Earlyish IPA

Carrying on with my IPA theme, I've some from a little later, namely the 1840s.  

These are the earliest analyses I have. Not quite the earliest hard data I have, as there are a couple of brewing records from the 1830s. Ones which I used to think came from Reid, one of the original big London Porter brewers, but which I now realise3 are miscatalogued in the archive. My best guess is that they come from Combe.

The great thing about the first set is that it gives the intended destination. So I know for certain that they were India-bound. The gravities are, for the 1840s, pretty modest. To put them into context, In 1844 Whitbread X Ale, their weakest Mild, had an OG of around 1075º. XXX, the strongest Mild, was 1099º. Making the IPAs, which are as low as 1054º look pretty weedy.

Referring back to my last post, where I was comparing the price of Porter and IPA, in 1849, Barclay Perkins India Porter had an OG of 1064º. Higher than the average of the IPAs sent to India.

What does stand out in the IPAs is the very high degree of attenuation, averaging over 85%. Which is extremely high for the period. Few beers managed more than 75%. It's no accident. The lack of fermentable material was one of the protections beer bound for India had. As Stock Ales, they underwent a Brettanomyces secondary fermentation before getting on the boat. That left almost nothing for any nasty bugs to eat.

IPA exported to India in the 1840s
When brewed	Package	Price/hogshead (in shillings)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Jan 1844	Bottle	90	1067.6	1007.8	7.6	88.54%
Not known.	Cask	90	1066.3	1008.0	7.4	87.93%
Not known.	Cask	84	1062.0	1010.0	6.6	83.86%
1844	Bottle	60	1053.8	1006.5	6	87.91%
1844	Bottle	60	1053.8	1005.0	6.2	90.71%
Not known.	Bottle	60	1054.2	1013.0	5.2	76.00%
Not known.	Bottle	90	1065.6	1012.0	6.8	81.69%
Not known.	Bottle	95	1067.1	1007.3	7.6	89.20%
Feb 1845	Bottle	90	1068.5	1010.5	7.4	84.68%
1844	Bottle	90	1070.1	1010.3	7.6	85.38%
Average		80.9	1062.9	1009.0	6.8	85.59%
Source:
“Scottish Ale Brewer”, by W.H. Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847,  pages 171 and 173

The second general export set has an even lower average OG, at a shade under 1060º, but an even higher degree of attenuation at almost 90%. Though the average ABV is identical at 6.8%.

IPA exported in the 1840s
When brewed	Package	Price/hogshead (in shillings)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Dec. 1844	Cask	84	1060.4	1005.3	7	91.30%
Not known.	Cask	95	1069.4	1008.0	7.8	88.48%
1845	Cask	90	1062.7	1012.3	6.4	80.45%
1845	Cask	90	1064.2	1012.3	6.6	80.93%
1845	Cask	90	1062.4	1012.0	6.4	80.77%
Not known.	Bottle	90	1068.9	1007.5	7.8	89.12%
Jan 1846	Cask	90	1054.8	1006.0	6.2	89.06%
Mar 1846	Bottle	90	1052.3	1005.0	6	90.43%
Jan 1846	Bottle	65	1062.0	1005.3	7.2	91.53%
April 1845	Bottle	60	1048.4	1004.3	5.6	91.21%
1845	Cask	60	1048.4	1004.3	5.6	91.21%
1845	Cask	63	1049.6	1005.5	5.6	88.91%
Not known.	Bottle	81	1061.3	1003.0	7.4	95.10%
Not known.	Bottle	81	1058.4	1003.3	7	94.43%
April 1845	Bottle	81	1058.9	1003.8	7	93.63%
April 1845	Bottle	63	1055.2	1003.3	6.6	94.11%
Not known.	Bottle	66	1054.4	1004.0	6.4	92.65%
1845	Cask	90	1068.9	1007.5	7.8	89.12%
1844	Bottle	90	1067.3	1009.0	7.4	86.62%
1845	Cask	90	1069.2	1007.8	7.8	88.80%
Average		80.5	1059.8	1006.5	6.8	89.39%
Source:
“Scottish Ale Brewer”, by W.H. Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847,  pages 171 and 173