Saturday 3 September 2022

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


 

2 comments:

Kevin said...

I have transcribed many of your recipes (over 150) and when I add the ingredients to Beersmith the results are always close to what you published. But with this recipe when adding the fermentables I get a gravity of 1.056 instead of the published 1.075. To keep the ratio correct I have to add almost 3 lbs of pale malt and almost another pound of #3 invert. The SRM doesn't come close to the published 16 either until I add the extra malt and sugar. Could this be the wrong grist for this recipe?

Ron Pattinson said...

Kevin,

my mistake. I've now corrected the recipe.