Saturday, 10 February 2024

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1890 Adnams XXXX

By this point Adnams had slimmed down their range of Mild Ales a little, having dropped X. They did, however, continue to brew the strongest version, XXXX. Not quite as strong as in 1878, though, being 5º weaker.

As with most 19th-century beers, there’s not a great deal to the recipe. Just base malt, sugar and a dash of caramel. I’ve no real idea what the sugar was. No. 2 invert is my conservative guess. As there’s no indication whatsoever of its type in the brewing record, it could be anything.

Owing to a fairly sparse brewing record, there are lots of guesses. Like the FG, mashing temperature and boiling time.

The hopping rate is fairly robust, consisting of Kent and Bavarian hops. No age is given for the hops. 

1890 Adnams XXXX
pale malt 8.50 lb 71.85%
No. 2 invert sugar 3.25 lb 27.47%
caramel 1000 SRM 0.08 lb 0.68%
Fuggles 90 mins 3.00 oz
Hallertau 90 mins 0.75 oz
OG 1062
FG 1016
ABV 6.09
Apparent attenuation 74.19%
IBU 43
SRM 16
Mash at 154º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 90 minutes
pitching temp 59º F
Yeast WLP025 Southwold


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet ale is a fascinating term for mild ale.
Oscar

Anonymous said...

Looking at some of your XXXX recipes from other breweries from that era, it looks like Adnams is quite a bit weaker. Was that just their preference, or was that a regional tendency?

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

beers from rural locations tended to be weaker than those from cities, especially London.