Let's Brew Wednesday - 1913 William Younger No. 3

Sorry for the interruption in Let's Brew instalments. A variety of factors, too dull to mention here, were responsible. But I can guarantee you that there will be at least two Wednesdays in a row with recipes. Even better than that, with William Younger recipes.

No. 3 is a funny beast. I can remember it being described as a dark Bitter in the 1970's. I suppose that's no worse than mistaking its 19th-century incarnation for a Pale Ale, which some have. Burton, however odd that sounds for a beer brewed in Scotland, seems the best way to describe it. It shares many features with London KK and, when sold in London, filled the same slot on the bar. Of course, you could just call it a Scotch Ale, however confusing that phrase might be. Though, as you can see in the image to the right, that was what Younger themselves described it as.

Then there's the character of the beer itself. I wish I could tell you what colour the finished version of this beer had. I suspect several different ones, based on my experiences with other Scottish brewers. My guess would be that it was coloured up with caramel several ways to meet the expectations of different markets. But, until I track down a document with colouring details, that's just speculation.

Sometime between 1898 and 1912 there were radical changes made to No. 3's character. The gravity was knocked down a bit, from 1076º to 1067º, but that wasn't the biggest change. That was in the hopping, which dropped from 3 pounds per barrel to just over 1 pound. That's such a drastic change that I wish I had logs for some of the intervening years. I can't believe the drop happened all in one go. It would have been too drastic a change.

New versions of No. 3 also appeared in the same period. The enigmatic No. 3a, which retained a gravity of over 1070º. No. 3 Sc (presumably meaning Scotch or Scottish) which appears to be exactly the same as the standard version. Finally No. 3 btg, the bottling version, which was a touch higher in gravity, 1070º, and the most heavily hopped at 1.75 lbs per barrel.

Weirdly, in the 1930's the hopping rate went up again, even though the gravity had fallen a good bit more. Anyone who drank No. 3 over 30 years would have experienced some very different beers in his glass.






That's me done for now, and here comes Kristen with the recipe . . . . . . .









Kristen’s Version:

So we are moving a bit more forward in time. Up to the turn of the century. Both of these next logs were included in the 1909 book. Each is slightly different as I learn more I make sure and update calculations and such. They are only a bit off though. The big thing you’ll notice about both of these is the amount of adjuncts.

They used grits, which I would personally use instead of flaked maize as the character is quite different. However you’ll have to cook them up first to use them. Its not that much effort really. Just treat them as you would when you are cooking up polenta (www.lmgtfy.com). Then add them to your mash. Take into account the temperature they bring over being hot or cold. The second bit is the use of caramel. Use it as you wish.

The hops were pretty much 100% Cluster however feel free to play around with these as you see fit. Goldings always do a great job. Bullion work pretty nicely as did Challenger. This ferments pretty cool so take note and make sure the yeast doesn’t drop out.

England vs Scotland, part 3g: early 1850's Porter

The beer styles are coming thick and fast now. We're now at Porter. You may have noticed that I'm working my way through in alphabetic order. Guessing what will come next shouldn't be too hard.

I'll start with a few words of explanation about how I've selected that data. London brewers made a variety of Porters in this period. Most of which had no equivalent at William Younger. Keeping Porter, Export Porter, Export India, Bottling Keeping. As beers that were meant to last a long time before consumption, they were naturally more heavily hopped than standard running Porter. Younger's BS wasn't aged and it wasn't brewed for export. Comparing it with Export or Keeping Porter would be like comparing apples and persimmons. Consequently, I've only included London Running Porters.

I can see a similar to phenomenon to that in action with Pale Ale. Porter being an alien style, Younger appear to have copied London brewing practice. There are several points of dissimilarity with the other beers in their range: pitching temperature, length of boil and attenuation all jump right out.

Here's the table:

England vs Scotland early 1850's Porter
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fer-ment-ation temp	length of fer-ment-ation (days)
27th Aug	1852	Whitbread	P	1056.0	1019.4	4.84	65.35%	10.41	2.88	1.5	1.5	2		64
7th Jul	1854	Whitbread	P	1056.0	1017.5	5.09	68.81%	11.24	2.75	1.5	1.5	2		64
11th Sep	1852	Whitbread	P	1060.9	1017.2	5.79	71.82%	11.55	3.03	1.5	1.5	3		64
24th Jan	1850	Whitbread	P	1061.2	1019.4	5.53	68.33%	12.50	3.26	1.5	2	2	2	64
20th Aug	1853	Whitbread	P	1062.0	1020.8	5.46	66.52%	12.69	3.41	1.5	1.5	2		64
14th Sep	1850	Whitbread	P	1062.3	1017.2	5.97	72.44%	10.58	2.78	1.5	2	2		64
2nd Jan	1851	Whitbread	P	1062.3	1017.2	5.97	72.44%	10.21	2.67	1.5	2	2	2	64
5th Jul	1853	Whitbread	P	1062.6	1018.3	5.86	70.80%	11.32	3.06	1.5	1.5	2		64
18th Sep	1850	Whitbread	P	1062.9	1016.6	6.12	73.57%	11.17	2.90	1.5	2	2		64
31st Jul	1852	Whitbread	P	1062.9	1017.7	5.97	71.81%	11.14	2.95	1.5	1.5	2		64
1st Sep	1851	Whitbread	P	1063.2	1019.4	5.79	69.30%	11.15	3.14	1.5	1.5	2		64
18th Aug	1852	Whitbread	P	1063.2	1017.7	6.01	71.93%	11.22	3.25	1.5	1.5	2		64
8th Sep	1851	Whitbread	P	1063.4	1018.3	5.97	71.18%	11.19	3.13	1.5	1.5	2		64
11th Sep	1850	Whitbread	P	1063.7	1016.9	6.19	73.48%	11.84	3.08	1.5	2	2	2	64
9th Dec	1852	Whitbread	P	1064.0	1018.0	6.08	71.86%	10.18	2.93	1.5	1.5	2		64
9th Nov	1852	Whitbread	P	1064.0				10.08	2.84	1.5	1.5	2		64
16th Aug	1851	Whitbread	P	1064.5	1021.9	5.64	66.09%	11.19	3.12	1.5	1.5	2		64
1st Jul	1850	Truman	Runner	1065.1	1019.7	6.01	69.79%	10.8	2.71					66.5		7
11th Aug	1851	Whitbread	P	1065.1	1020.8	5.86	68.09%	11.11	3.55	1.5	1.5	2		64
20th Sep	1850	Whitbread	P	1065.9	1020.8	5.97	68.49%	11.84	3.09	1.5	2	2	2	64
Average				1062.6	1018.7	5.80	70.43%	11.17	3.03	1.5	1.7	2.1	2.0	64.1		7.0
3rd Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	BS	1056	1015	5.42	73.21%	23.87	2.86	2.25				63	72	5
11th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	BS	1057	1017	5.29	70.18%	21.75	3.08	2.25				64	73	5
28th Feb	1852	Younger, Wm.	BS	1057	1018	5.16	68.42%	23.87	2.93	2.25				64	72	6
15th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	BS	1060	1022	5.03	63.33%	23.46	2.61	2.25				63	72	5
22nd Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	BS	1060	1021	5.16	65.00%	25.26	2.93	2.5				64	73	5
29th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	BS	1060	1024	4.76	60.00%	27.37	3.17	2.25				64	71	5
Average				1058.3	1019.5	5.14	68.57%	24.26	2.93	2.29				63.7	72.2	5.2
difference				-4.2	0.8	-0.66	2.47%	13.09	-0.10	0.79	-1.7	-2.1	-2.0	-0.5	72.2	-1.8
Sources:
William Younger brewing records document numbers WY/6/1/2/3 and WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing records document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/043, LMA/4453/D/09/044, LMA/4453/D/09/045, LMA/4453/D/09/046, LMA/4453/D/09/047 and LMA/4453/D/09/048 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/052 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

Let's start pulling apart the stitching with hopping rates. It doesn't take an expert to see that there's bugger all difference in the hopping rate per barrel. All the beers, English and Scottish, have about 3 lbs per barrel. In the early 1850's Younger's Porter was hopped at the same rate as equivalent London beers.

Boiling times are more tricky. Because of the different number of worts. London Porters were blended from 3 or 4 worts, which were all boiled for different lengths of time, getting longer as the wort got weaker. Younger's Porter had a single wort. A direct comparison isn't possible. What is clear is that Younger boiled their Porter for much longer than their Ales. About twice as long, to be precise. It looks like they are trying to imitate the long boils of London brewers. What can I say? In the early 1850's Younger's Porter had a longer boil of the first wort than equivalent London beers.

Thankfully, pitching temperatures are dead easy. Almost every beer, English or Scottish, was pitched at 63º or 64º F. I can see no difference. Unfortunately, I don't have the maximum fermentation temperatures for any of the London Porters. But the pitching temperature and max. temperature of Younger's Porters are considerably higher than of their Ales. The pitching temperatures are a good 6º to 8º F warmer. As the temperature didn't rise as much during fermentation, the difference in the maximum temperature is smaller, 4º to 5º F warmer. It again looks as Younger deliberately copied London practice. In the early 1850's Younger's Porter was pitched at the same temperature as equivalent London beers.

Younger's Porter was a the low end of gravity range covered by the London beers. The average OG was a full 4 points lower. Though the average FG was a touch higher. Surprisingly that's not really reflected in the attenuation, which is only a little lower. There's not much that can be said, except: in the early 1850's Younger's Porter had about the same level of attenuation as equivalent London beers.

I think the results are very clear: Younger's Porter was very similar to the Porters brewed in London. There was one enormous difference. The amount brewed per batch. Younger's brew length was just 40-odd barrels. The London ones between 600 and 1,000 barrels.

T & J Bernard other beers 1923 - 1958

This time we're looking at the other T & J Bernard beers for which I have analyses. Sadly, a rather small group. Still worth a glance, though.

I should be thankful to Whitbread. And their desire to keep a close on competitors in certain key categories for the company. They were still heavily involved in the Stout trade and, as sales of older types waned, they threw their weight behind the new darling of the Porter world, Milk Stout. Half of the Stout analyses below were taken from the Whitbread Gravity Book.

Looking at this set, I've realised something. That while Scottish brewers were renowned for their Strong Ales, they didn't make Stouts of any great strength. The strongest I've found so far was 1078º. That's barely a Double Stout by London standards. There were plenty of London Stouts that were 1090º and above.

The strongest of Bernard's Stout, the Imperial Stout wasn't really all that Imperial. At the same time, the early 1920's, Barclay Perkins base-level draught Stout had nearly the same gravity: 1054º to Bernard's Imperial and 1057º. And that Double Brown Stout at 1035º? Well that's just taking the piss. How strong was the Single Stout?

Bizarrely, the most highly-attenuated of the Stouts is Milk Stout. I thought that was supposed to be sweet? You have to wonder how much - if any - lactose it contained with an FG as low as 1013.6º. Maybe, like the many oatmeal Stouts contained bugger all oats, there was a token amount of lactose thrown in to justify the name.

The Strong Ales look very typical. This is the type of beer that outside Scotland was called Scotch Ale. The stronger, Younger's No. 1 style. 7 - 8% ABV, dark brown and sweet. I know Bernard's was sweet. Because there's a note on the flavour in the Usher's Gravity Book entry for the 1929 version: "Pleasant. Very sweet." That's a real compliment compared to the comments made on most of the other beers analysed. There's barely a good word said. The beers marketed as Scotch Ale in Belgium are probably the closest match you'll find today.

Finally there's that weedy Brown Ale. Which is about 10º weaker than a typical Brown Ale of the 1930's. It looks more like one from the austerity years of the 1940's. It, too, is surprisingly highly attenuated.

I'll finish with the table. Let me know if you can spot anything I've missed. I'm only human.

