Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Whitbread X

At the outbreak of WW II, Whitbread X, their standard Mild Ale, was quite weak by London standards. Especially as, unlike some rivals such as Barclay Perkins, they didn’t have a Best Mild.

From 1921 to 1931, Whitbread X had a typical London Mild gravity of around 1042º. That was reduced – after Snowden’s 1931 emergency budget that significantly increased the tax on beer – to 1033º. However, there was a new XX Mild introduced at the old OG. However, when the extra tax was dropped in 1933, XX was discontinued. With X remaining at the low gravity.

The recipe hadn’t changed a great deal since the early 1920s, consisting of base malt, crystal malt, No. 3 invert sugar and a proprietary sugar. What’s listed as caramel in the recipe below was a proprietary sugar, just recorded in the brewing record as “Hay”. It only appears in dark beers and in order to get the colour right it needs to be at least 1,000 SRM. Something with a high caramel content is all it can be.

The hops are slightly odd. Most are Mid Kent, from the 1938 and 1937 harvests, the latter having been kept in a cold store. But a quarter are Hallertau from 1935. Which is odd because this beer was brewed around three weeks into the war.

1939 Whitbread X
pale malt	5.50 lb	74.58%
crystal malt 60 L	1.00 lb	13.56%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	10.17%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.69%
Fuggles 75 mins	0.75 oz
Hallertau 75 mins	0.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1034
FG	1010
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	70.59%
IBU	25
SRM	18
Mash at	148º F
After underlet	152º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	65º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale