Let's Brew Wednesday - 1955 Whitbread XXX

It's March. We all know what that means: Mild Month. Time for another Mild recipe.

Remember my Andrew Campbell post about Mild? Didn't think so. In that case, check out the link.

Best Mild. It's a term that's pretty much extinct. In the distant past of my drinking youth, there were still a couple of breweries brewing multiple Milds. Thwaites was a good example. Though their ordinary Mild has long since been discontinued and their Best Mild is now called Nutty Black.

Today's beer is a Whitbread's Best Mild. It  was introduced in the 1950's when things began to look up economically in Britain and beer strengths had started edging up to a level actually capable of intoxicating. Whitbread Triple X as Campbell called it, was one of his examples of a best Mild. Though it barely creeps into his definition of the category with a gravity of just 1034.

I can't think of much else to say. . . . Buy more of my books! . . . . erm . . .erm . . .



Here's Kristen, coming to my rescue . . .




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Whitbread - 1955 - XXX ale
General info: Best ale. Anytime the work 'best' is used rarely does it signify the 'best' of anything. It usually equates to a low gravity bitter-type beer. However when I hear XXX I think big, strong and mean. This apparently is not always true. The XXX is gyled with the best ale for some reason which is not clear to me. The gravity difference is a miniscule. 1.004 and the BU's are nearly exactly the same. That being said, this beer is quite tasty in its use of sugar and mild malt.
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.034		80.6% Mild malt
Gravity (FG)	1.008		4.9% Crystal malt
ABV	3.34%		3.2% Invert No1 sugar
Apparent attenuation	75.80%		11.3% Invert No3 sugar
Real attenuation	62.09%
IBU	27.3		Mash	145min@148°F		0.99qt/lb
SRM	10			145min@64.4°C		2.07L/kg
EBC	20.0
			Boil	60 min
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 80%
Grist	5gal		19L		10bbl		10hl
Mild malt	5.15	lb	2.346	kg	279.58	lb	108.02	kg
Crystal malt	0.31	lb	0.141	kg	16.82	lb	6.50	kg
Invert No1 sugar	0.20	lb	0.093	kg	11.04	lb	4.26	kg
Invert No3 sugar	0.72	lb	0.329	kg	39.24	lb	15.16	kg
	6.390		2.909		346.67797
Hops
Goldings 4.5% 60min	0.86	oz	24.4	g	53.25	oz	1.287	kg
Goldings 4.5% 30min	0.42	oz	12.0	g	26.35	oz	0.637	kg
Fermentation	65°F /18.3°C
Yeast	Nottingham ale yeast
	1098 British Ale Yeast   - WLP007 English Dry
Tasting Notes: Lots of toasted malt and fruit. Apricots and pomme fruit. A little bitterness supports the thin middle and dries out entirely in the end. The toasty malt comes back along with a hint of caramel and some deeper dark sugars. Refreshing and easy drinking.

Ingredients and technique

Grist & such
This is one of the first beers we’ve seen where the only pale malt it contains is entirely Mild malt. 5% crystal and a combined 15% or so of invert sugar. The majority of this is No3 invert sugar so if you can find dark baking syrup give it a shot. Make sure it doesn’t contain added salt as some of them do. If you can’t find it then up the crystal to get the color right and use all Lyle’s Golden syrup. This is one beer that gets a good majority of its character from the use of the darker brewing sugars.

Hops
It’s interesting to note that in this very low gravity beer they would use 100% new hops. All fresh as the day is long. However, when you look at the amount of hops, 0.7lb/bbl, you can see why this really doesn’t come into play. For nearly 30,000 gallons of beer they used a mere 570 pounds of hops. This gave just enough bitterness at around 23bu to ensure that this beer had a decent hint of bitterness. A simple addition at make up and then 30 minutes out will do nicely. No dry hopping in this beer but I think a touch couldn’t really hurt.

Mash & Boil
A very short mash with a low temperature would ensure this beer was very fermentable as you can see by the final gravity. The boil was similar. The first gyle was only boiled for 60 minutes and the second for 45 minutes. That’s the least amount of time I have ever seen a beer boiled. Keep it simple and stick with the 60 minutes.

Fermentation, Conditioning & Serving
Fermentation was done at a moderate temperature all fermenting out in about 3 days. The beer was racked and conditioned for about two weeks and then right out to the pubs. The CO2 should be around 2 volumes or maybe a little higher. I like mine on the lower end but do as you please with this one. However, to much carbonation will reduce the delicate toasty flavors of the mild malt.

