Let's Brew Wednesday - 1851 William Younger XP

Edinburgh brewers jumped onto the Pale Ale train early. Something that was to serve them well in export markets.

William Younger was no exception, and one of their classic IPAs was XP, a beer that was brewed for a century. Not quite as long as its big brother XXP, but still a very decent run.

What makes this an IPA? The fact that at this early date in the IPA tale, there wasn’t a separate thing called Pale Ale. The two term both related to the same thing. The classic Bass IPA, for example, was always officially called simply Pale Ale. Things only get confused later in the century when all sorts of weaker versions of Pale Ale appeared.

In the early days, Scottish Pale Ales were hopped as heavily as anywhere in England. As XP nobly demonstrates. That’s a lot of hops for a beer of this strength. I’ve not included dry hops in the recipe because they aren’t recorded in the brewing record. My guess would be 0.5-0.75 oz.

Don’t feel obliged to stick to that FG. 1015º is probably more realistic for the real end gravity.

1851 William Younger XP
pale malt	13.50 lb	100.00%
Goldings 75 min	4.50 oz
Goldings 45 min	4.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	4.50 oz
OG	1058
FG	1020
ABV	5.03
Apparent attenuation	65.52%
IBU	180
SRM	5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	184º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

This is yert another bit I've lazily knicked from my brilliant book about Scottish beer:

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