Let's Brew Wednesday - 1888 Thomas Usher 100/-

Unlike William Younger, Usher, a fellow Edinburgh brewer, didn’t produce lots of super-strong beers. 100/- was top of their class with a very modest gravity of 1074º.

Usher’s Shilling Ales managed to struggle along until 1918. The old style 100/0. 80/- and 60/- then disappeared forever. With Usher moving over to mostly brewing Pale Ales of varying strengths, with the occasional Stout or Strong Ale.

This example was in a four-way parti-gyle with 80/-, 60/- B and 50/- B. Usher were big fans of parti-gyling, both in the 19th and 20th centuries. They haven’t taken advantage of the Free Mash Tun Act, using only sugar, which had been legal in beer since 1847, and malt.

It really was No. 2 invert this time. That’s not a substitution. Sugars drive me crazy. All those weird initials like CDM, CWA, CDE. It really makes my life difficult.

The hops were Kent from the 1887 crop and Bavarian from 1885.

1888 Thomas Usher 100/-
pale malt	15.00 lb	89.55%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.75 lb	10.45%
Hallertau 120 min	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1074
FG	1027
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	63.51%
IBU	31
SRM	9.5
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

This recipe is in my two new books, Strong! vols. 1 & 2 and Strong! vol.2. Not Scotland!, as you might have expected.