Gyling & Blending
The gyle for this beer was for the Best ale (1.031) and the XXX ale (1.035). I wrote this recipe just for the XXX as its easier and I found no real difference in the beers that is easily detectable. Therefore the gyle for this beer is for the straight XXX ale. A very simple addition of nearly 2:1 strong gyle to weak gyle. This is a really good beer to practice your gyling. That being said, its not one that really takes a great deal away from the gyling process.


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XXX	5gal	19L	10bbl	10hL
G1 - vol	3.22	12.24	6.44	6.44	64%
G1 - grav	1.043	1.043	1.043	1.043
G1 - BU	21	21	21	21
G2 - vol	1.78	6.76	3.56	3.56	36%
G2 - grav	1.020	1.020	1.020	1.020
G2 - BU	23	23	23	23
G3 - vol	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0%
G3 - grav	1.000	1.000	1.000	1.000
G3 - BU	0	0	0	0
Hopping	0.3oz/gal	2.26g/L	0.59lb/bbl	0.23kg/hL
Totals	OG 1.035	FG 1.008	BU 21.6	Abv 3.5%

My kind of festival

This weekend it's the ZBF. Belgium's national beer festival. And a favourite of mine. I go every year (just about).

Why do I like it?

- The venue is a short walk from the station.
- I can get a seat.
- It doesn't take too long to get served
- The measure is a decent size.
- The prices are reasonable
- There's the full spectrum of Belgian beer, regionals as well as micros.
- People quite often bring beer for me.
- Andrew likes the sausages.
- I can have a Stout - Lambic - Stout session.
- There are falling over beers for me to finish off with.
- I can score loads of free beers with all my memberships.
- I always meet old friends.
- The journey home isn't too long.
- A shop in Antwerp Centraal sells Guinness Special Export for that journey.

This year will be special. Both kids are coming along. Should provide loads of material of the glass-eating kind. My blog will eat off it for weeks. A bit like a buffalo carcass. But not as smelly. And definitely without maggots.

If you're there on Saturday afternoon, maybe you'll have the chance to buy me a beer. You wouldn't want Andrew and Lexie to go hungry, would you?

Bitter ca 1955

Two stones one bird. Or should that be the other way around? Not to worry. Transcribing sections of Andrew Campbell's "Book of Beer" not only provides me with blog posts, it's also handy research for the rather flimsy 1949 to 1973 chapter of my book.

"Light Beers

Nomenclatures causes some little confusion in the light beer family. What the brewer will call pale or India pale ale (I.P.A.) the consumer will invariably refer to as bitter if it comes from a barrel. The same beer becomes pale, light or I.P.A. to both brewer and customer when it comes out of a bottle. Light dinner ale, family ale, are all of the same type, the lightest having some affinity to the small beer of the 18th century.

There is no relaly satisfactory group name for the higher-gravity pale ales that include the famous quality bottled beers: Bass Pale Ale, Worthington I.P.A., Ind, Coope Double Diamond, Taylor Walker's Reserve, Charrington's Toby, Courage's Alton, Watney's Red Barrel, an increasing number of export ales, and a range of even stronger brews that border on the strong ale family.

. . .

Draught bitter, the staple drink of the saloon bar trade as mild is the staple of the public bar, is brewed from pale ale malts, often with a mixture of of maize and rice flakes to secure a clear and brilliant beer. The higher the gravity the more likely the grist will be all malt, the lower the gravity the more probable there will be additions and probably a little sugar. Although hopped more heavily than milds there is no marked bitter flavour in the lowest gravities, which can on occasion be very insipid drinks. The lower-gravity bitters or pale ales will be similar to the beers bottled as the lowest-priced light ales. In October 1952, Geoffrey Bing , M.P., mentioned in the House of Commons reports from an analyst that showed that four out of five famous London pale ales had original gravities that ranged from 1029.7º to 1032.1º, about three per cent alcohol by volume.

Draught bitter served at the proper temperatures is a refreshing drink and those who have palates attuned to dryer rather than sweet flavours will prefer bitter to mild. Bitter is usually a penny a pint or so dearer than mild sold in the same bar of the same public house, but some brewers' bitters may only be as strong as others' milds. With the products of more than five hundred breweries available, it is impossible to lay down any standard conclusions about strength, price or flavour; all depends on brewing practice, on local trade and on consumer taste.

That a consumer can benefit by thinking before he drinks is proven by a report of the Inspector of Weights and Measures for Kent, which showed that in an analysis of samples of bitter, original gravities ranged from 1029.4º to 1038.9º, all selling at the same price. There is about a £3 a barrel difference in the tax, as mush as twopence halfpenny a pint, which is gained by the brewer and publican selling the lowest gravity over the brewer and publican selling the highest. Other examples have been reported in Hull and elsewhere.

