Let's Brew - 1939 Youngs XXX Ale

Parti-gyled with the two Mild Ales was XXX, Young’s Burton Ale. What eventually became Winter Warmer. Though, at this point it must have been a year-round beer, as this example was brewed in July.

With a gravity in the mid 1050ºs, it’s a typical 8d per pint beer. It also looks very much like a pre-WW I London X Ale. It’s an indication of just how much WW I knocked down the strength of Mild Ale.

Obviously, the recipe is essentially the same as for X and A. With a base that’s a combination of mild malt and pale malt. Along with some crystal malt for body and colour. And malt extract for extra enzymes. Additional colour comes from No. 3 invert sugar and caramel.

There are two types of Kent hops, one from the 1937 harvest and one from 1938. 

1939 Youngs XXX Ale
pale malt	2.25 lb	18.49%
mild malt	7.75 lb	63.68%
crystal malt 120 L	0.75 lb	6.16%
malt extract	0.33 lb	2.71%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	8.22%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.09 lb	0.74%
Fuggles 120 min	1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.50 oz
OG	1057
FG	1024
ABV	4.37
Apparent attenuation	57.89%
IBU	33
SRM	19
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Let's Brew - 1960 Youngs XXX Ale

Here’s a special treat. A Burton Ale that was called Burton Ale. As this is before Youngs changed the name of theirs to Winter Warmer.

Given that this example was brewed in July, it seems obvious that it was still a year-round beer at this point and not a winter seasonal, as it later became.

It’s a bit different to 1990s recipes. As Youngs were still brewing a Mild Ale and could parti-gyle their Burton Ale with that. Which is exactly what happened in this case. Meaning that this is effectively a strong Mild. Much like the Old Ales brewed in the South of England. For example, Adnams or Harveys.

As was typical for Dark Mild, the darkest malt is crystal. With the majority of colour coming from No. 3 invert and caramel. The latter being in the form of CDM (Caramelised Dextro-Maltose). Does anyone still manufacture that?

Two types of English hops, one from the 1958 harvest and one from 1959. Pretty much the same as in all their other beers. 

1960 Youngs XXX Ale
mild malt	7.25 lb	67.25%
crystal malt 150 L	1.00 lb	9.28%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	13.91%
pale malt extract	0.33 lb	3.06%
No. 3 invert	0.50 lb	4.64%
caramel 500 SRM	0.200 lb	1.86%
Fuggles 105 min	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1050
FG	1014
ABV	4.76
Apparent attenuation	72.00%
IBU	24
SRM	17
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Let's Brew - 1893 Cannon X

Like some other brewers in Kent, Cannon only brewed one Mild Ale. In this case, with the logical designation X.

This beer is a great demonstration of how much the timing of Mild becoming darker varied. At the nearby W.E. & J. Rigden brewery Mild was already semi-dark in 1884. Here, Mild is still pale a decade later.

There really is nothing to the grist. Well, as near to nothing as you can get. A single type of pale malt. Leaving a pretty pale colour.

The rate of attenuation isn’t great. It must have had a fairly full body with that finishing gravity of 1016º. Which I assume was deliberate. As it was pretty much exactly the same for every batch of X.

Equal amounts of two types of hops, Californian and East Kent, both from the 1891 harvest.

To complicate matters, six barrels of KK were mixed with the 50 barrels of X at racking time. 

1893 Cannon X
pale malt	11.50 lb	100.00%
Cluster 90 min	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.25 oz
OG	1050
FG	1016
ABV	4.50
Apparent attenuation	68.00%
IBU	38
SRM	4.5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1893 Cannon XXX

The Cannon brewery of Maidstone, in case you're wondering. One of the breweries whose records I snapped on my recent trip to, er, Maidstone. 

 Unlike many other rivals in Kent, Cannon brewed multiple Milds. Though they slipped XX and jumped straight to XXX.

The difference in gravity – 11º - probably justifies that jump. While a decent level of attenuation leaves it well over 6% ABV. Mild, indeed.

Quite a boring grist as it’s all malt. Just base malt. Though there were two types. Described as “Queen St,” and “Cannon:”, presumably referring to the maltster.

Only a single type of hops: East Kent from the 1892 harvest. Reasonably fresh and relatively expensive. Of a notably higher quality than those in X.

Would have been drunk within a few weeks of racking. I think. Unless this was an Old Ale. It is quite heavily hopped.

