Chapman beers in 1880

Based in Brighton on the south coast, Chapman didn’t have a particularly large range by late 19th-century standards. Just six beers. Two Mild Ales, two Pale Ales, a Stock Ale and a Stout. A pretty minimal set.

X Ale, the standard has a reasonable enough gravity 1051º. Which, coupled with a high degree of attenuation, leaves it just about 6% ABV. Its sibling XX Ale isn’t quite so highly attenuated, but still weighs in at 7% ABV. Happy days for a Mild drinker like me.

The two Mild Ales weren’t parti-gyled, as is obvious from the higher hopping rate per quarter of the XX Ale. Which is almost double that of X Ale. Which, with just four pounds of hops per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, is lightly hopped, even for a Mild Ale.

Moving onto the two Pale Ales, they fall quite nicely into the Bitter and Best Bitter categories. AK has the classic Light Bitter gravity of 1045º. While PA, at 1059º looks very much like a full-strength Pale Ale.

The hopping rates of 10 lbs and 12 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt are about what you would expect for Pale Ales. 

Both Pale Ales have very high degrees of fermentation, well above 80% apparent. Combined with the fairly high hopping rate, must have resulted in beers that seemed pretty bitter. Especially given that they were dry-hopped.

I’m not totally what XXX was sold as, not having been able to find a Chapman price list. I’ve gone with Stock Ale. It could also have been Old Ale. The same thing, really, I suppose. The hopping rate of almost 11 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt implies that it was genuinely aged. Which would have knocked down the FG even more.

Finally, we come to the Stout. Which, at just 1064º, isn’t all that “stout”. And is weaker than an equivalent London beer. The hopping rate of jut 5.7 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is also lower than you would find in a London Stout. 

Chapman beers in 1880
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	dry hops (oz / barrel)
X	Mild	1051.2	1006.4	5.94	87.57%	4.00	0.94	0.00
XX	Mild	1067.9	1015.2	6.96	77.55%	7.00	2.18	0.00
XXX	Stock Ale	1067.0	1012.5	7.22	81.40%	10.71	3.16	16.00
AK	Pale Ale	1045.4	1005.5	5.28	87.80%	10.00	2.17	5.87
PA	Pale Ale	1059.3	1009.1	6.63	84.58%	12.00	3.43	6.86
S	Stout	1064.3	1021.1	5.72	67.24%	5.65	1.73	0.00
Source:
Chapman brewing record.