Wednesday 24 January 2018

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1913 William Younger XXP

William Younger had been early to the Pale Ale game and even built a new brewery specifically to brew the style.

Their initial brews were quite similar to Burton versions. In 1858 XXP had an OG of 1059º and was hopped at a massive 21 lbs per quarter, 5 lbs per barrel. The gravity was lopped back a little and the hopping rate a lot over the next 60 years. This 1913 version was hopped at 5.85 lbs per quarter, 1.25 per barrel. Which is quite a change.

The grist is typical of this period William Younger beers: simply pale malt and a huge amount of grits. I know. It looks terrible. But the beers couldn’t have been that bad, given how successful the brewery was. The pale malt was a combination of Oregon, Indian and Scottish.

I’ve reduced the hopping rate quite a bit, as almost 50% were from the 1910 crop. They’re listed as Kent and Pacific, which I’ve interpreted as Fuggles and Cluster, respectively. There’s no mention of the variety used as dry hops and I’ve guessed Goldings. It probably is an English variety, but it could equally be Fuggles.

The finished beer was almost certainly darker than indicated below. Knowing how Scottish brewers operated, it was most likely coloured up at racking time to a variety of different shades for different markets.

1913 William Younger XXP
pale malt 7.00 lb 53.85%
grits 6.00 lb 46.15%
Cluster 120 mins 1.00 oz
Cluster 90 mins 0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.50 oz
OG 1056
FG 1017
ABV 5.16
Apparent attenuation 69.64%
IBU 40
SRM 4
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 160º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 59º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

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