Let's Brew - 1890 Adnams XX

Proof here that beers were constantly evolving, no matter how much breweries might claim to be using age-old recipes.

For a start, there’s been a big drop in gravity – a full 10º. Sadly, as Adnams no longer have any of their brewing records, I’ve no idea exactly when the reduction in strength occurred. Not all at once, would be my guess. However it happened, that’s a substantial reduction. Leaving a rather watery-looking beer for an XX Ale.

There’s still not much to the recipe: base malt, rather a lot of sugar and a touch of caramel. The use of the latter leaves the colour rather hanging in the air. The exact shade being crucial. I’ve opted for a middling dark type, which leaves the beer semi-dark. Something which seems to have been becoming a common hue for Mild around this time.

Few details are revealed about the hops in the brewing record. Simply that some were English and the rest Altmark. That’s a region of North Germany just to the left of Berlin. It’s where the Prussian established a hop-growing industry in the 19th century using sets acquired from Bohemia. Which is why I’ve used Saaz in the recipe. Not sure how accurate that is, but it’s the best I can come up with.

1890 Adnams XX
pale malt	5.75 lb	69.03%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.50 lb	30.01%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.08 lb	0.96%
Saaz 30 mins	2.50 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1044
FG	1012
ABV	4.23
Apparent attenuation	72.73%
IBU	38
SRM	14
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold