England vs Scotland, part 3b: early 1850's Best Mild Ale

I'm still running, stumbling and falling. Metaphorically, you know. We've moved on to one strength band to what, for the want of a better name, I'll be calling Best Mild

I'll run through the categories I'm using before we go any further. I've split the Milds into these bands:

1060º - 1069º Mild
1070º - 1079º Best Mild
1080º - 1089º Special Mild
1090º - 1099º Extra Special Mild
1100º - 1109º Imperial Mild

That should make the description easier for me.

As you can see, this comparison thing is going to take a while. There are still three more posts to come on Mild Ale alone. And in this set, as I do have Porter and Stout from Younger, there will be more styles to compare. Such fun. What did I do with myself before I discovered Scotland?

England vs Scotland early 1850's Mild 1070º - 1079º
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	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)
2nd Oct	1850	Whitbread	X	1070.6	1027.7	5.68	60.78%	7.87	2.42	1.17	2	2	64	74	6
9th Oct	1850	Whitbread	X	1072.0	1029.9	5.57	58.46%	7.98	2.41	1.5	2	2	64	74	6
24th Sep	1850	Whitbread	X	1073.7	1027.7	6.08	62.41%	7.91	2.42	1.5	2	2	64	74	5
7th Oct	1850	Whitbread	X	1073.7	1030.5	5.72	58.65%	9.95	3.13	1.5	2	2	64	74	5
8th Oct	1850	Whitbread	X	1074.5	1031.6	5.68	57.62%	7.85	2.59	2	2	2	64	74	5
25th Sep	1850	Whitbread	X	1077.3	1029.1	6.38	62.37%	8.36	2.76	2	2	2	64	74	5
25th Sep	1850	Truman	X Ale	1078.1				8	2.67				61
1st Jul	1850	Truman	X Ale	1078.4				8	2.62				63
9th Oct	1850	Whitbread	XL	1079.2	1033.2	6.08	58.04%	7.98	2.65	1.5	2	2	64	75	6
Average				1075.3	1030.0	5.88	59.76%	8.21	2.63	1.60	2.00	2.00	63.6	74.1	5.4
5th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1070	1029	5.42	58.57%	5.00	2.21	1.5			58	64	7
20th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1031	5.16	55.71%	8.00	2.95	1.25	1.5		57	67	7
25th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1032	5.03	54.29%	1.61	1.67	1.33			57	65	7
2nd Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1030	5.29	57.14%	7.00	2.19	1.08	1.25		56	67	8
24th Jul	1852	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1035	4.63	50.00%	8.00	2.74	1.17	1.25		59	69	7
20th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1031	5.16	55.71%	7.73	2.83	1.5	1.5		56	68	8
23rd Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1070	1027	5.69	61.43%	8.00	2.87	1.33	1.5		55	66	7
4th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1033	5.03	53.52%	9.00	3.08	1.25			56	66	7
28th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1029	5.56	59.15%	8.00	3.15	1.33	1.5		56	67	8
14th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1029	5.56	59.15%	8.00	2.70	1.25	1.5		57	66	8
26th Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1031	5.29	56.34%	7.00	2.26	1	1.25		56	66	7
28th Jul	1852	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1034	4.89	52.11%	8.00	2.73	1	1.17		61	67	6
10th May	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1071	1030	5.42	57.75%	9.00	3.05	1.5	1		57	68	7
14th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1072	1030	5.56	58.33%	1.50	1.13	1.75			56	67	8
6th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1072	1029	5.69	59.72%	9.00	3.20	1.25	1.5		57	67	7
3rd Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1072	1029	5.69	59.72%			1.5			57	66	8
27th Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	X	1072	1031	5.42	56.94%	7.00	2.22	1	1		56	66	7
26th Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1073	1030	5.69	58.90%	4.58	1.64	1	1.5		56	66	8
30th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1073	1024	6.48	67.12%	5.00	1.90	1.5	1.5		58	67	7
13th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1073	1030	5.69	58.90%	9.36	3.20	1.25	1.5		56	66	8
4th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1073	1030	5.69	58.90%	8.00	2.67	1.25	1.75		57	67	8
15th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1073	1031	5.56	57.53%	8.57	2.86	1.5			57	67	7
4th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1074	1034	5.29	54.05%	4.32	1.52	1.66			57	67	8
30th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1075	1033	5.56	56.00%	5.00	1.67	1.25	1.5		57	67	8
12th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1075	1033	5.56	56.00%	5.00	1.54	1.25	1.5		57	67	8
22nd Jul	1852	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1075	1036	5.16	52.00%	6.00	2.14	1.17	1.25		59	68	7
11th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1075	1028	6.22	62.67%	8.33	2.78	1.25	1.17		56	68	9
26th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1075	1036	5.16	52.00%	1.94	1.82	1.5			58	66	6
21st Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1076	1036	5.29	52.63%	5.00	1.69	1.5	1.25		56	67	8
24th Jun	1854	Younger, Wm.	80/-	1076				7.42	2.65	1.5			59
17th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	XX	1076	1033	5.69	56.58%	7.88	2.80	1.33			57	67	7
24th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	XX	1076	1029	6.22	61.84%	8.00	3.00	1.5			56	66	8
30th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	XX	1076	1030	6.09	60.53%	8.00	3.08	1.5			56	68	8
20th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1077	1032	5.95	58.44%	5.00	1.76	1.17	1.5		57	67	8
2nd Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	X	1078	1029	6.48	62.82%	5.36	2.00	1.33			56	66	8
12th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	80/-	1079	1036	5.69	54.43%	4.50	1.37	1.42	1.5		57	68	7
Average				1073.1	1031.1	5.54	57.31%	6.55	2.37	1.33	1.38	0.00	56.9	66.8	7.5
difference				-2.2	1.2	-0.34	3.25%	-1.67	-0.26	-0.27	-0.62	-2.00	-6.6	-7.4	2.1
Sources:
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/014 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/132 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

I keep staring at the hopping rates hoping something is going to jump out at me. All I can see here is noise. The London beers are a much tighter set, though the sample size is much smaller. The variation is much greater among the Younger beers. The most heavily hopped has about 3 times as many hops as the least heavily hopped. Averaged out, The London beers have about 10% more hops. Yet I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions. Apart from: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were on average a little less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

Thank you boil times. At least you make my life easy in this set. Once again, the pattern isn't hard to spot: Younger's boil times were shorter. There's only the occasional Younger that matches or exceeds the London times. The first boil averaged 15 minutes less, the second almost 40 minutes less. Especially of the second wort. I'll look you straight in the eye and say: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales had shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

The differences in fermentation temperatures have been reasonably consistent until now. Younger's pitching temperatures being around 4º F and the maximum temperature 7-8º F lower. This time both figures are pretty similar. Which makes things dead simple: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were fermented on average 7º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

This is so easy. There's an obvious pattern in the length of fermentation. None of Younger's beers took fewer than six days to ferment, most took longer. Six days was the longest London fermentation. No need to say any more: in the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales took about a day longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

Once again, Younger's attenuation is lower. But not as much lower this time. Only about 5% less than in London, whereas previously it's been 10%. I'm not so sure there's much significance in this. The difference in ABV is pretty minimal, too. Especially as the average OG of the London beers is slightly higher. The FG of Younger's is a bit higher, but again not by much. Idon't feel confident about saying anything much for certain. In the early 1850's Younger's Best Mild Ales were slightly less attenuated than equivalent London beers.

I am wondering if I'll ever get to the end of this series. Determination and a general lack of activity in my cranium should see me through.