Looking at Porters from outside London is a strange experience. I'm so used to the London way of doing things. It makes these beer look quite odd.
I mentioned in the original post that there were two obvious differences with London-brewed Porters:
- Younger's were lower gravity
- Younger's brewed one Porter and one Stout while London brewers had several Stouts
Then there are the grists. Again, the dissimilarities are striking. Younger's grists have more variation and the proportion of dark malts is higher in most cases. Younger's used amber malt but no brown malt. Amongst the London brewers it was the other way around. Younger's Porter was less heavily hopped but its Stout was hopped about the same as the London beers. (Using lbs per quarter to iron out gravity differences. Younger's Stout had 12 - 14 lbs per quarter, The London brewers - if we exclude the Export Stout - 12.5 yto 18 lbs.)
Looking at other details (anal-retentive is my middle name), Younger's boiling times were longer, but their pitching temperatures were about the same. Interestingly, Younger fermented their Porter and Stout differently to their other beers. They pitched 3 or 4º warmer and the fermentation time was shorter by a couple of days. It looks as if they are mimicing London practice in that regard.
One final point. Every single one of the Younger's beers, with the exception of the bottling Porter, was vatted. It's not as easy to tell how the London beers were treated, but I think it's safe to assume that anything with the word Runner in its name wasn't vatted.
Nothing more comes to mind so here are the tables:
William Younger Porter and Stout 1868 - 1869 | ||||||||||||||||||
Date | Year | Beer | Style | OG | FG | ABV | App. Attenuation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl | dry hops (oz / barrel) | boil time (hours) | boil time (hours) | Pitch temp | max. fermentation temp | length of fermentation (days) | pale malt | black malt | amber malt |
12th Sep | 1868 | Bg | Porter | 1046 | 1020 | 3.44 | 56.52% | 8.00 | 1.45 | 3 | 61º | 69º | 3 + 2 | 92.25% | 7.75% | |||
27th Apr | 1869 | BS | Porter | 1041 | 1017 | 3.18 | 58.54% | 7.69 | 1.18 | 2.5 | 3 | 61º | 66º | 2 + 3 | 43.43% | 13.13% | 43.43% | |
6th Feb | 1869 | P | Porter | 1048 | 1018 | 3.97 | 62.50% | 2.75 | 62º | 67º | 2 + 1 | 67.36% | 10.18% | 22.45% | ||||
11th Dec | 1869 | BS | Porter | 1042 | 1018 | 3.18 | 57.14% | 7.50 | 1.46 | 2.5 | 3 | 61º | 67º | 2 + 3 | 67.36% | 10.18% | 22.45% | |
21st Nov | 1868 | DBS | Stout | 1062 | 1014 | 6.35 | 77.42% | 12.22 | 3.47 | 2 | 3 | 62º | 74º | 3 + 4 | 81.25% | 5.85% | 12.90% | |
28th Nov | 1868 | DBS | Stout | 1064 | 1018 | 6.09 | 71.88% | 11.43 | 3.33 | 20.00 | 2.25 | 62º | 73º | 3 + 3 | 81.95% | 5.63% | 12.42% | |
3rd Dec | 1869 | DBS | Stout | 1066 | 1019 | 6.22 | 71.21% | 12.76 | 4.11 | 2.5 | 3 | 61º | 75º | 3 + 4 | 76.33% | 5.50% | 18.17% | |
4th Dec | 1869 | DBS | Stout | 1066 | 1020 | 6.09 | 69.70% | 14.23 | 3.74 | 2.5 | 3 | 62º | 74º | 3 + 4 | 73.43% | 6.17% | 20.40% | |
15th Dec | 1869 | DBS | Stout | 1065 | 1018 | 6.22 | 72.31% | 13.33 | 3.83 | 17.02 | 2.25 | 3 | 62º | 72º | 3 + 4 | 63.97% | 6.04% | 29.99% |
27th Dec | 1869 | DBS | Stout | 1067 | 1021 | 6.09 | 68.66% | 14.23 | 3.78 | 2.25 | 3 | 60º | 72º | 4 + 3 | 62.47% | 6.30% | 31.23% | |
Source: | ||||||||||||||||||
William Younger brewing record document WY/6/1/2/21 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive | ||||||||||||||||||
Notes: | ||||||||||||||||||
Assuming 336 lbs for a qtr of pale malt, 254 lbs for black malt and 280 lbs for amber malt | ||||||||||||||||||
Fermentation time is fermentation + cleansing. |
London Porter and Stout 1865 - 1871 | |||||||||||||||||||
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 | pale malt | brown malt | black malt | caramel | sugar |
13th Jan | 1868 | Whitbread | K | Porter | 1057.1 | 1016.6 | 5.35 | 70.87% | 19.91 | 5.08 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 64º | 79.87% | 16.10% | 4.03% | ||
