Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site

Just like last Saturday, I'm providing some relief from the constant barrage of Heineken and WW II stuff. With a recipe from my barely-started book, "Free!".

19th-century Mild Ales can confuse the hell out of people. Especially stronger ones, like this. Pale, hoppy and pretty strong. What exactly makes it a Mild Ale, then? The simple fact that it was sold without any ageing, just a couple of weeks, at most, after being brewed.

XX was considerably more heavily hopped than X Ale: 12 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, compared to 8 lbs. In fact, the hopping rate was the same as for PA and XLK, Barclay’s two Bitters.

The malt bill couldn’t be simpler, just a single type of pale malt. There’s really nothing at all to discuss there.

Equal quantities of East Kent and Worcester hops, both from the 1885 harvest, made up the hops. As this beer was brewed in May, the freshest hops you could get.

Sadly, Barclays didn’t brew this beer for much longer. Like most other large London brewers, by around 1900 they’d slimmed down to brewing just a single Mild Ale. This batch was brewed on their small kit and consisted of a mere 50 barrels. While X Ale was often brewed 1,000 barrels at a time.
1886 Barclay Perkins XX Ale
pale malt 17.75 lb 100.00%
Fuggles 120 mins 4.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins 4.00 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.00 oz
OG 1076
FG 1023
ABV 7.01
Apparent attenuation 69.74%
IBU 82
SRM 6
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 165º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale







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