Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1959 Adnams XXXX

There’s a tradition in the South of England of having draught Old Ale as a winter special. But a specific type of Old Ale. One that’s really a type of strong Mild.

The recipe for XXXX is certainly very similar to that of XXX. The only real differences are that XXXX has all mild malt as base and has 1 cwt. of something called Hydrol. No idea what that is, so I’ve just bumped up the amount of No. 3 invert.

The recipe has changed a little since 1949. The amber malt has been dropped and the gravity is 7 points lower.

The hops were all English from the 1957 and 1958 crops.

Adnams still brew an Old Ale which is very similar to this beer. I had a few pints of it in the Lord Nelson on my only visit to Southwold. Lovely stuff, when on form.

1959 Adnams XXXX
mild malt 6.75 lb 69.23%
crystal malt 80L 1.75 lb 17.95%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.25 lb 12.82%
Fuggles 125 mins 1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins 1.00 oz
OG 1046
FG 1014.5
ABV 4.17
Apparent attenuation 68.48%
IBU 27
SRM 18
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 125 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast WLP025 Southwold


This is one of literally hundreds of recipes in my book on UK brewing in the aftermath of WW II, Austerity!

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/austerity/23181344


3 comments:

Korev said...

“Hydrol - Unrationed sugar from Manbré and Garton. It was a by-product of the manufacture of pure medicinal glucose [used in the production of penicillin.]” ref WASHC, Ushers Trowbridge, 1075/278-1, Notebook, p 42
and from p24 Guile Brews
So glucose would be a better bet.
Cheers
Peter

Eric James said...

Hydrol is a corn sugar molasses, https://academic.oup.com/jaoac/article-abstract/36/2/457/5738911?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Korev said...

A good chart here https://academic.oup.com/jaoac/article/36/2/457/5738911 about the conversion of dextrose to different products. The diagram indicates that Hydrol (corn sugar molasses) is dark.