I'm kicking off with the Milds. And something that's either a Mild or a Strong Ale. I'm not totally sure. But, as contemporary Tetley adverts mention Strong Ale and it's the strongest beer in the logs, it doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that XX is that Strong Ale.
Tetley's records are nicely detailed. Which means that it really gives racking gravities for the beers. Had it not been so precise, I might have wondered about some of those FG's. But they definitely are racking gravities. Two comments on the FG's. First, they vary an awful lot. Even between the same batch in different fermenters. Secondly, some look awfully high. In general they look high, the FG's.
But I've just checked Barclay Perkins and Whitbread beers of the same period. And the level of apparent attenuation of their Mild Ales is fairly similar: mostly between 65% and 70%. Which looks quite low to modern eyes. What is definitely different is the range of gravities covered by the London Milds and Tetley's Milds.
Tetley (1868): 1047, 1055, 1062, 1065, 1067
Whitbread (1868): X 1061, XL 1070, XX 1080
Barclay Perkins (1868): X 1061, XX 1080, XXX 1093
Truman (1871) X 1063, XX 1078, XXX 1090
The two weakest Tetley Milds had no equivalent at Barclay Perkins or Whitbread. And there was no Tetley beer matching the strength of London XX or XXX. The spread of gravities, and the differences between the individual beers, are much smaller at Tetley. The five Milds span just 20 points, while Barclay Perkins' three Milds covered more than 30 points.
What about hopping rates? Comparing beers with similar gravities - Tetley X with two lines to London X Ales - the results are confusing. Whitbread's X Ale, with around 1.5 lbs per barrel, is hopped rather less than the Tetley Mild. Barclay Perkins' and Truman's X, however, have between 2.5 and 3 pounds per barrel. So more than the Tetley beer. Not totally sure what to make of that.
You know the drill. There will be much, much more of this to follow.
Tetley
Mild and Strong Ales 1868
|
||||||||||||||||||
Date
|
Year
|
Beer
|
Style
|
OG
|
FG
|
ABV
|
App.
Attenuation
|
lbs
hops/ qtr
|
hops
lb/brl
|
boil
time (hours)
|
boil
time (hours)
|
boil
time (hours)
|
boil
time (hours)
|
boil
time (hours)
|
Pitch
temp
|
max.
fermentation temp
|
length
of fermentation (days)
|
comments
|
2nd Nov
|
1868
|
*
|
Mild
|
1046.5
|
1019.1
|
3.63
|
58.93%
|
6.00
|
1.17
|
1.5
|
2
|
60º
|
63º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
5th Oct
|
1868
|
*
|
Mild
|
1047.1
|
1017.5
|
3.92
|
62.94%
|
6.00
|
1.11
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
63º
|
64º
|
5
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
1st Oct
|
1868
|
*
|
Mild
|
1047.4
|
1020.8
|
3.52
|
56.14%
|
6.00
|
1.11
|
1.5
|
2
|
66º
|
66º
|
4
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
19th
Oct
|
1868
|
X (one
line)
|
Mild
|
1054.8
|
1018.8
|
4.76
|
65.66%
|
6.00
|
1.24
|
1.5
|
2
|
2
|
61º
|
62º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
||
2nd Nov
|
1868
|
X (one
line)
|
Mild
|
1054.8
|
1021.6
|
4.40
|
60.61%
|
6.00
|
1.38
|
1.5
|
2
|
60º
|
65º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
2nd Oct
|
1868
|
X (one
line)
|
Mild
|
1055.4
|
1019.4
|
4.76
|
65.00%
|
6.00
|
1.30
|
1.5
|
2
|
59º
|
63º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
1st Oct
|
1868
|
X (two
lines)
|
Mild
|
1061.2
|
1018.8
|
5.61
|
69.23%
|
8.00
|
1.95
|
1.5
|
2
|
59º
|
66º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
3rd Oct
|
1868
|
X (two
lines)
|
Mild
|
1062.0
|
1017.2
|
5.94
|
72.32%
|
8.00
|
2.10
|
1.5
|
2
|
60º
|
66º
|
7
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
5th Oct
|
1868
|
X (two
lines)
|
Mild
|
1062.0
|
1017.7
|
5.86
|
71.43%
|
8.00
|
2.00
|
1.5
|
2
|
62º
|
65º
|
9
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
3rd Nov
|
1868
|
X (two
lines)
|
Mild
|
1065.4
|
1022.2
|
5.72
|
66.10%
|
10.00
|
10.00
|
1.5
|
2
|
61º
|
64º
|
7
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
20th
Oct
|
1868
|
X (two
lines)
|
Mild
|
1065.9
|
1016.9
|
6.49
|
74.37%
|
9.96
|
2.67
|
1.5
|
2
|
61º
|
65º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
6th Oct
|
1868
|
X
(three lines)
|
Mild
|
1066.5
|
1016.3
|
6.63
|
75.42%
|
10.00
|
2.86
|
2
|
2
|
61º
|
66º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
19th
Oct
|
1868
|
X
(three lines)
|
Mild
|
1066.5
|
1022.2
|
5.86
|
66.67%
|
9.96
|
3.93
|
1.5
|
2
|
61º
|
65º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
6th Oct
|
1868
|
XX
|
Strong
Ale
|
1071.7
|
1019.4
|
6.93
|
72.97%
|
10.00
|
3.08
|
2
|
2
|
61º
|
66º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
3rd Nov
|
1868
|
XX
|
Strong
Ale
|
1073.7
|
1026.9
|
6.19
|
63.53%
|
10.00
|
3.09
|
1.5
|
2
|
61º
|
65º
|
7
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
20th
Oct
|
1868
|
XX
|
Strong
Ale
|
1074.5
|
1023.8
|
6.71
|
68.03%
|
10.00
|
3.02
|
1.5
|
2
|
60º
|
65º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
17th
Oct
|
1868
|
XX
|
Strong
Ale
|
1074.8
|
1031.3
|
5.75
|
58.15%
|
10.00
|
3.04
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
2
|
2
|
59º
|
63º
|
6
|
Bohemian
hops
|
9th Oct
|
1868
|
XX
|
Strong
Ale
|
1075.3
|
1013.9
|
8.14
|
81.62%
|
10.00
|
3.10
|
1.5
|
2
|
60º
|
68º
|
8
|
Bohemian
hops
|
|||
Source:
|
||||||||||||||||||
Tetley
brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds, document
number WYL756/16/ACC1903
|
4 comments:
I'm wondering if we're seeing mild ales with low attenuation so that (a) they would be sweet(ish) for quick drinking but (b) there would be lots of yummy sugars for Brett to eat as those milds aged and turned into Old Ales?
Martyn, I think the former. I'm not sure that any of the X's were aged. Possibly the X with three lines as that was hopped at 10 lbs to the quarter like XX.
Could it just be that the old multi-strain yeasts would get tired and give up earlier that the super-duper modern yeast brewers use today?
Barm, you haven't seen the Pale Ales yet.
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