Saturday 14 January 2012

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

We're still stuck in the 1840's. It's not too bad, as long as you don't drink the water and avoid the pies.

The object of today's examination are stronger Milds. Most are XX Ale or similar. What you might call Best Mild. With gravities in the range 1080º to 1090º, they aren't exactly similar to any modern Mild.

I'm beginning to see a definite pattern. See if you can, too:


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)
7th Jul 1845 Truman X Ale Mild 1080.3 1024.9 7.33 68.97% 6.0 1.98 61.5 81 8
17th Apr 1841 Whitbread XL Mild 1080.6 1029.9 6.71 62.89% 7.31 2.41 1.5 2 3 64 76 7
11th Mar 1841 Whitbread XL Mild 1081.2 1029.9 6.78 63.14% 7.27 2.47 2 2 3 64 75 6
18th Jul 1840 Truman 40/- Ale Mild 1084.8 1027.7 7.55 67.32% 6 2.38 60.5 77.5 8
14th Jul 1840 Truman 40/- Ale Mild 1085.6 1029.1 7.48 66.02% 6 2.42 60 71 8
14th Feb 1846 Truman 40/- Ale Mild 1086.7 1024.9 8.17 71.25% 6.0 2.34 59 78.5 10
6th Jul 1840 Truman 40/- Ale Mild 1088.9 5 2.10 59.5 73.5
17th Apr 1841 Whitbread XX Mild 1089.5 1031.6 7.66 64.71% 7.31 2.68 1.5 2 3 60 78 7
Average 1084.7 1028.3 7.38 66.33% 6.36 2.35 1.67 2.00 3.00 61.1 76.3 7.7
11th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1085 1032 7.01 62.35% 8.52 3.59 1.25 1.17 56 67 7
6th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1085 1036 6.48 57.65% 7.00 2.91 0.92 58 69 8
12th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1085 1034 6.75 60.00% 8.00 3.33 1 59 72 9
18th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1086 1036 6.61 58.14% 7.67 3.19 1.25 1.5 58 68 10
18th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1086 1032 7.14 62.79% 7.00 2.96 1.25 1.17 58 68 7
9th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1086 1034 6.88 60.47% 6.48 2.56 1.25 56 69 9
17th Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1087 1039 6.35 55.17% 4.44 3.67 57 67 9
17th Mar 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1087 1036 6.75 58.62% 4.00 1.63 1.25 1.25 59 68 9
19th Apr 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1087 1033 7.14 62.07% 8.00 3.22 1.25 1.25 56 67 9
11th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1087 1035 6.88 59.77% 7.00 2.89 1.33 59 69 7
5th Oct 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1087 1035 6.88 59.77% 4.52 1.86 1 59 56 8
13th Mar 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1038 6.61 56.82% 4.00 1.69 1.25 1.25 56 67 8
15th Apr 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1036 6.88 59.09% 4.00 1.63 1.25 1.08 55 67 8
8th Jul 1848 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1036 6.88 59.09% 6.00 2.43 1.25 1.25 56 72 8
5th Jan 1849 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1037 6.75 57.95% 4.67 1.87 1.5 1.5 56 66 9
31st Mar 1849 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1034 7.14 61.36% 5.00 2.05 1.33 1.17 54 68 10
12th Nov 1849 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1032 7.41 63.64% 4.50 2.00 1.25 56 67 9
17th Nov 1849 Younger, Wm. 80/- Ale 1088 1036 6.88 59.09% 5.00 2.09 1.25 1.33 56 68 10
22nd Mar 1847 Younger, Wm. 100/- Ale 1089 1036 7.01 59.55% 4.14 1.76 1.33 1.5 56 68 9
Average 1087.0 1035.1 6.87 59.65% 5.79 2.49 1.23 1.28 0.00 56.8 67.5 8.6
difference 2.3 6.8 -0.52 -6.67% -0.58 0.14 -0.44 -0.72 -3.00 -4.2 -8.8 0.9
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 LMA/4453/D/01/004 brewing record document number  held at the London Metropolitan Archives


As usual, let's start with the hopping rate. Now isn't this confusing. The eight most heavily-hopped beers were all from Younger. And the average hopping rate of the Younger's beers was a tiny bit higher. Who would have expected that? There's more variation in hopping of Younger's beers, as is demonstrated by the fact that the 6 beers with the lowest hopping rate were also from them. That the rate of hopping per quarter is slightly higher for the London beers is a sign that Younger were getting a worse yield from their malt. Only one conclusion possible: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were not less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

Sticking with tradition, next it's the turn of boil times. What's clear is that William Younger had very short boils, usually between 60 and 80 minutes. The average length of the boils of Younger's beers were 30 minutes and 45 minutes shorter than in London. The conclusion is again obvious: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds had significantly shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

Fermentation temperatures come next. Again, it's not difficult to analyse. The average pitching temperature of Younger's beers was 4º F cooler than in London average and the maximum temperature almost 9º cooler. It's the same pattern as with the standard-strength Milds: not a huge difference in the pitching temperature but the increase in temperature during fermentation was greater for the London beers. The average rise was 10º F for Younger's beers but for London beers was over 15º F. Admittedly, it was easier for Younger to control fermentation temperatures because their fermenters were smaller than those of London brewers, around half the size. My conclusion: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were fermented 6º - 7º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

Attenuation is a doddle to analyse, too. Only one Younger's beer has greater attenuation than the least attenuated London beer.The averages also show a clear pattern, with Younger's beers about 10% less attenuated. Unsurprisingly, The finishing average gravity is also higher for Younger's beers, by around 25%. Though in reality that should be a little less as the average OG of Younger's beers was about 2º higher. Adjusting for that, it's around 18% higher. ABV, of course, follows suit and is 0.5% ABV lowere on average for Younger's beers. I feel confident in saying: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were less attenuated and slightly lower ABV than equivalent London beers.

And finally, length of fermentation. About a day longer on average for Younger's beers. Not very difficult, this one. In the 1840's Younger's strong Milds took a day longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

It's all very confusing, isn't it? Some categories of Scottish beer seem less heavily hopped than in England, while others don't. But this is looking certain: Scottish beers had shorter boils and were fermented cooler.

1 comment:

Gary Gillman said...

Interesting data. Shorter boiling times means less (bitterness) extraction. Taking this with the lower attenuation, the Scots beers in this period would have been softer and sweeter to the taste than the English beers being compared even as the hop amounts were similar. Indeed this was their historical reputation particularly before 1850.

This assumes use of the same type of hops (in particular, aged the same time more or less and with similar alpha acid content). In practice that probably varied but still, and taking all with all, I think the shorter boils would tend to reinforce the idea of softer, sweeter ale in this earlier part of the 1800's.

Gary