Let's Brew Wednesday - 1879 William Younger 80/-

Now here’s a special treat. No, not because it’s a Scottish recipe. Nor because it’s in my new book. Much better than that.

It’s a beer you’ll be able to taste this weekend. If you’re in Manchester, that is. Because it’s one of the beers that’s been brewed up for my talk at Beer Nouveau in Manchester this Sunday. I’m certainly anticipating drinking it keenly. That is, after all, the main reason I do all of this. To get to drink old recipes.

For those of you not paying attention at the back, this type of 80/- has absolutely nothing at all to do with post-WW II 80/-. This version is a Scotch Ale, in this particular case, a type of Mild Ale. While modern 80/- is a sort of Pale Ale. I hope that’s clear.

It’s a simple beer. But they all were before 1880. This is right at the end of the period when only malt, hops and sugar were allowed. Hence the lack of any adjuncts in the grist. There are, however, two sorts of pale malt. About a third is described as “Chev.”, which I’m pretty sure stands for “Cheviot”, i.e. Scottish barley. The other is “CM oder”. No idea what that means but, given the date, it’s probably some sort of foreign barley.

The hops are listed as Californian, American, Kent and Spalt. I’ve left the latter out of the recipe because the quantity is so small, just 20 of the 220 lbs. Feel free to throw in half an ounce of them if you want to be really authentic.

1879 William Younger 80/-
pale malt	13.75 lb	100.00%
Cluster 90 min	2.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	2.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1059
FG	1020
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	66.10%
IBU	75
SRM	5
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale