Saturday 20 August 2016

1939 William Younger Ext

Another Scottish beer, but this time probably more like what you would expect.

Ext – which probably stands for Export – was William Younger’s top of the range Pale Ale. I’m still struggling to make sense of their beer range. There seem to be far more beers that necessary. But this one I think I can place. It’s not  million miles away from Drybrough 80/- of the same year. That had an OG of 1050 and was the forerunner of their post-war Export.

The term “Export” for a strong Pale Ale seems to have come into use before the war. While “Light” and “Heavy” I’ve only seen used after the war. At least in terms of Pale Ale. Heavy was sometimes used for Strong Ales – like Fowler’s Wee Heavy – earlier, but not for a mid-strength Pale Ale.

The recipe is pretty dull, just pale malt and grits. And one type of hops, plus dry hops. At least it’s only 20% grits this time. Not too crazy.

For a Scottish beer the attenuation is pretty reasonable at over 70%. Leaving a beer with over 5% ABV. The FG should be much easier to achieve than with the under-attenuated ones.

I don’t have much more to add, other than that you can colour it darker with caramel, if the fancy takes you. I doubt it was always – if ever – sold as brewed. That’s the Scots for you. They loved their caramel.


1939 William Younger Ext
pale malt 10.00 lb 80.00%
grits 2.50 lb 20.00%
Fuggles 90 min 1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 min 1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.25 oz
OG 1054
FG 1015
ABV 5.16
Apparent attenuation 72.22%
IBU 30
SRM 4
Mash at 153º F
Sparge at 160º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

1 comment:

Merryn Dineley said...


Nice recipe, plain, simple and straightforward perhaps, but I would not call it dull. Although I understand that many might, compared to some more modern recipes. We might try this one, we never used grits as such but we have started adding some porridge oats, they add a certain silkiness to the finished ale. Do grits do this?