Wednesday 22 May 2019

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1917 Whitbread X

April 1917 was a momentous month for British brewing. As that’s when gravities started to fall. A drop from which most British styles never recovered.

At this point, Whitbread X Ale had lost 10 gravity points since the outbreak of war. But things were going to get much worse over the next two years. X Ale itself was dropped in July 1914, just a couple of weeks after this example was brewed. It was replaced by Government Ale, a much more watery beer.

Other than the fall in gravity, not much had changed since 1916. The grist is still a very simple combination of pale malt and sugar. Though there were four different types of pale malt, including some made from American barley.

The hops were all English, Mid-Kent from 1916 and East Kent from 1915 and 1916.

Whitbread never brewed a Mild Ale as strong as this again.

1917 Whitbread X
pale malt 8.25 lb 89.19%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.00 lb 10.81%
Goldings 105 mins 1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins 0.50 oz
OG 1044.5
FG 1008
ABV 4.83
Apparent attenuation 82.02%
IBU 31
SRM 9.5
Mash at 148º F
Sparge at 168º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 61º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale




This is one of the dozens of recipes in my book Mild! plus. Which is available in both paperback:









and hardback formats:

No comments: