1851 William Younger X Mild Ale

Deciding what does and doesn’t count as a Mild Ale in Scotland can be difficult. Unless the brewer was helpful enough to actually call the beer Mild.

Especially when, as at William Younger, the same brew would receive a Shilling or X designation depending on how it was packaged. One batch could magically become both 60/- and X at racking time. Anything filled into hogsheads and intended for bottling had a Shilling name, while what went into barrels for sale on draught had an X name.

There’s not much to say about the recipe, it being just pale malt and Goldings. One salient point about the process should be mentioned: the short boil. Contemporary London X Ales were very similar in other respects – OG and hopping rate – but had longer boils. In the case of Whitbread, the difference was just 15 minutes, but Barclay Perkins boiled their X Ale for a whopping 3 hours.

The true level of attenuation would have been higher, 1029º being the cleansing rather than racking gravity. I’d guess that the actual FG was 1020-1025º.

1851 William Younger X Mild Ale
pale malt	16.75 lb	100.00%
Goldings 75 min	3.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	3.50 oz
OG	1072
FG	1029
ABV	5.69
Apparent attenuation	59.72%
IBU	92
SRM	6
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	184º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

This recipe - and more than 350 others - can be found in my definitive book on Scottish beer:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/scotland-vol-2/paperback/product-23090497.html