Let's Brew - 1886 Barclay Perkins X Ale

Another early Dark Mild recipe. 

This is a really odd one. A Mild Ale recipe like none other I’ve come across.

I repeatedly tell home brewers – especially American ones – that brown malt doesn’t appear in Mild Ales. That’s mostly true, but there is the occasional exception. Like this version of Barclay Perkins X Ale.

Not only does it contain brown malt, there’s a shitload of it, accounting for a third of the grist. I tell you what it’s similar to – their 1812 TT (Porter). Both have a 2:1 ration of pale to brown malt. Given that fact, it’s no shock that the colour of X Ale here is much darker than most of its contemporaries, which wouldn’t have been more than 10 or 12 SRM, at most. It’s the earliest truly Dark Mild I’ve found.

The hopping rate is about standard for London Milds of this date, that is, around 8 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Mid-Kent hops from the 1884 and 1885 season, plus American hops from 1885, were employed.

1886 Barclay Perkins X Ale
pale malt	10.25 lb	66.13%
brown malt	5.25 lb	33.87%
Cluster 120 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1064
FG	1015
ABV	6.48
Apparent attenuation	76.56%
IBU	49
SRM	23
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale