Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Maclay DBS 54/-

A Maclay Brown Stout label featuring a drawing of thistles.

Now, Scottish Stouts could be pretty weird. Very weird, in fact. I’m looking at you William Younger, with your barely fermented spent hop Stouts.

This Stout is unusual for a couple of reasons. For a start, it’s incredibly weak from something claiming to be a Double Stout. Which I would expect to be around 1070º. The gravity here of just 1044º is pretty pathetic. That’s weak, even for a Porter. And, if it really wholesaled for 54/- a hogshead, that implies a gravity of at least 1050º.

The second area of oddness is in the grist. Which has 20% malted oats. For a beer that isn’t even billing itself as an Oat Stout. There’s a simple explanation for that: it was parti-gyled with their Oat Malt Stout.

In addition to pale and oat malt, there’s also black and amber malt. Rather a lot of black malt. Which is why the colour is so dark.

Lots of hops again. That seems to have been the Maclay way. Hallertau from the 1905, Hallertau and 1907 harvests; Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905. 

 

1909 Maclay DBS 54/-
pale malt 5.25 lb 53.16%
black malt 1.00 lb 10.13%
amber malt 0.375 lb 3.80%
malted oats 2.00 lb 20.25%
No. 2 invert sugar 1.00 lb 10.13%
caramel 0.25 lb 2.53%
linseed 0.66 oz
liquorice 0.33 oz
Cluster 120 min 0.75 oz
Hallertau 60 min 0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min 1.50 oz
OG 1044
FG 1013
ABV 4.10
Apparent attenuation 70.45%
IBU 55
SRM 47
Mash at 144º F
after underlet 154º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 60.75º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

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