I make this assertion for two reasons. First, the hopping rate. At 10 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt it’s just a tad short of the 10.5 lbs per quarter of their top-flight Pale Ale and considerably more than in their Mild Ales.
Second, though I don’t have a price list for Russell themselves, I do have one for one of their Gravesend rivals, Walker and Sons. They also brewed an X, XX and XXX Ale. The first two are described as Mild Ales, the last as Strong Ale.
The grist is generally similar to that of the Mild Ales. Except around a third of the invert has been replaced by more base malt.
The hops are the same mix of one third from the 1908 harvest, two thirds from the 1910. Both types English.
Was this aged? Probably for at least a little. My guess would be three to six months in trade casks.
| 1911 Russell XXX | ||
| pale malt | 12.50 lb | 77.78% |
| flaked maize | 1.50 lb | 9.33% |
| No. 1 invert sugar | 2.00 lb | 12.45% |
| caramel 1000 SRM | 0.07 lb | 0.44% |
| Fuggles 120 mins | 2.00 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 mins | 2.00 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 mins | 2.00 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 1.00 oz | |
| OG | 1076 | |
| FG | 1017 | |
| ABV | 7.81 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 77.63% | |
| IBU | 60 | |
| SRM | 12 | |
| Mash at | 150º F | |
| Sparge at | 168º F | |
| Boil time | 120 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1768 English Special Bitter | |
With 60 IBU it is certainly not sweet
ReplyDeleteWould this have been worked by brett or put in "clean" casks?
ReplyDeleteI recall reading somewhere that even though brett was formally disvovered in 1902 it was likely a widely known trade secret among brithish brewers since the 1880's.
In that case they would likely have known wich casks were clean or not, and used clean ones for running porter/stout and the like that may have seen a shorter maturation period at the brewery before being shipped out.
Or am I heading in the wrong direction here?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeletelots of breweries had Brett in their pitching yeast so none of the casks would have been "clean". It wouldn't have had time to do anything in running beers, which would have been consumed no more than a couple of weeks after racking.
That's why they had problems we they tried to use pure yeast cultures: they couldn't get secondary conditioning to work.
Ron why was it called sweet nutty brown if at 60 IBU it was not sweet.
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