Thursday 12 January 2012

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

I bet you though (hoped more like) that I'd forgotten about my painstakingly detailed comparison of English and Scottish beers. Not true at all. I've just been busy elsewhere. Sorry, saving up these juicy titbits until later.

We'll start with Mild. Why? Because I sorted the table entries by style and Mild is the first alphabetically. That's a good enough reason for me.

I've split the beers into gravity bands under 1070º, 1070º-1080º, 1080º-1090º, 1090º-1110º, and over 1110º. First the kiddies' Milds.

How about this, I show you the table then explain what I think it tells us (if anything)? Sound Good? OK, here goes:

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)
5th Mar 1841 Truman X Ale Mild 1059.3 14 3.85 58 79.5
19th Apr 1848 Younger, Wm. 42/- Mild 1043 1012 4.10 72.09% 15.00 2.65 1.33 59 66 4
17th Nov 1849 Younger, Wm. 42/- Mild 1048 1014 4.50 70.83% 19.25 3.76 1.08 58 65 6
5th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1061 1028 4.37 54.10% 4.15 1.13 1.33 58 64 5
13th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1064 1033 4.10 48.44% 4.00 1.22 1.5 1.5 58 65 6
Average 1054.0 1021.8 4.27 61.37% 10.60 2.19 1.31 1.50 58.3 65.0 5.3
difference -5.3 1021.8 4.3 0.6 -3.4 -1.7 0.0 -14.5
Sources:
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/122 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive


I had trouble matching any London beers with Younger's 42/- and 60/-. Only one Truman beer had a similar gravity. Which makes it difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions. The Truman's beer has about 3 times as many hops per barrel as the Younger's 60/-. Oddly enough, both were pitched at exactly the same temperature - 58º F. Though the maximum fermentation temperature of the Truman beer was much higher. 14.5º F more, to be precise. But if we look at the hopping of Younger's 42/-, there's not much difference with the hopping of the Truman beer. Especially taking into account the lower gravity of the 42/-. You can see that the hopping rate per quarter (a good way of taking the beer's gravity out of consideration) is at 15 and 19.25 lbs, more than the Truman X Ale.

There's not much we can learn from that. Except that Younger hopped their weaker Milds at wildly differing rates. And that Younger brewed some Milds of lower gravity than those made in London.

Onwards to band two, 1070º-1080º:


