Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fullers X

Loads of changes to the recipe of Fullers X over the decade since 1887. Which is good, otherwise this recipe would be pretty redundant.

The gravity has increased by a tiny amount, just 1º. Not really enough to bother mentioning. Oh damn, I just did.

Amber and crystal malt have both been dropped and a rather smaller amount of brown malt added. The other change isn’t quite so clear cut. In this period, Fullers never bothered specifying the exact type of sugar they were throwing into the copper. For the 1887 recipe, I guessed No. 2 invert. In the log for this brew, they do list the colour: 54. Which is on a Lovibond scale I recognise and is around 14 SRM. To hit that shade, No. 2 just won’t work. While No. 3 is pretty close. And pretty close to properly dark.

The hops are pretty boring, just a single type of Mid-Kent from the 1896 crop. Pretty fresh, then.
 

1897 Fullers X
pale malt	7.25 lb	73.05%
brown malt	0.175 lb	1.76%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.50 lb	25.19%
Fuggles 90 mins	1.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.75 oz
OG	1050.5
FG	1013.5
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	73.27%
IBU	39
SRM	15
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale