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rexbanner · 12-27-2012, 02:06 PM

Hey guys, I got the book IPA for Christmas and was thinking of trying to brew a 19th century-style IPA. Here's what I got from reading the book.

Older IPAs:

95-100% base malt
Hopped at extremely high rates (7 lbs per barrel)
EKG and fuggles hops
Aged extensively (~1 year)
Most likely underwent a secondary fermentation with brett in the barrel

Based on that, I'm going to try making something similar. Here's what I came up with:

1800 IPA

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.73 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 54.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
13 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 100.0 %
1.00 oz Target [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 2 35.5 IBUs
6.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop 3 19.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124. Yeast 4 -
1.0 pkg Brettanomyces Claussenii (White Labs #WL Yeast 5 -
3.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Dry Hop 4 Hop 6 0.0 IBUs

So basically I don't want to wait a year to drink this. I'll brew it and once primary is over, rack it to secondary and pitch some brett c and oak chips. In three months I'll taste it, and I may or may not do a dry hop depending on taste. Then I'll bottle it up. Thoughts? Anyone tried something similar?

Also, a note on the hops: the hopping rate is lower than 19th century IPAs, but our hops are much higher quality. Also, I know from experience that using tons of EKG doesn't taste that great. The IBUs may be lower as well, but with less aging time, they aren't going to go down much.

**Sheldon** · 12-27-2012, 02:35 PM

I just finished the book and got really thirsty for IPA's every time I picked it up. I am impressed at the brewing process they used, especially the aging times. Not sure I want to wait that long myself. I have also been thinking of doing an historic version, but may wait until spring to get serious about it, too chilly outside now.

Keep us updated on your recipe and results.

Sheldon

xeerohour · 12-27-2012, 02:39 PM

This is an excellent idea - I really like it.

Couple things you MAY want to think about - I could be wrong, having not read the book.

First, wouldn't it likely be a bit darker malt? Maybe an amber, or something like that? I seem to recall reading somewhere that they weren't able to produce pale malt like we have today back then.

Second, I'd be curious what types of Brett would be the ones a beer like this would have been exposed to. Would it have been a blend of several? Something specific to the region.

This is really pretty fascinating. I wish you the best of luck.

**unionrdr** · 12-27-2012, 02:48 PM

Never read of English using bret in the ales,much less an IPA. And even my 1890's #3 Burton ale was a rusty amber color to match the malt colors of the day. Pale ales were dark amber red to coppery sort of color.

**homebrewhaha** · 12-27-2012, 03:29 PM

rex, I think this looks like a pretty good strategy overall. Are you going to at least tuck away a few bottles in storage to try a year or so out? Have you considered Burtonizing your water?

I do remember from the book there were several descriptions of historic IPA's as "brilliant" and "sparkling" but I think that refers more to the impeccable clarity of the beer rather than the color. (perhaps consider some finings?)

I'd have to look back to see what Steele says about color. It would make sense that they would be more copper or amber as the earliest incarnations of pale malt would have been "pale" relative to something like porter (the most common ale drunk during that era), and distinct from the super-pale malts we all use today. I'm not 100% on this though.

@unionrdr, it wasn't so much that they used Brett as it was an accidental byproduct of long periods of aging in oak barrels during a time when the specifics of yeast metabolism were not well understood. Mitch Steele spends a good amount of time in the IPA book speculating about this.

**lowtones84** · 12-27-2012, 03:33 PM

I don't think they "used" Brett so much as it just happened. Wild Ales mentions some wild ale production in England, but I feel like even if you weren't attempting to do it, it would be pretty likely to happen when storing beer for extended periods of time in wooden barrels. I bottled 1 gallon of my EdWort's haus pale with orval dregs, and 5-6 months later it was delicious, and still changing 8 months in.

Edit: homebrewhaha posts faster than I do apparently :-)

**OhReally** · 12-27-2012, 07:25 PM

Northern Brewer has a recipe which is a clone of Town Hall's 1800 English IPA

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/pro-series/1800-historic-english-ipa-pro-series-all-grain-kit.html

(this is the all-grain version, but NB has the extract version too)

I've brewed the extract version twice now, and it's really, really tasty. It calls for 7 oz. each of Kent Goldings and Fuggles (4 oz. EKG for bittering and 10 oz. for aroma/ late addition). Really good stuff, and it balances out the close to 10 lbs. of extract. My OG was about 1.080-84, which results in 8.6% and 8.4% ABV in the two batches.

Definitely worth a look. 2-3 weeks in primary plus 2 weeks or so in secondary sounds better than a year to wait.

Cheers

**unionrdr** · 12-27-2012, 07:37 PM

Well,one brewery in Sheffield,England mention to a journalist of the day that they barrel aged their Burton ale for 14 years. I casll BS on that,the beer would have to be a barleywine to stand up that long. Even then,IDK...

bierhaus15 · 12-27-2012, 08:40 PM

A few things.

Using a lot of hops in the boil may seem unnecessary beyond bittering, but the sheer amount of vegetal matter actually adds a lot of hop flavor even after being boiled for hours. Therefore, if you want to be authentic, drop the small amount of high AA% hops and load it up with whole leaf EKG. Pellet hops don't give the same character for this type of usage.

Also, color wise, don't think that all pale ales were coppery colored back then. That simply isn't true. Maltsters were using coke (fuel) by the early 1800's and were able to produce quite pale beers, so well that some people complained how the palest colored beers were the least flavorful. And then breweries included large amounts of sugar in their beers to further lighten the color.

Lastly, Burton Ales were the most highly hopped beers at the time. And guess what the first Barleywine was?? Burton no 1... a Burton Ale.

rexbanner · 12-27-2012, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebrewhaha

Are you going to at least tuck away a few bottles in storage to try a year or so out? Have you considered Burtonizing your water?

I will definitely save a few bottles to try over the next year. Unfortunately I moved and don't have access to a water report where I live, so adjusting my water is a lost cause.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bierhaus15

A few things.

Using a lot of hops in the boil may seem unnecessary beyond bittering, but the sheer amount of vegetal matter actually adds a lot of hop flavor even after being boiled for hours. Therefore, if you want to be authentic, drop the small amount of high AA% hops and load it up with whole leaf EKG. Pellet hops don't give the same character for this type of usage.

Also, color wise, don't think that all pale ales were coppery colored back then. That simply isn't true. Maltsters were using coke (fuel) by the early 1800's and were able to produce quite pale beers, so well that some people complained how the palest colored beers were the least flavorful. And then breweries included large amounts of sugar in their beers to further lighten the color.

Lastly, Burton Ales were the most highly hopped beers at the time. And guess what the first Barleywine was?? Burton no 1... a Burton Ale.

Thanks, good info. I'll change the target for EKG.