Thursday 1 March 2012

England vs Scotland, part 3d: early 1850's Extra Special Mild Ale

You must be getting used to this. A table of beer details and then me explaining why it proves Scottish and English brewing weren't really all that different.

It's still the early 1850's and we've still a way to go with just the Milds. This time it's what is now officially called (at least by me) Extra Special Mild. Or ESM for short. (Or Mild Ale between 1090º and 1099º.) You know, I keep making up these style names and throwing them around like balls of mud. Eventually one will stick. I'm sure of that. And why not Extra Special Mild? It makes a nice companion to Extra Special Bitter. If beer styles got married, ESM and ESB would be an obvious match. It certainly couldn't be Best Bitter and Extra Special Bitter. That would be incest.

Before a stumble too far from the path of coherence, here's the table:


England vs Scotland early 1850's Mild 1090º - 1099º
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)
4th Oct 1850 Truman XX Ale 1093.1 9 4.34 59
2nd Oct 1850 Whitbread XXX 1094.7 1034.6 7.95 63.45% 7.87 3.24 1.17 2 2 60 76 6
15th Mar 1851 Truman XX Ale 1095.3 10 4.40
8th Oct 1850 Whitbread XXX 1095.8 1037.1 7.77 61.27% 7.85 3.34 2 2 2 60 76 5
21st Oct 1852 Reid XXX 1097.0 1025.8 9.42 73.43% 10.72 4.90 1.5 3 57 79 11
2nd Nov 1852 Reid XXX 1097.0 1024.9 9.53 74.29% 9.77 4.47 1.5 3 57 79 11
31st Aug 1853 Reid XXX 1097.0 1031.0 8.72 68.00% 10.24 4.71 2 3 56.5 78 12
25th Sep 1850 Whitbread XXX 1098.1 1029.1 9.12 70.34% 8.36 3.50 2 2 2 60 76 5
Average 1096.0 1030.4 8.75 68.46% 9.23 4.11 1.69 2.50 2.00 58.5 77.3 8.3
13th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1090 1032 7.67 64.44% 5.00 2.08 1.25 1.5 56 70 9
6th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1090 1034 7.41 62.22% 5.00 2.18 1.33 1.5 56 68 9
28th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1090 1037 7.01 58.89% 5.00 2.26 1.25 1.5 56 68 8
2nd Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1090 1036 7.14 60.00% 5.00 2.21 1 1.25 56 67 8
20th Mar 1852 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1090 1036 7.14 60.00% 5.00 2.07 1.08 1.25 56 67 8
21st Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1091 1037 7.14 59.34% 5.00 2.21 1.25 1.5 56 68 9
27th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1091 1037 7.14 59.34% 5.00 2.15 1.25 1.33 56 69 8
18th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1092 1035 7.54 61.96% 5.00 2.34 1.33 1.5 56 68 9
9th Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. 80/- 1092 1038 7.14 58.70% 5.00 2.11 1.33 56 67 9
9th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. 100/- 1092 1040 6.88 56.52% 4.50 2.14 1.25 56 68 8
28th Oct 1851 Younger, Wm. XXX 1092 1032 7.94 65.22% 14.59 5.53 1.33 54 69 9
24th Nov 1851 Younger, Wm. XXX 1093 1034 7.81 63.44% 10.00 4.32 1.33 56 67 9
14th Dec 1851 Younger, Wm. XXX 1095 1037 7.67 61.05% 17.94 5.50 1.25 54 68 9
10th Nov 1853 Younger, Wm. 100/- 1096 1040 7.41 58.33% 4.50 2.25 1.25 56 68 6
11th Apr 1853 Younger, Wm. 100/- 1097 1036 8.07 62.89% 10.00 6.05 1.5 57 69 8
Average 1092.1 1036.1 7.41 60.82% 7.10 3.03 1.26 1.41 0.00 55.8 68.1 8.4
difference -3.9 5.6 -1.34 -7.64% -2.13 -1.08 -0.43 -1.09 -2.00 -2.7 -9.3 0.1
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
Reid brewing record document number 789/273 held at the Westminster City Archives


I'll be going through each point in the same order, yet again. I haven't the energy, nor the imagination, to think up an exciting new format each time. New crap jokes is about my limit.

Hopping rates. At first glance it looks clear: Younger's beers have about 1 pound, or about 25%, fewer hops. But take a closer look. The three most heavily hopped beers are all from Younger. And if you drop the 80/- Ales and only use the 100/- and XXX, the average hopping rate of Younger's beers is slightly higher, 4.3 pounds per barrel. That's so contradictory I can come to no conclusion at all. Except that Younger hopped their 100/- more heavily than their 80/-.

Boil times. This is one area where the results have been totally consistent. Once again, Younger's boils were shorter. 25 minutes less for the first wort and 65 minutes less for the second. You can't argue with that: in the early 1850's Younger's Extra Special Mild Ales had considerably shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

Younger's fermentation temperatures are again cooler. But the difference between the maximum fermentation temperatures and the pitching temperatures are quite wide apart. Younger's pitching temperatures were on average less than 3º F cooler. But the maximum is almost 10º F cooler. That's close to the difference often claimed. Take an average and you get: in the early 1850's Younger's Extra Special Mild Ales were fermented on average 6º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

I won't waste much time on the length of fermentation. The averages are near identical. Though there's wider variation amongst the London beers. That doesn't change my overall opinion: in the early 1850's Younger's Extra Special Mild Ales took about the same length of time to ferment as equivalent London beers.

Once again the apparent attenuation of Younger's beers barely reaches an average of 60%. While the London average is over 68%. Consequently it's no surprise that the ABV of Younger's beers is lower and the FG a good bit higher. Another easy one: in the early 1850's Younger's Extra Special Mild Ales were less attenuated than equivalent London beers.

You think this is getting tedious? We've still more than a century to go. Let's see who's left at the end.

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