T & J Bernard other beers 1923 - 1958
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1923	Imperial Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1023.5	1057.6	366	4.40	59.21%
1932	Double Brown Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1009.5	1035.5		3.37	73.24%
1938	Milk Stout	Stout	4.5d	half pint	bottled	0.07	1013.6	1057	1/16" cell 1 red 17 brown	5.65	76.14%
1949	Export Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1010	1040		3.89	75.00%
1954	Export Stout	Stout	1/2d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1013.3	1043.9	1 + 14	3.96	69.70%
1958	Export Stout	Stout	26d	16 oz	can	0.05	1014.7	1046.4	225	3.96	68.32%
1926	Strong Ale	Strong Ale		pint	bottled		1020	1080	100	7.84	75.00%
1928	Strong Ale	Strong Ale		pint	bottled		1030	1083	100	6.87	63.86%
1929	Strong Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale		pint	bottled		1027	1086	13 - 14	7.68	68.60%
1931	Brown Ale	Brown Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1031		2.98	74.19%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11

England vs Scotland, part 3f: early 1850's Pale Ale

It's with a tear in my eye that I wave goodbye to the Milds. Now it's the turn of the 1850's most stylish and fashionable style: Pale Ale. Probably a type of beer you feel more comfortable with.

As you'll see, the number of examples is pretty limited. That's because of the London brewers whose brewing records I have, only Truman brewed a Pale Ale in this period. It's still very early days for the style. That Younger did brew Pale Ale is an indication of how they were ahead of the game in spotting its potential. And that Scotland was out of phase with England, style-wise. While London brewers were transitioning from Porter to Mild Ale as their bread and butter, their Scots colleagues were moving straight to Bitter.

XXP looks very different from Younger's other beers. For a start, the degree of attenuation is much higher, averaging 75%. Most of their other beers, especially the Shilling Ales, struggled top reach 65% and were often below 60%.

Early Pale Ales from different breweries have very similar specifications. That's not so surprising. Initially, they were trying to imitate the beers of Burton and modelled their Pale Ales closely on them. As the century progressed versions brewed in different parts of Britain gradually diverged. Most outside Burton dropped gravities a little from the classic 1065º. In London after 1860 Pale Ales were usually about 1060º. Younger's were a little weaker than that, with IPA at 1054º and Export Pale Ale at 1060º.

Let's press on with the table.

England vs Scotland early 1850's Pale Ale
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fer-ment-ation temp	length of fer-ment-ation (days)
20th Mar	1851	Truman	Pale Ale	1067.0				22	6.88
7th Mar	1851	Truman	Pale Ale	1067.6				22	6.67
Average				1067.3				22.00	6.77
16th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1065	1018	6.22	72.31%	24.00	8.10	1.25	1.33		57	68	7
10th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1067	1017	6.61	74.63%	24.00	7.90	1.25	1.25		57	67	8
1st Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1067	1017	6.61	74.63%	24.00	8.20	1	1.17		56	67	8
14th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1068	1019	6.48	72.06%	25.43	8.09	1.25			57	67	8
10th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1068	1014	7.14	79.41%	24.00	8.20	1.25	1.25		57	69	8
1st Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1070	1017	7.01	75.71%	24.00	7.90	1.25	1.33		58	67	8
9th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	XXP	1072	1018	7.14	75.00%	24.00	8.18	1.25			58	67	7
Average				1068.1	1017.1	6.75	74.82%	24.20	8.08	1.21	1.27		57.1	67.4	7.7
difference				0.8	1017.1	6.75	74.82%	2.20	1.31	1.21	1.27		57.1	67.4	7.7
Sources:
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/132 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

So much information is missing from the Truman's beers, that there are only two elements I can compare: OG and hopping rate.

Gravity is a piece of urine. The Truman's and Younger's gravities are very similar.

Hopping rates are much less confusing this time around. All the beers in the table are very heavily hopped, but Younger's slightly more so. By about 1.25 lbs per barrel, on average. This set is too small for a really meaningful comparison. But, once again, there's no evidence to support the claim that Scottish brewers used far fewer hops.