10th Jan | 1868 | Whitbread | P | Porter | 1048.8 | 1011.9 | 4.87 | 75.57% | 9.91 | 2.23 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 64º | 55.58% | 15.76% | 5.25% | 23.41% | |
24th Aug | 1868 | Whitbread | SS | Stout | 1082.3 | 1029.9 | 6.93 | 63.64% | 13.67 | 5.52 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 62º | 72.65% | 14.64% | 3.66% | 9.05% | |
24th Aug | 1868 | Whitbread | SSS | Stout | 1101.4 | 1048.8 | 6.96 | 51.91% | 13.67 | 6.80 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 62º | 72.65% | 14.64% | 3.66% | 9.05% | |
14th Oct | 1868 | Whitbread | xp S | Stout | 1070.9 | 1023.5 | 6.27 | 66.80% | 20.05 | 6.62 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 62º | 79.87% | 16.10% | 4.03% | ||
18th Mar | 1865 | Barclay Perkins | TT | Porter | 1058.2 | 1018.5 | 5.25 | 68.20% | 15.14 | 3.69 | 65.5º | 83.41% | 13.10% | 3.49% | |||||
5th Jul | 1870 | Truman | Runner | Porter | 1056.8 | 1016.6 | 5.31 | 70.73% | 10.3 | 2.64 | 62º | 85.34% | 9.77% | 4.89% | |||||
21st Dec | 1870 | Truman | Bottling Porter | Porter | 1060.4 | 1013.9 | 6.16 | 77.06% | 18.2 | 5.14 | 60º | 86.06% | 9.29% | 4.65% | |||||
23rd Nov | 1870 | Truman | Country Runner | Porter | 1062.3 | 1011.9 | 6.67 | 80.89% | 13.7 | 3.53 | 59º | 76.01% | 8.21% | 4.93% | 10.86% | ||||
16th Mar | 1871 | Truman | Keeping | Porter | 1067.3 | 1016.6 | 6.71 | 75.31% | 16.5 | 4.84 | 58º | 89.53% | 9.67% | 0.81% | |||||
6th Jul | 1870 | Truman | Running Stout | Stout | 1072.0 | 1020.8 | 6.78 | 71.15% | 14.0 | 5.03 | 58º | 88.88% | 6.95% | 4.17% | |||||
4th Jul | 1870 | Truman | Double Stout | Stout | 1079.5 | 1022.2 | 7.59 | 72.13% | 12.5 | 5.14 | 60º | 89.29% | 6.98% | 3.72% | |||||
4th Jul | 1870 | Truman | Imperial | Stout | 1083.7 | 1023.5 | 7.95 | 71.85% | 12.5 | 5.40 | 60º | 89.29% | 6.98% | 3.72% | |||||
17th Nov | 1870 | Truman | Double Export Stout | Stout | 1092.0 | 1020.8 | 9.42 | 77.41% | 12.5 | 5.89 | 58º | 81.28% | 14.63% | 4.10% | |||||
Sources: | |||||||||||||||||||
Whitbread brewing records document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/061 and LMA/4453/D/09/062 held at the London Metropolitan Archives | |||||||||||||||||||
Barclay Perkins brewing record document number ACC/2305/01/546 held at the London Metropolitan Archives | |||||||||||||||||||
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/72 held at the London Metropolitan Archives | |||||||||||||||||||
Notes: | |||||||||||||||||||
Assuming 336 lbs for a qtr of pale malt, 254 lbs for black malt and brown malt |
3 comments:
One of the challenges to brewing these Scottish recipes for me is getting an attenuation percentage in the 50's and 60's without causing other problems. take for example the 21/4/1869 , OG 1.042 to 1.018 and pitching at 61 degrees and warming to 69 degrees , that would be a very sweet finishing albeit malty session and the regiment with a modern yeast would be difficult, probably more like 1.006 fg which would have a profound impact on mouth feel and finish.
Artic,
A lot of it has to do with the ingredients, mash and yeast. At 45% Amber malt you'll have a good amount of non-fermentable extract. A higher mash temp helps along the same way and knocking the yeast down keeps things where you want them. They had it all down to a science of when and were these beers where to end up.
Give it a shot based on the percentages alone. Mash at 156+ for 2 hours. You'll see your FG is quite more than you'd think. Also, its important to choose a yeast that isn't highly attenuative if you can't knock the yeast down as they do (eg beat).
Gotcha Kristen,
Used to working with my house strain ( Fulller's 1968) , and I didn't run this through on percentages of non-fermentables, I do like pitching in the lower 60's on most ales, akin to John Keeling's advice to pitch low ,hold then gradually warm, which enhances malt presence in that strain, but also attunates like a champion....it also didn't help that I made that post at 2:45 this morning before my coffee- just so excited by all these new Scottish ramblings Ron is on to : )
Thanks for the advice !
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