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

The day has come! We're finally finished with the 1840's. We've laughed, we've cried, we've sat down when the excitement got too much.

If you've been playing close attention you might have noticed something missing: Porter and Stout. There's a good reason for that. I managed to not find a single one in the William Younger's log, despite having well over 100 beers. I know from other years that they weren't brewing huge amounts of either. Maybe I just selected the wrong months. Whatever, it's irritating because I can't do a full comparison. Don't despair. In the next set, the 1850's, I've plenty.

True to tradition, I'll show you the numbers first:

Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	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)
25th Feb	1841	Truman	XXK Ale	Stock Ale	1094.2	1034.6	7.88	63.24%	11	4.92				58	77	12
15th Jan	1846	Truman	KXX Ale	Stock Ale	1098.6	1021.9	10.15	77.81%	14.0	5.93				58.5	77	12
7th Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1100.6	1029.9	9.34	70.25%	9.36	4.06	2	2	3	60	79	12
14th Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1100.8	1029.9	9.38	70.33%	9.42	4.13	2	2	3	60	79	7
19th Mar	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1101.9	1028.5	9.71	72.01%	9.09	3.78	2	2	3	60	79	7
10th Apr	1841	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1102.5	1024.1	10.37	76.49%	14	7.74				60	78.5	10
22nd Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1102.5	1029.9	9.60	70.81%	5.96	2.55	2	2	3	60	79	8
15th Jul	1840	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1103.9	1032.4	9.45	68.80%	12	6.22				58.5	77	9
17th Feb	1846	Truman	KXXX Ale	Stock Ale	1104.7	1023.0	10.81	78.04%	15.0	7.81				58	80.5	11
13th Jan	1846	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1106.9	1025.2	10.81	76.42%	14.7	7.18				58	80	12
1st Mar	1841	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1106.9				12	6.44				58.5	78.5	13
17th Mar	1841	Truman	XXXMK Ale	Stock Ale	1108.3	1034.1	9.82	68.54%	8.0	4.21				58.5	81	11
1st Apr	1846	Truman	KXXXX Ale	Stock Ale	1114.1	1032.7	10.77	71.36%	16.0	9.70				58	81	15
5th Mar	1841	Truman	XXXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1117.7	1038.8	10.44	67.06%	14	7.65				58		12
28th Jan	1846	Truman	XXXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1118.0	1034.9	10.99	70.42%	16.0	11.19				58	78.5	15
Average					1105.4	1030.0	9.97	71.54%	12.04	6.23	2.00	2.00	3.00	58.8	78.9	11.1
27th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1124	1053	9.39	57.26%	11.50	8.53	1	1		52	71	10
9th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1052	9.79	58.73%	10.00	7.50	1			53	71	12
7th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1055	9.39	56.35%	6.18	3.94	1.08			57	72	10
16th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1055	9.39	56.35%	6.13	5.94	1.08			54	72	9
29th Dec	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1055	9.53	56.69%	8.90	5.45	1			56	56	9
9th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1053	9.79	58.27%	9.14	5.29	1			54	72	10
2nd Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1057	9.26	55.12%	12.00	8.49	1.08	0.92		54	71	10
19th Feb	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1053	9.92	58.59%	7.91	4.84	0.92			54	71	9
15th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1059	9.13	53.91%	7.65	4.41	0.92			53	69	11
7th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1058	9.26	54.69%	12.00	8.70	1			53	70	11
17th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1056	9.66	56.59%	7.00	4.81	1	1		53	72	10
16th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1056	9.66	56.59%	8.14	6.33	1			54	71	9
27th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1059	9.26	54.26%	8.00	6.19	1			56	72	9
11th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1130	1059	9.39	54.62%	7.61	4.71	0.92			53	69	11
27th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1130	1057	9.66	56.15%	5.81	5.63	1			53	70	12
6th Jun	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1132	1057	9.92	56.82%	11.00	8.32	1.08			54	72	10
4th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	160/-	Ale	1134	1063	9.39	52.99%	12.96	7.94	1			53	70	11
13th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	S	Stock Ale	1095	1028	8.86	70.53%	10.31	4.85	1			55	67	10
7th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	S	Stock Ale	1097	1031	8.73	68.04%	12.00	4.92	1			54	67	10
12th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	XS	Stock Ale	1108	1036	9.53	66.67%	11.50	6.73	1			55	69	10
Average					1127.9	1055.9	9.45	57.96%	9.29	6.18	1.00	0.97	0.00	54.0	69.7	10.2
difference					22.4	25.9	-0.52	-13.58%	-2.75	-0.06	-1.00	-1.03	-3.00	-4.8	-9.2	-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 brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/004 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

A word of caution. The Scottish and London beers in this set aren't a perfect match. The strongest London beer has a gravity of 1118º. Virtually all the Scottish beers have a higher OG. The average OG of the Scottish beers is more than 22º more.

Bearing that in mind, let's look at the hopping rates. This time Younger's beers come second, but by a tiny amount. For once, the greater variation is amongst the London beers, with both the most and the least heavily hopped. Factor in the gravity difference, and the London beers are a clear winner. How do I do that? Look at the hopping rate per quarter. It's 23% higher in the London beers. So: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were on average less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

It's unfortunate that I only have the boil times from Whitbread of the London brewers. Though I do know from later years that Whitbread's weren't untypical. 70 minutes was the Longest Younger boil. That's very short, especially for a strong beer. This one is easy: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales had much shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

I'm definitely seeing a pattern in fermentation temperatures across all the styles. I'm starting to get quite confident about this. It's the same story here. The pitching temperature of Younger's beers was on average almost 5º F cooler. The maximum fermentation temperature was almost 9º F cooler. Excuse me if you've heard this before: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 7 - 8º F.

Given the higher gravity and cooler fermentation temperature, it's a surprise to discover that on average Younger's beers took almost a day less to ferment on average. The rather surprising conclusion is: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales took less time to ferment than equivalent London beers.

This might explain the difference in fermentation time. Younger's beers had a much lower degree of attenuation. Under 60% on average. But again, it's caveat time. I'm not convinced the 140/- and 160/- are really Stock Ales.If you look at the last three Younger beers, they are definitely Stock Ales. And their degree of attenuation is much closer to the London beers. But still lower. Funnily enough, despite their huge gravities, none of Younger's beers is above 10% ABV, while half the London beers were. In the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were less attenuated and lower in alcohol than equivalent London beers.

I would give you a summary of all the styles now, highlighting any difference s with England. But I feel shit. I left my breakfast at the side of the road on the way to the bus stop this morning. Not nice. You'll have to wait a day or two for my roundup.