In most saloon bars the customer will be offered bitter or best bitter, and in a free house, not tied to a particular brewer for all draught beers, he may also be offered the draught beer from one of the famous Burton breweries. The practice of stocking a 'foreign' bitter of higher-gravity beer is spreading among tied houses. Best bitters will range from 1037º to 1047º. The Burton bitters will be at the higher end of this range if they are on draught in London and Southern England public houses. In their home areas, the Midland counties, ordinary bitters will be found at gravities around 1033º-1035º. Draught Bass is the national name for a strong quality bitter well up to the 1050º mark, but there are other Bass bitters to be found in the Midlands. In London the Bass associate company, the Wenlock Brewery, provides in most of its tied houses Draught Bass and Wenlock bitter.

The individual has to choose his drink by trial and error until he finds a local draught beer that suits his palate and his pocket. The immense range available should convince him that the effort is worth while, and that bitter beer as a drink should not be rejected just because the first and second that happened to be tasted do not please."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 87-89.

Let's see which of the beers mentioned I have details for. Draught Bass, Wenlock Bitter, Red Barrel, Worthington IPA. I think I've got most of them.

Provincial Porter brewing around 1850

I've been doing some work on the 19th-century chapters of The Book.Despite my best efforts, a couple are still looking quite sad. Never mind. Still another 10 years before the deadline.

The popularity of Porter wasn't lost on provincial brewers. By the 19th century brewers in most of Britain were now brewing Porter. Though they were usually unable to match the large London breweries for quality.

There's one telling sentence in the text below: "Two or three of the principal London houses brew as much or more malt liquor than all the brewers of Scotland and Ireland put together." That's an indication of the different scale of brewing in London compared to the rest of the country. This would change in the second half of the 19th century when Bass and Guinness overtook the London brewers in terms of size.

"From the accumulation of advantages possessed by the London porter-brewers,—of immense capital, scientific arrangements, improved utensils, select materials, brewing on the largest possible scale, with constant and regular demand by customers, to suit their equally constant and regular consumpt,—the superiority of their porter may, in some measure, be accounted for. But the true cause lies, in all probability, in the long-established, uniform methods of working up their materials, prepared by judicious previous steps to produce a certain result; which, in the production of this species of malt liquor, bestows on it a particular flavour and quality; ultimately confirming its distinctive character,—which no other district can either rival, or even attempt to imitate, with any chance of success.

But, notwithstanding, very good porter has been made in many provincial towns; and in Scotland and Ireland efforts have been made to establish porter breweries, which have more or less succeeded, according to the skill and capital employed. Dublin porter, although inferior to that made in London, has obtained a considerable celebrity; and the porter of Aberdeen is not considered behind it in quality. But all this is only comparative. Two or three of the principal London houses brew as much or more malt liquor than all the brewers of Scotland and Ireland put together.

In Scotland, the business of brewing porter has rather declined, in consequence of the increased demand for draught ale. In Glasgow, better porter is produced than at Edinburgh ; but their ale is generally considered inferior to that made at the latter city. There cannot be any doubt whatever, that in such a flourishing commercial district as Glasgow, the brewing of ale and porter might be carried to great perfection, were judicious steps previously taken, in selecting proper localities, for malting the finest samples of barley.

The brewers of London obtain their supplies of malt from Norfolk,—and other districts where fine barley is produced; for in England, wherever it is abundant, a malt-house is established.

The climate of the west coast is too humid for making fine barley into fine malt, and for keeping it any length of time ; but the drier climate of the Lothians is at hand, and were the brewers of Glasgow to establish maltings on the eastern coasts, they could supply themselves constantly with fresh made malt, the production from which might stand competition with the ales of Edinburgh or the porter of London. It has been urged, however, that their water is defective for the purposes of brewing. It may be so; but where a great commercial advantage is to be obtained, skill and capital overcome many difficulties.

The question has often been asked, Can porter be made on a small scale, to approach near in quality to that made in London ? The question cannot be easily decided. In many provincial towns, it is very useful to make two or three brewings of porter to take up hard ale, which answers excellently, when it has been properly treated with hops; and although the quality of such a production is not equal to porter made in London, it may be equal to the purpose for which it is intended. In many districts, during the summer months, this description of malt liquor, when mixed half-and-half with mild ale, forms a very refreshing beverage, and is in much demand where it can be produced."
"Brewing and Distillation" by Thomas Thomson and William Stewart, 1849, pages 275-277.

I'm a bit Portered out for the moment. Time to jump back to the 1950's again.