Let's Brew - 1879 Adnams PA

In addition to their rather watery AK, Adnams also produced a full-strength Pale Ale. Called, simply, Pale Ale. Not that they brewed a huge amount of either. The bulk of their output was either Mild Ale or Stout.

I’m going to struggle to come up with too much to say about this beer. The brewing records are extremely sketchy. About all it includes are the ingredients and the gravity. Everything else is just an educated guess.

The grist is simply base malt and sugar. As this is a high-class Pale Ale, I’ve chosen No. 1 invert as the sugar.  It could also have been No. 2, but at this point they mostly strove to keep Pale Ales of this type as light in colour as possible.

That probably explains the high percentage of sugar, which makes up a third of the total grist. A higher proportion even than in XX Ale.

As for the hops, I know nothing other than the quantity. Which was an awful lot. Even after me reducing the quantity (the actual amount would have come to two 8.5 oz. additions) to allow for some age, the calculated bitterness still comes to stupid number of IBUs. As PA was most likely aged for 12 months, the bitterness would have mellowed out before it was sold.

1879 Adnams PA
mild malt	7.27 lb	65.97%
No. 1 invert sugar	3.75 lb	34.03%
Goldings 105 mins	7.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	7.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1061
FG	1016
ABV	5.95
Apparent attenuation	73.77%
IBU	165
SRM	9
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	172º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	65º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold