Let's Brew Wednesday - 1943 William Younger No. 1

It seems to be taking forever to polish off the final few recipes for my next book. Only William Younger left to go. Unfortunately, they brewed a ridiculous number of different beers. I've only just finished 1943. Still a couple of more years to go.

It’s all change with the No. 1 recipe compared to 1942. With a quite different grist, where quite a few ingredients have been dropped.

One thing that remained the same was the gravity, which at 1076 was very reasonable for this phase of the war. I can’t imagine there was much any stronger being brewed at the time.

Flaked barley has replaced the two adjuncts from 1942, grits and flaked rice. No surprise there. It’s more of a shock that Younger still had stocks of grits and flaked rice in 1942, as both had to be imported. From here on in to the end of the war and beyond, flaked barley was pretty much the only adjunct available.

This iteration is notable for containing no sugar at all. Why did they drop lactose? I’m assuming it was beyond the brewer’s control as it reappeared in the post-war recipe.

Change extends to the hops, which were Kent and OP21, an experimental variety also known as Brewer’s Favourite, both from the 1942 harvest. I’ve substituted Brewer’s Gold for OP21. The higher alpha content of OP21/Brewer’s Gold means that the calculated bitterness has increased significantly, up from 24 IBU in 1942 to 33 IBU.

1943 William Younger No. 1
pale malt	13.50 lb	75.00%
crystal malt 120L	1.50 lb	8.33%
flaked barley	3.00 lb	16.67%
Fuggles 150 min	0.75 oz
Brewer's Gold 150 min	0.25 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1076
FG	1022
ABV	7.14
Apparent attenuation	71.05%
IBU	33
SRM	16
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale