Let's Brew - 1898 Cairnes E.I. Ale

My Irish recipes seem to have gone down well. So here's another one. As I get stuck into the Irish records I harvested recently, I'm sure I'll be posting more.

I would have guessed that this beer was an IPA, with EI standing for “Export India”” or “East India”. Except that there’s a stronger beer called IP that I assume is an IPA. So I’m totally befuddled as to what EI means.

I am pretty sure that this is some sort of Pale Ale. At least I’m certain about that. Given the strength, this looks like it’s fitting the Ordinary Bitter slot.

There’s not a lot to the grist. Consisting of just base pale malt and sugar. Not quite sure exactly what the latter was. I’ve sort of guessed at No. 2 invert. It was slightly more complicated than that, as 75% of the base malt was made from Irish barley, the rest from Chilean.

There were two types o English hops, both from the 1897 harvest. 

1898 Cairnes E.I. Ale
pale malt	11.00 lb	91.67%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	8.33%
Goldings 120 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1055
FG	1015
ABV	5.29
Apparent attenuation	72.73%
IBU	58
SRM	7
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale