Saturday 20 March 2021

Let's Brew - 1878 Adnams XXXK

Not totally sure what this was marketed as. Strong Pale Ale? Stock Ale? Old Ale? Who knows?

The fact that it was parti-gyled with AK leads me to believe that this was a Strong Pale Ale. But brewers pulled some weird shit and I could be completely wrong. It does have a typical gravity for Stock Pale Ale (or IPA), being around the same as Bass’s famous version.

Given that the much weaker AK came out at 70-odd (calculated) IBU, it’s no surprise that XXXK is pushing 100 IBU.

Unlike AK, which would have been consumed within a couple of weeks of racking, if this really was a Stock Pale Ale, it would have been aged for up to 12 months. During this time, the action of Brettanomyces would have considerably dropped the FG and dried out the beer considerably.

1878 Adnams XXXK
mild malt 8.00 lb 68.09%
No. 1 invert sugar 3.75 lb 31.91%
Goldings 105 mins 4.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins 4.25 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1064
FG 1018
ABV 6.09
Apparent attenuation 71.88%
IBU 98
SRM 9
Mash at 152º F
Sparge at 172º F
Boil time 105 minutes
pitching temp 64º F
Yeast WLP025 Southwold

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