Let's Brew Wednesday - 1940 William Younger P Btlg

Let’s move to the other end of Pale Ale spectrum at William Younger. With a luvverly watery beer, P. But not just any P, the bottling version of P.

You know what it looks like to me? A post-war 60/-. They were usually around 1030º. And pretty lightly hopped. Both of which characteristics this beer shares. During the first half of the 20th century Scottish brewers really knocked down their hopping rates. Leaving their beers much less hoppy than those from south of the border.

Whitbread’s XX Mild Ale from the same year contained almost twice as many hops, while having only a slightly higher OG (1031.5º) . The same was true of Barclay Perkins weaker Mild, A and X (1029º and 1032º) which had around 50% more hops than P. And remember that these beers are Mild, not Pale Ales.

You may have already spotted one unusual feature of this beer. It’s all malt. There’s a simple explanation for that. Pre-war, Younger’s recipes were mostly just pale malt and grits. The war made all maize products unobtainable, as it needed to be imported. At the time there was no maize grown in the UK.  Later in the war brewers used either oats or flaked barley as a replacement for maize.

I assume the relatively high OG is to stop the beer tasting too thin. It also means you’ve got zero chance of getting pissed on it. It’s not even 2.5% ABV.

Do let me know if you brew this. I’d love to know how it tastes.

1940 William Younger P Btlg
pale malt	6.50 lb	100.00%
Fuggles 90 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1028
FG	1010
ABV	2.38
Apparent attenuation	64.29%
IBU	14
SRM	3
Mash at	154.5º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	63.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale