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

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

Let's Brew - 1909 Maclay Table Beer 28/-

Now here’s a real oddity: a 20th-century Table Beer. The type had been pretty common at the start of the 19th century. However, when it disappeared as a tax category in 1830, it quickly disappeared from England. While in Scotland, in continued to be brewed. Albeit in quite modest quantities.

In Edwardian Britain a beer of under 2% ABV, such as this one, was pretty much treated as non-alcoholic. In England, no-one was brewing a beer this week in 1909.

For a Scottish beer, the grist is incredibly complex. With three malts: pale, amber and black malt. Something that you wouldn’t see at any other Scottish brewery, other than in Stout. As you’ll see in a moment, the Mild Ales have pretty much the same recipe. Making this essentially a type of very weak Mild.

There are no fewer than six types of hops. Hallertau from the 1905, 1906 and 1907 vintage; Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905. 

1909 Maclay Table Beer 28/-
pale malt	3.00 lb	63.16%
amber malt	0.125 lb	2.63%
black malt	0.125 lb	2.63%
grits	1.00 lb	21.05%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.50 lb	10.53%
Cluster 120 min	0.25 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.25 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1022
FG	1007
ABV	1.98
Apparent attenuation	68.18%
IBU	16
SRM	8
Mash at	146º F
after underlet	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Maclay PI 60/-

We’ve now arrived at Maclay’s top-of-the-range Pale Ale, 60/-. How ironic that this was the only one of Maclay’s Pale Ales to survive WW I and WW II. And end up being the most watery beer they produced.

For a brewery’s most expensive Pale Ale, it’s not all that strong. In London, the strongest Pale Ales were around 1060º. This is more like the strength of a second-string London Pale Ale. Interesting, that. A not particularly great rate of attenuation leaves this not much over 4.5% ABV. Which isn’t much more than a post-WW II Best Bitter.

There’s not much to say about the recipe, this being parti-gyled with the PI 54/- we’ve already looked at. The grist consisting just of pale and amber malt, grits and Greenock sugar. It’s quite an untypical recipe for Scotland, where just pale malt, flaked maize and sugar was more usual.

As always with Maclay, there were loads of hops. . Hallertau from the 1905, Hallertau and 1907 seasons; Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905.

I doubt that this was aged more than a couple of weeks.

1909 Maclay PI 60/-
pale malt	7.00 lb	63.64%
amber malt	0.25 lb	2.27%
grits	2.50 lb	22.73%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	11.36%
Cluster 120 min	0.75 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1051
FG	1016
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	68.63%
IBU	38
SRM	7
Mash at	147º F
after underlet	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	63.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

Let's Brew - 1909 Maclay PI 54/-

Maclay didn’t content themselves with brewing one watery Pale Ale. They also had a slightly less watery one, in the form of 54/-. 

With a gravity of 1041º, it’s very weak for a pre-WW I Pale Ale. Though, obviously, not as bad as 42/-. A fairly poor level of attenuation leaves it under 3.5% ABV. At a time when pretty much everything brewed in London was over 5% ABV.

The grist is very much the same as that of 42/-. Which is pale and amber malt, grits and a sugar called Greenock. There’s a bit less amber malt and a few more grits. But nothing significant.

There’s a whole load of hops again. Hallertau from the 1905, Hallertau and 1907 harvests; Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905. 

1909 Maclay PI 54/-
pale malt	5.50 lb	61.97%
amber malt	0.125 lb	1.41%
grits	2.25 lb	25.35%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	11.27%
Cluster 120 min	0.50 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1041
FG	1015
ABV	3.44
Apparent attenuation	63.41%
IBU	27
SRM	6
Mash at	147º F
after underlet	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Maclay PI 42/-

Not only did Maclay brew a piss-weak Mild, they also had a similarly puny Pale Ale. Though, if you’re to believe the brewery designation of IP, it’s sort of an IPA. One to dribe style Nazis insane.

Before WW I a Pale Ale this weak – not even quite 3.5% ABV – was something of an exception. Even at English country breweries, where beers were generally weaker, wouldn’t have a Pale Ale quite this feeble.

The grist is very idiosyncratic, with pale malt, amber malt and grits combining.  Maclay in this period seems to have been very keen on amber malt. Using it in both Mild and Pale Ales. I can’t emphasise enough how fucking weird this is for Scotland. Amber malt rarely even turns up in Stout.

Loads of different hops again. Hallertau from the 1905, 1906 and1907 Seasons; Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905. 

1909 Maclay PI 42/-
pale malt	4.75 lb	64.41%
amber malt	0.125 lb	1.69%
grits	1.50 lb	20.34%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.56%
Cluster 120 min	0.50 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1035
FG	1009
ABV	3.44
Apparent attenuation	74.29%
IBU	26
SRM	6
Mash at	146º F
after underlet	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Let's Brew - 1909 Maclay Mild 56/-

In addition to their watery 42/- Mild, Maclay also had a much stronger version, 64/- Mild. Which is interesting. As this beer is stronger than most Milds of the time, about the equivalent of a provincial English XXX.

Surprisingly, it was brewed in much larger quantities than 42/-. Around 70 barrels at a time, compared to 30 barrels of 42/-. Though still far less than the popular Pale Ales.

There’s not a huge deal to say about the recipe, this being parti-gyled with the 42/- we’ve already seen.

You’ve probably noticed the really shit level of attenuation. A bit under 60%. There are examples with a slightly lower FG of 1023º or 1024º. Not that it makes the rate of attenuation that much better. A couple of weeks in cask before consumption would have reduced the gravity a little more. Though that still wouldn’t have had that much impact on the attenuation.

1909 Maclay Mild 56/-
pale malt	8.75 lb	66.67%
amber malt	0.50 lb	3.81%
black malt	0.125 lb	0.95%
grits	2.50 lb	19.05%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.25 lb	9.52%
Cluster 120 min	0.75 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.50 oz
OG	1061
FG	1025
ABV	4.76
Apparent attenuation	59.02%
IBU	36
SRM	12
Mash at	146º F
after underlet	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Maclay Mild 42/-

In the early 20th-century, there were still genuine Mild Ales being brewed in Scotland. Though WW I would change that, with Mild virtually becoming extinct north of the border.

There are a few very notable features of this beer. For starters, there’s the gravity. Which, at 1034º, looks like a post-WW II Mild. In England, most Milds were much stronger at this point. Though there are ones from breweries in more rural locations – for example, Adnams – with beers of a similar strength.

The grist is also unusual. Particularly in the use of around 20% grits. Most UK breweries employed maize in flaked form rather than grits. Which you might want to do, as grits require a cereal mash before normal mashing begins. And few English brewers would have roasted malts like amber and black malt in their Mild Ales.

The sugar is simply described as “inversion”, which I take to mean invert sugar. I’ve plumped for No. 2 invert. Just as a sort of neutral choice. It could have been No. 3, as it doesn’t appear in in the Pale Ales.

Now for the hops. Of which there are loads. Hallertau from the 1905, 1906 and 1907 harvests;  Californian from 1907, Farnham from 1908 and Worcester from 1905. 

1909 Maclay Mild 42/-
pale malt	4.50 lb	61.02%
amber malt	0.25 lb	3.39%
black malt	0.125 lb	1.69%
grits	1.50 lb	20.34%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.56%
Cluster 120 min	0.50 oz
Hallertau 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1034
FG	1013
ABV	2.78
Apparent attenuation	61.76%
IBU	28
SRM	10
Mash at	146º F
after underlet	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

What is Oatmeal Stout?

Another of my little YouTube videos, this time about Oatmeal Stout. Well. Oat Malt Stout, too. 

 

Scottish Export/80/- boiling and fermentation in the 1950s

You won't have to put up with this much longer. I'll be back from my Canada trip in a couple of days. Then you'll be blasted with travel posts for a couple of weeks.

Processes today. Starting with boiling.

Unfortunately, most of the breweries couldn't be arsed to record the boiling time. Which is really annoying. The William Younger's records have a column for the boiling time. They just haven't filled it in.

The two breweries that didt bother don't reveal anything particularly unusual.90 to 120 minutes is pretty typical. The only thing that I find slightly surprising is that there were three boils at Robert Younger. And that all were of the same length. That's about all I have to say on the topic of boiling.

On to fermentation. Lots more details there, thankfully.

There's not too much variation in pitching temperatures: 60º F to 62.5º F. Averaging just under 61º F. Which is pretty normal stuff. I consider 60º F to be the "standard" pitching temperature.

Maximum temperatures are another matter. They're all over the place. From 65.5º F to 74.5º F. Drybrough Export only increased by 4º F, while Bernard's rose 14.5 º F. Quite a difference.

Oddly enough, those two were also the beers with the shortest fermentation times, just five days. I would have expected the fermentation that ran hotter to be quicker. All the other beers took seven days. 

Scottish Export/80/- boiling and fermentation in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	boil time (hours)			Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	2	2	2	60º F	68º F	7
1958	Wm Younger	Export				60º F	73.5º F	7
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	1.75			60.5º F	74.5º F	5
1957	Maclay	Export				62.5º F	70º F	7
1956	Drybrough	Export				61.5º F	65.5º F	5
	Average					60.9º F	70.3º F	6.20
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling. 