1893 Cannon XXX
pale malt	14.25 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 min	2.25 oz
Goldings 30 min	2.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1061
FG	1014
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	77.05%
IBU	52
SRM	5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Eldridge Pope XXX

In addition to their standard Mild, Eldridge Pope also had something a little stronger. In the form of XXX.

An Eldridge Pope price list from 1890 has different types of XXX.:

M XXX Burton Ale
XXX Old or Mild Ale 

Not sure which one of the three this is.

The ingredients are exactly the same as in XX. Though the proportions aren’t the same. As all the extra gravity comes from more base malt. The quantities of flaked maize and sugar remaining exactly the same. Still none the wiser as to exactly what type of sugar that was.

Half the malt was made from English barley, the rest from what’s simply described as “foreign”. Which doesn’t narrow down the origin much. Could be California, Chile, Australia, Hungary, the Middle East. Anywhere malting barley was grown, really.

There were only two types of hops, both English. Neither with any indication of vintage. 

1897 Eldridge Pope XXX
pale malt	12.25 lb	85.96%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	3.51%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.50 lb	10.53%
Fuggles 150 mins	1.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.75 oz
OG	1065
FG	1019
ABV	6.09
Apparent attenuation	70.77%
IBU	38
SRM	9
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

A weird parti-gyle

Keeping my blog true to its original purpose, here's another half-digested morsel from my research. Some of the really dull, monotonous research that I need to do. To be able to assemble all those really dull tables in my books.

That research was going through brewing records and extracting the information from it into a spreadsheet. Ingredients, gravities, fermentation temperatures. All the useful stuff. The result is as handy as the process obtaining it is tedious. Too tedious for me to recount here.

While I was doing that boring research, I did come across something unusual. A rather odd parti-gyle. Of a Pilsner and a Mild Ale.

Oh, it's William Younger we're talking about. Their Holyrood brewery, 1883. They were very early in the Lager game. Possibly because of the link with Carl Jacobsen, founder of Ny Carlsberg. He served an apprenticeship at Younger in the 1860s.

It's also odd that they should choose to parti-gyle this pair when almost everything else was being brewed single-gyle. There's nothing odd about the brew. It was mashed and boiled just like all their other beers. The only difference lay in the hops. Which were all Württemberg. While the other beers had a combination of Eat Kent, Hallertau, American and Californian.

The Pils and XXX are pretty much identical. Except the former wasn't dry hopped and was fermented much cooler: 41º F yo 52º F. Compared to 60º F to 70º F for XXX. And the fermentation took longer, 17 days compared to 10 for XXX. Was it fermented with Lager yeast? Yes. But only the Pils, not the XXX.

Interesting, eh?

Let's Brew - 1880 Chapman XXX

At first, this beer confused the hell out of me. Why the hell was XXX weaker than XX? It made no sense. Then I looked at the brewing record more closely.

The hopping rate tipped me off first. At over 10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs of malt) it’s much higher than the 7lbs of XX. And almost as high as for PA. This line made it pretty obvious what this beer really was:

        “Ran into No. 4 vat.”

This is clearly a Stock Ale. One which is vatted. In relatively small vats, as 47.5 barrels were split over two vats.

The recipe is similar to X and XX, consisting of just pale malt and fructose. Though the proportions are quite different. There’s only 21% sugar as opposed to 33% in the weaker beers. I’m sure this is because XXX was intended to be matured for a long period.

The hops were the same as in XXX: Sussex from the 1880 crop, and two types of Mid-Kent from 1878.

How long did it stay in the vats? I’m guessing at least a year. Possibly even more. 

1880 Chapman XXX
pale malt	10.75 lb	79.63%
No. 1 invert sugar	2.75 lb	20.37%
Fuggles 90 mins	3.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	2.25 oz
OG	1067
FG	1012.5
ABV	7.21
Apparent attenuation	81.34%
IBU	65
SRM	8
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	172º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP023 Burton Ale

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Truman XXX

Unsurprisingly, XXX was the strongest of Truman’s Mild Ales.

At 1048º, it must have been one of the strongest Milds in the country. Few versions, even of Best Mild, got much above 1040º. It started off even stronger than that. As, in that weird Truman way, it was brewed at 1053.7º then blended with 30 barrels of XX to bring the effective gravity down to 1048.2º.

Just twigged what this beer is, after glancing at various analyses of Truman’s beers from the 1930s. It was the draught Burton Ale in their London pubs. The gravities match. And it explains why it’s over-strength for a Mild.

Parti-gyling Mild and Burton wasn’t unusual. Both Fullers and Courage brewed that way.

The recipe is very similar to that of the dark versions of X and XX. The main difference being a little less crystal malt and a little more flaked maize. That and there being no caramel.

XXX always seems to have been brewed in a three-way parti-gyle with XX and No. 7. Not sure why, exactly. Though given the way XXX was always blended down to a lower OG after fermentation, there needed to be at least one other beer brewed alongside it.

Once again the hops were all English from the 1937 and 1938 harvests. 

1939 Truman XXX
pale malt	6.50 lb	60.47%
high dried malt	2.25 lb	20.93%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	4.65%
flaked maize	0.75 lb	6.98%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.98%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1048
FG	1007.5
ABV	5.36
Apparent attenuation	84.38%
IBU	25
SRM	11
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	59.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1028 London Ale (Worthington White Shield)

This recipe is from my recently-released Blitzkrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

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Let's Brew - 1911 Russell XXX

They only went from X to XXX at Russell. And, in any case, I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a Mild Ale, but a Strong or Old Ale.

I make this assertion for two reasons. First, the hopping rate. At 10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt it’s just a tad short of the 10.5 lbs per quarter of their top-flight Pale Ale and considerably more than in their Mild Ales.

Second, though I don’t have a price list for Russell themselves, I do have one for one of their Gravesend rivals, Walker and Sons. They also brewed an X, XX and XXX Ale. The first two are described as Mild Ales, the last as Strong Ale.

The grist is generally similar to that of the Mild Ales. Except around a third of the invert has been replaced by more base malt.

The hops are the same mix of one third from the 1908 harvest, two thirds from the 1910. Both types English.

Was this aged? Probably for at least a little. My guess would be three to six months in trade casks. 

1911 Russell XXX
pale malt	12.50 lb	77.78%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	9.33%
No. 1 invert sugar	2.00 lb	12.45%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.07 lb	0.44%
Fuggles 120 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1076
FG	1017
ABV	7.81
Apparent attenuation	77.63%
IBU	60
SRM	12
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1768 English Special Bitter

Let's Brew - 1885 William Younger XXX

Inevitably, we now come to XXX. Which looks quite similar to 100/-, but let’s not think too much about that.

No frills was definitely Younger’s theme when it came to grists. Just pale malt again. Oh, and 6 Flgs patent malt. Whatever amount that might be. Pale malt from three types of barley, two foreign, one English, I think. The photo is a little blurry and the malt types are in tiny writing.

Later in the same day, another brew had no patent. Zero Flgs. I should have done the recipe for that beer, shouldn’t I? It’s the same in every other respect. Let’s just imagine this was gyle 301 rather than 295. That will make life simpler for everyone.

Loads of different hops to compensate for the lack of variety in the malt. Six in all: American from the 1884 and 1885 harvests, Californian from 1884, Württemberg from 1885, Bohemian from 1885 and Kent from 1884. 

1885 William Younger XXX
pale malt	15.00 lb	100.00%
Cluster 120 min	1.00 oz
Hallertau 90 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.00 oz
Saaz 30 min	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1071
FG	1024
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	66.20%
IBU	49
SRM	5.5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Let's Brew - 1889 Harveys XXX Ale

The late 19th century saw a reduction in the number of X Ales brewed by many breweries. Breaking down the standard X to XXXX set.

In the case of Harveys, this meant the disappearance of XX and XXXX. Leaving just X and XXX. Unsurprisingly, XXX was a good bit stronger than X. And way stronger than any modern Mild Ale at over 7% ABV.

There’s only base malt, but there are two types of it. One made from English barley, the other from Smyrna barley. The big difference from X Ale is the use of No. 3 rather than No. 2 invert sugar. Which explains the much darker colour. Much closer to that of modern Mild.

Two types of hops were employed, both East Kent, from the 1887 and 1888 crops.

The mashing temperatures for all of Harveys beers is a guess. In the brewing records they are in code.

1889 Harveys XXX Ale
pale malt	13.25 lb	84.13%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.5 lb	15.87%
Fuggles 95 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
OG	1075
FG	1021
ABV	7.14
Apparent attenuation	72.00%
IBU	49
SRM	16
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	95 minutes
pitching temp	57.5º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP025 Southwold

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1914 Hancock XXX

Mild month is over, so back to Hancock recipes. Though maybe this was a Mild. Or maybe not. 

