William Younger grists in 1884 and 1885

Want to see what went into those dozens of William Younger beers? Of course you do. As it turns out, not very many different ingredients.

Let's get the ball rolling with the Holyrood brewery. There's not much to the grists. There are only two elements: pale malt and dextro-maltose. And they appear in every beer, other than S XP. Though the percentages do vary a bit, from 7% to over 11%. 

There does seem to be some logic to this, with beers such as No. 1, which were going to be aged longer, receiving the most sugar. The function of the dextro-maltose being to provide food for the Brattanomyces during the long, slow secondary fermentation.

There are a few more ingrdients at the Abbey brewery. Which makes sense as they brewed a broader range of styles. Though more than half of the beers are 100% pale malt.

The three Stouts all contain black malt in addition to the pale malt. But no other coloured malts, such as crystal, amber or brown. Instead, they go for the simplest possible Stout grist. Not even with any sugar.

Here, the role of the dextro-maltose is very clear. It's present only in the numbered Strong Ales and the Shilling Ales. Beers which were going to be aged. With the sogar being there as Brettanomyces food. Though, at the time, they had no idea that it was Brattanomyces they were feeding. Secondary fermentation being something of a mystery.

Hops. You'll be interested in those, won't you? Everyone is into hops nowadays. We'll be looking at those next. 

William Younger (Holyrood) grists in 1884
Beer	Style	pale malt	dextro-maltose
S XP	IPA	100.00%	0.00%
XP	IPA	92.00%	8.00%
XXP	IPA	92.86%	7.14%
XXX	Mild	91.67%	8.33%
XXXX	Mild	91.67%	8.33%
XXXX / 3	Mild	88.57%	11.43%
Ext	Pale Ale	90.00%	10.00%
S Ext	Pale Ale	95.12%	4.88%
PX	Pils	91.67%	8.33%
1	Strong Ale	88.57%	11.43%
3	Strong Ale	92.59%	7.41%
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.

William Younger (Abbey) grists in 1885
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	dextro-maltose	Sacc.
T	Table Beer	100.00%
50/-	Ale	100.00%
S 50/-	Ale	100.00%
B 50/-	Ale	95.12%			4.88%
H 60/-	Ale	100.00%
60/-	Ale	100.00%
80/-	Ale	100.00%
100/-	Ale	100.00%
120/-	Ale	91.89%		8.11%
140/-	Ale	87.40%		12.60%
160/-	Ale	87.40%		12.60%
X	Mild	100.00%
XX	Mild	100.00%
XXX	Mild	100.00%
XXXX	Stock Ale	100.00%
P	Pale Ale	100.00%
XP	IPA	100.00%
XP Scotch	Pale Ale	100.00%
DBS	Stout	93.10%	6.90%
S1	Stout	92.86%	7.14%
S2	Stout	92.00%	8.00%
1	Strong Ale	90.48%		9.52%
2	Strong Ale	90.00%		10.00%
3	Strong Ale	89.69%		10.31%
3 pale	Strong Ale	100.00%
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/31.