Let's Brew Wednesday - 1955 Whitbread XXX

It's March. We all know what that means: Mild Month. Time for another Mild recipe.

Remember my Andrew Campbell post about Mild? Didn't think so. In that case, check out the link.

Best Mild. It's a term that's pretty much extinct. In the distant past of my drinking youth, there were still a couple of breweries brewing multiple Milds. Thwaites was a good example. Though their ordinary Mild has long since been discontinued and their Best Mild is now called Nutty Black.

Today's beer is a Whitbread's Best Mild. It  was introduced in the 1950's when things began to look up economically in Britain and beer strengths had started edging up to a level actually capable of intoxicating. Whitbread Triple X as Campbell called it, was one of his examples of a best Mild. Though it barely creeps into his definition of the category with a gravity of just 1034.

I can't think of much else to say. . . . Buy more of my books! . . . . erm . . .erm . . .



Here's Kristen, coming to my rescue . . .




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Whitbread - 1955 - XXX ale
General info: Best ale. Anytime the work 'best' is used rarely does it signify the 'best' of anything. It usually equates to a low gravity bitter-type beer. However when I hear XXX I think big, strong and mean. This apparently is not always true. The XXX is gyled with the best ale for some reason which is not clear to me. The gravity difference is a miniscule. 1.004 and the BU's are nearly exactly the same. That being said, this beer is quite tasty in its use of sugar and mild malt.
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.034		80.6% Mild malt
Gravity (FG)	1.008		4.9% Crystal malt
ABV	3.34%		3.2% Invert No1 sugar
Apparent attenuation	75.80%		11.3% Invert No3 sugar
Real attenuation	62.09%
IBU	27.3		Mash	145min@148°F		0.99qt/lb
SRM	10			145min@64.4°C		2.07L/kg
EBC	20.0
			Boil	60 min
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 80%
Grist	5gal		19L		10bbl		10hl
Mild malt	5.15	lb	2.346	kg	279.58	lb	108.02	kg
Crystal malt	0.31	lb	0.141	kg	16.82	lb	6.50	kg
Invert No1 sugar	0.20	lb	0.093	kg	11.04	lb	4.26	kg
Invert No3 sugar	0.72	lb	0.329	kg	39.24	lb	15.16	kg
	6.390		2.909		346.67797
Hops
Goldings 4.5% 60min	0.86	oz	24.4	g	53.25	oz	1.287	kg
Goldings 4.5% 30min	0.42	oz	12.0	g	26.35	oz	0.637	kg
Fermentation	65°F /18.3°C
Yeast	Nottingham ale yeast
	1098 British Ale Yeast   - WLP007 English Dry
Tasting Notes: Lots of toasted malt and fruit. Apricots and pomme fruit. A little bitterness supports the thin middle and dries out entirely in the end. The toasty malt comes back along with a hint of caramel and some deeper dark sugars. Refreshing and easy drinking.

Ingredients and technique

Grist & such
This is one of the first beers we’ve seen where the only pale malt it contains is entirely Mild malt. 5% crystal and a combined 15% or so of invert sugar. The majority of this is No3 invert sugar so if you can find dark baking syrup give it a shot. Make sure it doesn’t contain added salt as some of them do. If you can’t find it then up the crystal to get the color right and use all Lyle’s Golden syrup. This is one beer that gets a good majority of its character from the use of the darker brewing sugars.

Hops
It’s interesting to note that in this very low gravity beer they would use 100% new hops. All fresh as the day is long. However, when you look at the amount of hops, 0.7lb/bbl, you can see why this really doesn’t come into play. For nearly 30,000 gallons of beer they used a mere 570 pounds of hops. This gave just enough bitterness at around 23bu to ensure that this beer had a decent hint of bitterness. A simple addition at make up and then 30 minutes out will do nicely. No dry hopping in this beer but I think a touch couldn’t really hurt.

Mash & Boil
A very short mash with a low temperature would ensure this beer was very fermentable as you can see by the final gravity. The boil was similar. The first gyle was only boiled for 60 minutes and the second for 45 minutes. That’s the least amount of time I have ever seen a beer boiled. Keep it simple and stick with the 60 minutes.

Fermentation, Conditioning & Serving
Fermentation was done at a moderate temperature all fermenting out in about 3 days. The beer was racked and conditioned for about two weeks and then right out to the pubs. The CO2 should be around 2 volumes or maybe a little higher. I like mine on the lower end but do as you please with this one. However, to much carbonation will reduce the delicate toasty flavors of the mild malt.

Gyling & Blending
The gyle for this beer was for the Best ale (1.031) and the XXX ale (1.035). I wrote this recipe just for the XXX as its easier and I found no real difference in the beers that is easily detectable. Therefore the gyle for this beer is for the straight XXX ale. A very simple addition of nearly 2:1 strong gyle to weak gyle. This is a really good beer to practice your gyling. That being said, its not one that really takes a great deal away from the gyling process.


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XXX	5gal	19L	10bbl	10hL
G1 - vol	3.22	12.24	6.44	6.44	64%
G1 - grav	1.043	1.043	1.043	1.043
G1 - BU	21	21	21	21
G2 - vol	1.78	6.76	3.56	3.56	36%
G2 - grav	1.020	1.020	1.020	1.020
G2 - BU	23	23	23	23
G3 - vol	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0%
G3 - grav	1.000	1.000	1.000	1.000
G3 - BU	0	0	0	0
Hopping	0.3oz/gal	2.26g/L	0.59lb/bbl	0.23kg/hL
Totals	OG 1.035	FG 1.008	BU 21.6	Abv 3.5%