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)
12th Feb 1845 Barclay Perkins X Mild 1070.6 9.26 3.26 3 57.5 69.5
23rd Jan 1849 Barclay Perkins X Mild 1071.5 7.79 2.68 3.5 58.5 72
19th Mar 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1074.0 1030.7 5.72 58.43% 9.09 2.74 2 2 3 64 72 7
8th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1075.3 1031.6 5.79 58.09% 7.29 2.20 1.5 2 3 64 73 7
22nd Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1075.6 1028.8 6.19 61.90% 5.96 1.88 2 2 3 64 73 7
6th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1075.9 1029.1 6.19 61.68% 9.85 3.00 2 2 3 64 73 6
13th Feb 1841 Truman X Ale Mild 1076.2 1027.1 6.49 64.36% 6 1.95 60 74 10
7th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1076.5 1028.0 6.41 63.41% 9.36 3.09 2 2 3 64 73 8
14th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1076.7 1028.5 6.38 62.82% 9.42 3.14 2 2 3 64 73 8
13th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1076.7 1029.9 6.19 61.01% 7.53 2.44 1.5 2 3 64 73.5 6
20th Apr 1841 Whitbread X Mild 1077.0 1030.7 6.12 60.07% 7.45 2.36 1.5 2 3 64 73 6
14th Jan 1846 Truman X Ale Mild 1077.3 1023.3 7.15 69.89% 14.0 4.53 59 76.25 10
14th Mar 1846 Truman X Ale Mild 1079.8 1025.5 7.18 68.06% 6.0 1.94 59 76.5 8
Average 1075.6 1028.5 6.35 62.70% 8.39 2.71 2.10 2.00 3.00 62.0 73.2 7.5
4th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1071 1030 5.42 57.75% 4.17 1.36 1.5 59 67 8
28th Feb 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1071 1036 4.63 49.30% 4.00 1.86 1.25 1.25 57 67 8
11th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1071 1032 5.16 54.93% 7.00 2.36 1.25 59 69 7
19th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1071 1033 5.03 53.52% 3.85 1.25 1.25 57 65 8
7th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1072 1036 4.76 50.00% 3.43 1.25 1.5 61 66 7
9th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1072 1032 5.29 55.56% 3.18 1.05 1.66 57 69 8
29th Dec 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1072 1035 4.89 51.39% 3.71 1.29 1.5 57 64 8
25th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1072 1024 6.35 66.67% 3.48 1.18 1.25 56 65 7
16th Nov 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1072 1032 5.29 55.56% 1.29 1.25 2 57 65 7
9th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1073 1033 5.29 54.79% 3.54 1.18 2 56 67 8
4th Apr 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1073 1034 5.16 53.42% 3.33 1.11 2 56 66 8
8th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1073 1033 5.29 54.79% 6.00 2.03 1.25 1.25 56 69 8
8th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1074 1037 4.89 50.00% 4.00 1.38 1.17 1.33 56 64 10
16th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1074 1032 5.56 56.76% 8.00 2.74 1.5 1.5 58 67 8
19th Feb 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1074 1037 4.89 50.00% 3.33 1.18 2 57 66 6
11th Mar 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1074 1033 5.42 55.41% 3.25 1.14 2 58 66 6
3rd Apr 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1074 1033 5.42 55.41% 4.00 1.37 1.25 56 66 9
7th Jun 1849 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1074 1033 5.42 55.41% 6.00 2.14 1.33 1.42 56 66 8
11th Sep 1849 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1074 1038 4.76 48.65% 6.00 2.05 1.25 1.33 55 68 9
15th Mar 1848 Younger, Wm. 60/- Mild 1075 1033 5.56 56.00% 3.38 1.14 2 58 67 7
20th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1076 1036 5.29 52.63% 4.00 1.44 1.33 1.33 58 67 8
6th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 80/- Mild 1077 1033 5.82 57.14% 4.00 1.37 1.33 57 66 9
Average 1073.1 1033.4 5.26 54.32% 4.22 1.51 1.53 1.34 57.1 66.5 7.8
difference -2.5 4.9 -1.09 -8.38% -4.16 -1.20 -0.57 -0.66 -3.00 -4.9 -6.8 0.3
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
Barclay Perkins brewing record document number  ACC/2305/1/541 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Whitbread LMA/4453/D/01/004 brewing record document number  held at the London Metropolitan Archives


There's a bit more to work with in the case of the 80/-. I've plenty of London beers of a similar strength. There's no argument about the hopping: only one Younger beer has more hops than the London average. The least heavily-hopped London beer has 20% more than the average of Younger's beers. The average hopping rate of the London beers is about 50% more than the Scottish average. Younger's weaker Milds were generally more lightly hopped than equivalent London Milds in the 1840's.

Moving on to boil times.They're easy-peasy. The average boil times for the first and second worts were more than half an hour shorter in Scotland. Not really much more to say, except: Younger's boil times in the 1840's were much shorter than in England.

Fermentation temperatures are trickier. There's considerable variation amongst the pitching temperatures of the London brewers, between 58º and 64º F. Truman and Barclay Perkins both pitched a degree or two below 60º F, much like Younger. The big difference between England and Scotland is the maximum fermentation temperature. The average max temperature for the Younger's beers is almost 7º F cooler than the London average. The rise in temperature during fermentation was just short of 10º F for the Younger's beers. For London beers, it averaged about 1º F more. Yes, Younger's beers were fermented cooler, but the difference is considerably less than the 10º F usually quoted. And most of the fermentation was at temperatures above 60º F. I'm going to stick my neck out and say: suggests: in the 1840's Younger's Milds were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 5 - 6º F.

And I've added a new field to compare: fermentation time. As you'd expect with their lower fermentation temperature, the Scottish beers took a little longer to ferment. Though not by a huge amount: less than half a day on average. But there were a couple of London beers with the same fermentation time - 10 days - as the longest Scottish time. The usual story is that Scottish fermentations could take twice as long as London ones. That does not appear to be the case. All I can say is: in the 1840's Younger's Milds did not take longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

Almost forgot in all the excitement. Attenuation and ABV. Both are lower for the Scottish beers. Only one Younger's beer has attenuation of over 60%. That's the only one with greater attenuation than the least attenuated London beer. The most attenuated 80/- is still a touch below the least attenuated London beer. The ABV difference is significant - averaging just over 1% less than the London Average. So in the 1840's Younger's Milds were less attenuated and lower in alcohol than London Milds of a similar gravity.


Lot's more to go still. And that's just the 1840's. Think of how many more decades we have to go.

No comments: