 5.42 56.94% 7.00 2.22 1 1 56 66 7
26th Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1073 1030 5.69 58.90% 4.58 1.64 1 1.5 56 66 8
30th Apr 1853 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1073 1024 6.48 67.12% 5.00 1.90 1.5 1.5 58 67 7
13th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1073 1030 5.69 58.90% 9.36 3.20 1.25 1.5 56 66 8
4th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1073 1030 5.69 58.90% 8.00 2.67 1.25 1.75 57 67 8
15th Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1073 1031 5.56 57.53% 8.57 2.86 1.5 57 67 7
4th Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1074 1034 5.29 54.05% 4.32 1.52 1.66 57 67 8
30th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1075 1033 5.56 56.00% 5.00 1.67 1.25 1.5 57 67 8
12th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1075 1033 5.56 56.00% 5.00 1.54 1.25 1.5 57 67 8
22nd Jul 1852 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1075 1036 5.16 52.00% 6.00 2.14 1.17 1.25 59 68 7
11th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1075 1028 6.22 62.67% 8.33 2.78 1.25 1.17 56 68 9
26th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1075 1036 5.16 52.00% 1.94 1.82 1.5 58 66 6
21st Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1076 1036 5.29 52.63% 5.00 1.69 1.5 1.25 56 67 8
24th Jun 1854 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1076 7.42 2.65 1.5 59
17th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. XX 1076 1033 5.69 56.58% 7.88 2.80 1.33 57 67 7
24th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. XX 1076 1029 6.22 61.84% 8.00 3.00 1.5 56 66 8
30th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. XX 1076 1030 6.09 60.53% 8.00 3.08 1.5 56 68 8
20th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 60/- 1077 1032 5.95 58.44% 5.00 1.76 1.17 1.5 57 67 8
2nd Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. X 1078 1029 6.48 62.82% 5.36 2.00 1.33 56 66 8
12th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1079 1036 5.69 54.43% 4.50 1.37 1.42 1.5 57 68 7
Average 1073.1 1031.1 5.54 57.31% 6.55 2.37 1.33 1.38 0.00 56.9 66.8 7.5
difference -2.2 1.2 -0.34 3.25% -1.67 -0.26 -0.27 -0.62 -2.00 -6.6 -7.4 2.1
Sources:
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/014 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/132 held at the London Metropolitan Archives


I keep staring at the hopping rates hoping something is going to jump out at me. All I can see here is noise. The London beers are a much tighter set, though the sample size is much smaller. The variation is much greater among the Younger beers. The most heavily hopped has about 3 times as many hops as the least heavily hopped. Averaged out, The London beers have about 10% more hops. Yet I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions. Apart from: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were on average a little less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

Thank you boil times. At least you make my life easy in this set. Once again, the pattern isn't hard to spot: Younger's boil times were shorter. There's only the occasional Younger that matches or exceeds the London times. The first boil averaged 15 minutes less, the second almost 40 minutes less. Especially of the second wort. I'll look you straight in the eye and say: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales had shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

The differences in fermentation temperatures have been reasonably consistent until now. Younger's pitching temperatures being around 4º F and the maximum temperature 7-8º F lower. This time both figures are pretty similar. Which makes things dead simple: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were fermented on average 7º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

This is so easy. There's an obvious pattern in the length of fermentation. None of Younger's beers took fewer than six days to ferment, most took longer. Six days was the longest London fermentation. No need to say any more: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales took about a day longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

Once again, Younger's attenuation is lower. But not as much lower this time. Only about 5% less than in London, whereas previously it's been 10%. I'm not so sure there's much significance in this. The difference in ABV is pretty minimal, too. Especially as the average OG of the London beers is slightly higher. The FG of Younger's is a bit higher, but again not by much. Idon't feel confident about saying anything much for certain. In the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were slightly less attenuated than equivalent London beers.

I am wondering if I'll ever get to the end of this series. Determination and a general lack of activity in my cranium should see me through.

2 comments:

Pivní Filosof said...

Imperial Mild? Ron, are you going all American Innovative Craft Brewer on us?

Ron Pattinson said...

Pivní, just getting in there first. Rathere me coin the names than someone else.