Porter next. I've a much bigger set for that. I wonder what it will tell us?

T & J Bernard's Old Edinburgh Brewery (part three)

So exciting. We're off to see the tuns. The wonderful tuns of Bernard.

"Leaving this reservoir behind us, we next bent our steps to the tun room, a we descended to a sub-basement under the offices, where our guide satisfied our curiosity.

The beer is conveyed from the fermenting tuns to the flattening squares on the opposite side of the street, by means of a copper pipe laid under the road, and through which there is a copper wire with suckers attached like those used in pumps, by the use of which the pipe is kept thoroughly sweet and clean.

Before leaving this side of the brewery we were taken to the far end of the quadrangle to see the porter vathouse, which contains a vat holding 200 barrels; and a large store or cellar for cleansing stout, which contains the usual vessels for that purpose. Here also is the engine-house, containing—besides a set of three-throw pumps—an overhead crank engine of fourteen horse-power, and near to it three steam boilers, which are planted at the end of an open space used for storing strong ales and porter."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 111 - 112.

If you remember the map from earlier, it shows how much larger the premises on the south side of the road were. Given the site, it would have been impossible to extend the old part of the brewery as it was hemmed in on all sides.

You have to wonder just how "thoroughly sweet and clean" that pipe under the road was kept. Sounds like just the sort of place an infection could settle in. It sounds like they were using a variation on the dropping system, with the beer being moved into large shallow squares at the end of fermentation to cool it and remove yeast. The practice seems to have been common in Scotland.

I'm surprised at how much specialist Porter equipment they had. Ageing standard Porter in vats went out of fashion (and all but disappeared) in the 1870's. By the time this article was written only strong Stouts would have been vatted.

Now the Pale Ale cellar and racking room:

"Passing under the railway arch which crosses the street at the end of Messrs. Bernard's property, we first entered the pale ale cellar—measuring 228 feet by 118 feet. It contains eight " flatteners," or settling squares, which hold together 600 barrels. They are all fine vessels, and stand on iron columns, a few feet from the floor. In this apartment the ale is racked into casks, which are then lifted by a steam hoist similar to that described in Chapter II., to the two upper floors, and a floor still higher which communicates with the railway. In the centre of this place is the well, 200 feet deep, which supplies all the tanks on both sides of the brewery, the water being pumped thereto by two sets of powerful pumps. Our guide lifted the trap-door and threw a light down far as its rays would reach, to show us the iron ladder by which it is possible to descend to the surface of the water; but we had no wish to explore its mysterious depths."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 112.

The railway arch is all that remains of the structure Barnard described. It's one of the things that helped me pinpoint the brewery's location. This is interesting. The beer went from fermenter to the settling square  for cleansing. Which means that they didn't have union sets. That's a slight surprise. brewers that were heavily into Pale Ale mostly copied Burton practice and installed union sets. Like William Younger, for example, who were just down the road from Bernard.

Finally, we drop by the cooperage:

"Ascending to the second floor above, the first thing that attracted our attention was the saw-mill, containing two saw benches - one upright and the other vertical - for cutting and shaping staves, etc. On one side were piles of timber and staves, waiting to be manipulated before being sent to the cooperage in the adjoining yard, and at one comer an office for the manager of this department.

We next visited the cask-washing sheds, which are similarly arranged to those described in previous chapters, the cooperage, and the repairing shops contiguous. Thirty men are employed in this yard, of whom twenty are expert coopers, besides a number of boys ; and about 100 men in other departments. Having completed our inspection, we returned to the brewery by another way, after taking a peep at the stables and cart-sheds in the enclosure at the bottom of the hill."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 112 - 113.

Barrels were  a major expense for breweries in the days when they were handmade from wood. As the proportion of the workforce employed in the cooperage department indicates: 30 out of the total of 130 workers. The skilled coopers - numbering twenty - would have been some of the best paid manual workers in the brewery.

Next we'll be taking a look at Bernard's new brewery. About which I've a few tales of my own.