Wednesday 7 September 2022

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1889 Harveys Pale Ale

Pale Ale clearly wasn’t very important for Harveys. They only had the one – a full-strength version – and no Light Bitter. Which is quite unusual for this late in the 19th century.

The quantities were tiny, too. Over a period of 5 months, it was brewed just three times. In batches of around 25 barrels. A couple of hundred barrels over a year, at most. Quite a contrast to today.

At 1067º, it looks to me like a Stock Pale Ale. “Run into Puns [puncheons]” it says at the bottom of the fermentation record. A puncheon being a large cask. Too large a cask to be sent out to pubs.

The grist has very little to it. A single type of English pale malt and No. 1 invert sugar. That’s it. Not a great deal to discuss there.

There’s little more to talk about with the hops. Worcester from the 1888 crop. All in all, it’s a very simple recipe.

My guess would be a minimum of 9 months, probably more than 12 months of ageing.  

1889 Harveys Pale Ale
pale malt 10.00 lb 76.92%
No. 1 invert sugar 3.00 lb 23.08%
Fuggles 120 mins 2.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 2.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 2.50 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1067
FG 1020
ABV 6.22
Apparent attenuation 70.15%
IBU 80
SRM 8
Mash at 152º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 58.25º F
Yeast White Labs WLP025 Southwold


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