Let's Brew Wednesday - 1960 Youngs QSPA

Now this is a weird one. A very strong Pale Ale with the intriguing name of QSPA. What on earth could that “Q” stand for?

It looks rather like Export Pale Ale or Special London Ale. Was it an earlier version of that beer? I’m not even totally sure it was sold in this form. In a slightly earlier brew, there’s a note saying: “QSPA blended back with SPA”. Presumably, the SPA it was parti-gyled with.

It looks very much like a full-strength Pale Ale from before WW I.  So strong, I can’t imagine that it was sold on draught.

The recipe is the same as for all the other Pale Ales: base malt, flaked maize and sugar. Nothing very exciting about that.

You guessed it – the hops were two English types,  from the 1958 and 1959 harvests. 

1960 Youngs QSPA
pale malt	10.75 lb	79.15%
flaked maize	1.75 lb	12.88%
pale malt extract	0.33 lb	2.43%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.75 lb	5.52%
caramel 500 SRM	0.002 lb	0.01%
Fuggles 120 min	1.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.75 oz
OG	1062
FG	1017.5
ABV	5.89
Apparent attenuation	71.77%
IBU	39
SRM	6
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.