October Beer

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I'm reading a book on IPA's, and it starts with known British beers in England.

In this book it challenges the long held belief that the IPA itself was specifically designed for the long travel to the colonies in India, that it was it's own beer.

There's no record per se, but there are advertisements that show how Hodgson's Bow Brewery and the the East India Company together supplied (monopolized) India with the largest amount of goods, including beer, for the bulk of the time until it's decline in the 1800's.

Records show that what was sent was an October beer, a very strong pale ale, and possibly dry hopped more than usual to help it make the journey as they had known that for long term stability a higher alcohol content or high hopping rates were quite helpful.

But it wasn't until Bow Brewery was losing support due to price gouging and monopolizing (around 1813, but significant in 1820 with the passing of a free trade measure, and that it was Campbell Marjoribanks (pronounced Marchbanks) who sent a sample of Hodgson's pale ale to Allsop, a brewery in Burton, to attempt a similar beer, which took years before a good recipe was formulated. And it was years after this that advertisements were shown to call it such things as "pale ale for India" among a few others.

Records show that Allsop and Bass became the two biggest exporters of IPA once Bow Brewery fell.

From what I can see it appears as though a traditional IPA was brewed to about 6.5% ABV using 100% Warminster pale malts (Maris Otter?) and boiled for an extended amount of time to achieve its color. It also appears as though Kent Goldings were the only hop used (~27.5g/L), and it was tossed in around 90 mins using 55% of the hops, and another 22.5% at 60 mins, and the remainder at the end of the boil/whirlpool. It doesn't seem to state how much was used for a dry hop.

The above recipe was stated as a Burton IPA from the 1800's by James McCrorie who is a British beer historian.

So it would seems though there never was a flavoring addition.

Though I am far from finished reading, there doesn't seem to be a clear definition of what made up an October beer other than it used nothing but fresh barley and hops and was brewed strong from October to Novemeber, and was a beer that was usually aged 2-3 years until it went to India when it was aged 1 year prior to sending it as they found shipping across the ocean like that tended to help age it quicker.

Can someone explain to me what a 1700's October beer would have been, and how that compares to an 1800's IPA?

This book is titled IPA Brewing techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Alw written by Mitch Steele.

One of these days I will be attempting a true old style British IPA, and am inclined, so far, to go with the recipe that was stated, though it states the yeast used is Fuller's 294, which I am unfamiliar with, and am not sure of what might be similar enough, along with the pale malt that was used.
 
Hi rodwa

I couldn't answer your questions myself but the Durden Park Beer Circle might be able to help:-

http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/

They've done a lot of research into historical recipes, have a few on their website and publish a recipe book.
Hope this helps.
 
Thanks!

According to this book James McCrorie is affiliated with them.

I find this rather intriguing and am quite interested in trying a more traditional British IPA. But I'm still working on ESB's, both traditional and with my own flair as I've had one that has a strong biscuit flavor that I really enjoy. My brewing technique and hopping schedule aren't traditional though, but I'm still having fun and enjoying the end product...
 
Must admit I'd like to give some of the historical recipes a go but the very long maturing times are a bit off putting, don't think I'd have the patience.
Good luck with the ESBs and as long as you enjoy the beer your making, I don't think it matters if you've stuck rigidly with the style traditions.
 
I don't mind going in my own direction with certain things at certain times. It's mostly me enjoying them anyway as I don't compete, nor could I. But I do like to try the proper ways too.

Another thing that caught my interest was that back prior to the 1800's beer was typically done in 4 styles using one batch of grains with no sparge. They made a strong beer at a lower temp, and increased the temp a bit until they got up around 82*C, which by then the grains were well used and produced a table beer in the low 2-3% range, which also used more hops as the low gravity wasn't high enough to stave off bacterias so it would keep better. This is what the whole family drank.
 
Hi Rod

I think the second brew was known as the "small beer", which is an expression in wider linguistic usage even now.

May I ask about decimal points?

27.5g of hops seems a lot for 1L - per 10L could be intention?

"It also appears as though Kent Goldings were the only hop used (~27.5g/L), and it was tossed in around 90 mins using 55% of the hops, and another 22.5% at 60 mins, and the remainder at the end of the boil/whirlpool."

Any comments?
 
The measurements are both in standard and metric, and for standard it lists it as 3.67 oz/gal. This is in the recipe given.

In the book it states that these beers were so heavily hopped and bitter that the people in Britian thought they were disgusting and would spit it out! But this is where the long (2-3 years) aging time mellowed this.

All of this is a part of what intrigues me so much about it. I can handle bitter beer beyond what many would likely say was tolerable. Patient enough to wait 3 years? I'm not quite sure, though I'm fairly patient. I'd likely crack one open on the second year as I'd just have to know!

"Small beer" was actually the third beer. According to this it went:
Strong keeping ale
Stock ale
Small beer
Table beer

It's very fascinating to me. I've considered making a table beer just to see why it may have been like, though under better brewing conditions no doubt!

I have British and Scottish (as well as Prussian) heritage, and the lady has Irish heritage, and so UK beers are of an interest to us both. Being "American" also has some styles of interest as well, but because it lacks the depth of history and the dilution of what it is to be "American" it's not quite in the same class.

In more modern times the typical American bigger is better theory often holds true, and I get it and enjoy it, but there's something about how it used to be done and how it began I find extremely intriguing!

Don't get me wrong. I greatly enjoy my modern beers too. But I'm open to quite a bit (except a lot of Belgians as I don't care for bubblegum or banana in my beer). And sours scare me!

You asked for comments on the hop schedule given. It makes me quite curious really in that I can see why many thought it was far too bitter. And I wonder, with the lack of a true flavoring addition, what it would have tasted like. To me, which is tainted by our west coast style of highly hopped with the majority of the hops being from 30-0 mins, if not all, I'm not sure I'll care much for it.

My latest American IPA that I bottled today looked like this:

(6 gal batch partial mash/partial boil)
6 lbs of golden light LME (FO)
4 lbs 2-row
1/2 lb crystal 20
1/2 lb crystal 40
1/2 lb white wheat berries (for head retention)
6 oz carafoam

1/2 oz Warrior (16%), Simcoe (13.5%), and Centennial (10.4%) @ 30/20/10/5 mins
Whirlflock @ 5 mins

US-05 yeast

1.062/1.012
6.5% ABV
102 IBU's
7 SRM

I used no real bittering addition as I've seen a few times here. So I punched it full of high AA hops hoping for an extreme hop flavor. The American way it seems…

So this was 1 oz/gal and I didn't use any dry hopping as I messed up on my water and wasn't sure if it would turn out right or not. But these hops are so much higher in alpha acids that EKG, and may not be too far off of the mark. But with a majority used for bittering it had to have been rather bitter. It almost makes my lips curl! But I have to know! I'll just have to brew it to the best I can.

One thing I really wonder, to be as authentic as possible, is the grains used. What is Warminster and how different is it from Maris Otter?

i'm also interested to see how a longer boil creates a darker color without the use of darker grains. I've always used some crystal malts.

I still have a one way to go in this book as I'm maybe a touch more than 1/4 of the way through it. Very interesting read, and I'm glad that it's been more about just an IPA.
 
Well that's rather more than I bargained for. You have gone more into this than I even imagined.

Great stuff, Rod. :thumb:

Please keep it coming.
 
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