I’m becoming more convinced that XXX was marketed as a Strong Ale. Mostly because of its gravity compared to X.

Though, ironically, this version was parti-gyled with X. In the earlier years, everything was brewed single-gyle. Which remained the case with their other beers. Though there had been a reduction in the number of different beers brewed.

The gravity is 10º lower than in 1897. Which isn’t a huge surprise. A tax increase to help pay for the Boer had seen many brewers reduce the strength of their beers.

There have also been changes to the recipe, which was all malt in 1897. For more details about the recipe, see the X I posted earlier.

1914 Hancock XXX
pale malt	10.50 lb	83.67%
glucose	1.75 lb	13.94%
malt extract	0.25 lb	1.99%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.05 lb	0.40%
Cluster 90 mins	1.00 oz
Strisselspalt 60 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1061
FG	1015
ABV	6.09
Apparent attenuation	75.41%
IBU	33
SRM	8.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

Let's Brew - 1897 Hancock XXX

Next up the Mild strength pole is, logically enough, XXX. Another beer which doesn’t appear in the 1887 brewing records.

For its strength, it’s surprising just how much of XXX was brewed. It’s also pretty strong for a Mild this late in the century. While a simple X Ale might have been a similar gravity in the 1830s, stronger Milds had mostly disappeared by this point.

I’m not 100% sure that XXX was a Mild Ale. It might well have been marketed as a Strong Ale or Old ale. Pointedly, the water treatment is different to that for X and XX. With five times as much gypsum, no kainit and two extra minerals, in the form of calcium chloride and sulphate of magnesia. Though the lower hopping rate compared to X and XX goes against it being a Stock or Old Ale.

It’s another very simple recipe. Just a single type of English base malt. Along with two types of English hops, East Kent from the 1896 harvest and Worcester from 1895.

1897 Hancock XXX
pale malt	16.50 lb	100.00%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.75 oz
OG	1071
FG	1015
ABV	7.41
Apparent attenuation	78.87%
IBU	37
SRM	6
Mash at	155º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

Fitch & Wilson

I was looking for something completely different. Well, same thing, a price list, but for a completely different brewery. I hate to let any discovery go to waste

I set about extracting the details to my price list spreadsheet. Which is when I noticed something odd. The Strong Ales could be "Mild or bitter, as preferred". Does that mean either young or aged? Or just that one was more heavily hopped?

The X's are used inconsistently, too. XX Very Strong is more expensive, and hence stronger, than both XXX and XXXX. And what the hell does Osborne mean?

A - a designation usually reserved for the weakest of Mild Ales - here is used for something super strong. 2 shillings and sixpence per gallon is incredibly expensive. It implies something well north of 1100º. Queens Cordial I'm guessing was their brand name for it. Unless it was some generic name for a very strong beer.

 

Alcester Chronicle - Saturday 25 June 1881 , page 1.

 The warning and the end is very revealing, too.

"All the Strong and Pale Ales are season brewed, and well matured in cask, the finest qualities of Malt and Hops alone being used in their manufacture; the Dinner Ales are intended for ordinary use, and should not be kept too long in draught if perfection is desired."

It sounds like the Strong and Pale Ales were all Stock Ales and would keep well. While the Dinner Ales you'd best drink pretty quickly.

The Dinner Ales must surely be Mild Ales. Maybe they only called them Dinner ales for their home trade. Which is whom the advert is aimed at.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1901 Boddington XXX

Here we are at Boddington’s next to best Mild. Quite a hefty little number, weighing in at almost 1060º.

XXX must have been a popular beer. It was usually brewed in batches of 215 barrels, larger than any of the other Milds. X and XXX were mostly under 100 barrels and XX around 150 barrels.

With a higher percentage of sugar, it’s nudging up into what I’d call semi-dark country. Though falling well short of the colour of London Milds. And that’s with me assuming the sugar is the relatively dark No. 3 invert. Any sugar lighter in colour would leave it well in pale land.

There’s little more to tell. Other than the slightly different proportions of malt and sugar, the recipe is the same for the weaker Milds in Boddington’s range.

As usual, four English and one Californian type of hops graced the copper.

1901 Boddington XXX
pale malt	11.50 lb	90.20%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.25 lb	9.80%
Cluster 135 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1059
FG	1018
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	69.49%
IBU	36
SRM	11
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)