Let's Brew Wednesday - 1888 Hancock XX

The standard Mild Ale of Hancock which made up the bulk of their output. Obviously, the favourite of drinkers in their pubs.

It’s not a complicated beer. Three types of pale malt, all seemingly made from English barley, the suppliers named Butebock, Wilscombe and Barnard. That’s if I’m reading the handwriting correctly. Not totally sure about Wilscombe. Then there’s lots of No. 3 invert, more than a third of the grist.

Which results in a surprisingly dark beer. Pretty much the colour of a modern Dark Mild. This is a very early date for a truly dark Mild. Making this a dead interesting beer.

I've made a wild guess at the FG, which is not listed in the brewing record. With all that sugar, it could have been lower.

For the mashing temperature, I split the strike heat and the tap heat (i.e., at the end of the mash). The rest is weird, with a couple of additions of really hot water: 6 barrels at 202º F, 15 barrels at 190º F and 15 more at 192 F. Then 15 barrels unheated. All a bit odd.

There were two types of Kent hops from the 1884 and 1887 harvests and one of Sussex hops from 1887. I’ve included dry hops as pretty much all casks were "hopped down" in this period. The quantity of hops has been reduced on account of the age of some.

I wasn't really sure about the yeast. I couldn't find any from the Southwest other than Super High Gravity, which is the Thomas Hardy yeast, so Eldridge Pope. If you can get another yeast from the region, feel free to use that.
 

1888 Hancock XX
pale malt	5.75 lb	63.89%
No. 3 invert sugar	3.25 lb	36.11%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1050
FG	1013
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	74.00%
IBU	27
SRM	17
Mash at	155º F
Sparge at	190º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity