Saturday 10 October 2020

Let's brew - 1940 William Younger XX

Tying in with my recent posts about hopping levels in WW II, here's an example of a beer hopped well below the minimum recommended level of 1 lb per standard barrel.

I've been asked about what the bitterness levels were like for sub-minimum beers. Truly pathetic, is the answer. This delightful little Mild Ale from William Younger weighed in at just over half the minimum level at just 0.53 lb per standard barrel. Which you can see in the truly puny bitterness level.

Little has changed with XX since 1939. 1º has been shaved off the gravity, but that’s about it. Though, with a gravity this low, you have to wonder how long it will last. Especially as cuts to the gravity of XXX bring the two closer together. X already seems to have been dropped.

Three types of base malt, from English, Californian and Scottish barley. Yes, it’s another beer with very few Scottish ingredients in it. Two types of sugar, caramel and something simply called “invert”. I’ve guessed at No. 3.

The hops were all Kent, from the 1937 and 1938 harvests. Bugger all of them, mind. Leaving the beer with fewer than ten IBUs. But, given that it has a reasonable quantity of dry hops, it must have had some hop aroma.

1940 William Younger XX
pale malt 5.75 lb 67.65%
crystal malt 120 L 1.00 lb 11.76%
grits 1.50 lb 17.65%
No. 3 invert sugar 0.125 lb 1.47%
caramel 1000 SRM 0.125 lb 1.47%
liquorice 0.25 oz
Fuggles 105 min 0.33 oz
Fuggles 30 min 0.33 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.25 oz
OG 1031
FG 1013
ABV 2.38
Apparent attenuation 58.06%
IBU 8
SRM 18
Mash at 154º F
Sparge at 160º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 63.5º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

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