 

 

Scottish Export/80/- hops in the 1950s

Still on my holidays. Unless I've dropped dead from the stress of travel. You never know at my age.

And still pumping out stuff about Eighty Bob. It's a style I drank a reasonable amount of. Mostly in the form of Younger's/McEwans. Which I believe were the same beer. Decent enough stuff, when in cask form. I must have had Maclay's, too. I can't really remember it, though. I'd usually go for their 60/-, if it was an option.

Back to the topic in hand. Hops. Lots of English hops. Which is what you would expect. In the 1950s the UK was about self-sufficient in hops. Meaning not that many were imported.

Most of the beers contain two types of hops. Other than Drybrough Export, which has five. Including two foreign hops, Saaz and Styrian. Interestingly, both from Central Europe.

Not many of the brewing records mention the vitage of the hops. Only William Younger and Bernard bothered. Both were using hops mostly from the most recent season. With just one of William Younger's hops a year older than that.

Scottish Export/80/- hops in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	English	English
1958	Wm Younger	Export	Kent 1956	Kent 1957
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	English 1957	English 1957
1957	Maclay	Export	English	English	English	Saaz	Styrian
1956	Drybrough	Export	English	English
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.

 

 

Scottish Export/80/- sugars in the 1950s

There's nop end to the 80/- fun. I'll be away in Canada when this is published. That's why I've been spinning so many posts from Eighty Bob. I think it's theown up some interesting stuff, mind.

Today we're looking at the sugars in 80/-. And there are way more of them than malts. Ten, in total. Seven of them just in Drybrough Export. Though, proportionally, Maclay's had the greatest quantity, at almost 19%.

Let's work left to right. Three of the beers contain malt extract. This was pretty common at the time. Usually, it was a way of getting some extra enzymes into the mash. Unlike the other sugars, which were added to the copper, while malt extract went into the mash tun.

All the beers contain invert of some sort. It's just not specified which type, in most cases. The stuff just called "invert" is probably No. 1 or No. 2 invert. Cane sugar is, I assume, unrefined cane sugar.

NExt we have a whole bunch of proprietary sugars: Hydrol, Avona, DSS, Fison and CWE. No real idea what that lot are. I'm surprised that a couple, Hydrol and Avona, appear in more than one beer.

The average sugar content is 15%. Though there's quite a bit of variation across the different breweries. 

Scottish Export/80/- sugars in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	invert	cane sugar	Hydrol	Avona	DSS	Fison	CWE	caramel	total sugar
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	1.39%		6.94%		5.55%					0.07%	13.95%
1958	Wm Younger	Export			4.48%	8.96%							13.43%
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4			7.27%			4.85%					12.12%
1957	Maclay	Export	2.70%	10.81%					5.41%				18.92%
1956	Drybrough	Export	2.16%		4.31%		2.16%	3.23%		2.16%	2.16%		16.17%
	Average												14.92%
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Take a look at my recent Youtube video on Eighty Shilling. 

 

Scottish Export/80/- in the 1950s

Have you been enjoying my stuff about Eighty Shillings? Whether you have or not, there's lots more coming. I seem to have got sidetracked into it. Oh, well.

In this post, we'll be looking at 60/- in the 1950s. Which is when the modern form of the style crystallised. When brewers were finally freed from the last restrictions of WW II. 

I've examples from five breweries, which I hope is pretty representative. All of the breweries were based in Edinburgh, other than Maclay which was in Alloa.

Only one of the beers was called 80/- in the brew house, that from Robert Younger. I'm guessing that all of them would have called Export in the pub, mind. Though that might not have been the name on the pump.

The gravities vary from 1040º to 1046º. Averaging 1044º. Which is about where I'd expect a post-WW II 80/-. There's almost as much varition in the finishing gravities, going from 1009.5º to 1015º.

On Account of the greatly varying rates of attenuation, from 63% to 79%, the ABVs are all over the place. There's a difference of 1.5% ABV between the weakest, Maclay's, and the strongest, William Younger's.

Most of the examples were hopped at around 4 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. The outlier being Maclay's at 6 lbs. In England, the hopping would have been more like at Maclay. At the other breweries, it's quite light, by UK standards. 

Scottish Export/80/- in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	1043	1012	4.10	72.09%	4.93	0.83
1958	Wm Younger	Export	1046	1009.5	4.83	79.35%	4.39	0.77
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	1046	1013.3	4.33	71.20%	3.97	0.76
1957	Maclay	Export	1040	1015	3.31	62.50%	6.05	1.00
1956	Drybrough	Export	1045	1013.5	4.17	70.00%	4.35	0.80
	Average		1044.0	1012.7	4.15	71.03%	4.74	0.83
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.