BeerHistoryBloke

Friday, 7 August 2026

TRUMAN , HANBURY & BUXTON : No 6 ALE

How Do All ,

Today`s draught of contentment comes from Victorian Burton on Trent .

As with most of my home brew recipies , I`ve designed this version for the types of containers

Available to most home / hobby brewers Viz : Metal / Plastic ;

With the concomitant reduction in Racking Gravity required for such a vessel .

As with the other Black Eagle Brewery ( Burton ) posts , the information for the recipie

Is drawn from items in the Truman`s Archive cared for by the ever friendly and helpfull team

At The London Archives :

Truman`s : Burton Gyle Book 1877 - 1878 @ B / THB / BUR / 035

I hope that you all enjoy this simple to brew example of the victorian brewer`s art ;

28.000 Wort Litres IN Copper Ex MASH @ 1.046

85 % Mash Efficiency Assumed

20.400 BEER Litres Racked Down ( Est`d )

This recipie C Edd Mather 2026

Truman Hanbury & Buxton

Black Eagle Brewery

Derby St

Burton on Trent

Staffordshire

Truman`s BURTON Copper House Photo ;
From the Brewery History Society Webpage on the Brewery

No 6 ALE

Thursday 26 Th July 1877

Gyle No : 17

Original Gravity : 1.068.5 Racking Gravity : 1.017.25 Final Gravity : 1.014

I B U : 60 A B V : 7.2 %

MALTS

Crisp Malt : 67 % Chevalier = 3.360 Kg

33 % Hana Vienna = 1.655 Kg

MASHING

USE A BURTONISED LIQUOR ;

Thoroughly pre warm the mash tun with Liquor @ 90 c,

- 10 Mins BEFORE mashing in

ENSURE the Liquor is 1.5 " ABOVE the plates / filter bed

MASH : 2 Hours @ 67.5 c = 13.50 Liquor Litres ;

At 120 Minutes , slowly open the Mash Tun Valve

Return any cloudy Wort OVER the mash until CONSISTENTLY Clear & Bright ,

Only then send to the Copper and begin Wort Collection .

SPARGING

At Clear Wort to Copper + 5 - 10 Minutes

77 - 75 c = 26.60 Litres Liquor Allowance .

AT 1.004.75 ,

Stop Taps and Collect Tun Wort as below

WORT COLLECTION

ADD Liquor as required to the Copper ;

28.000 Wort Litres IN COPPER @ 1.046

CONDENSE to 1.047

ON 27.390 Wort Litres IN Copper @ Let Off - 180 Minutes

COPPER & HOPS

A 3 Hour boil ON HOPS

1 St Hop Charge : Let Off - 180 Minutes

@ 1.047 ON 27.390 Wort Litres

20 IBU Cluster @ 6.5 % = + 30 g

NB : Australian readers could substitute Golden Cluster if available

2 Nd Hop Charge : Let Off - 120 Minutes

@ 1.053.5 ON 23.600 Wort Litres

11 IBU Tettnanger @ 4.5 % a/a = + 22 g

9 IBU East Kent Goldings @ 6.5 % a/a = + 13 g

AT LET OFF - 75 Minutes

@ 1.056.5 ON 22.275 Wort Litres IN COPPER

ADD 2.90 Litres of LIQUOR =

25.175 Wort Litres IN Copper @ 1.050 ;

ADD ;

1.005.75 No 2 Invert = + 0.455 Kg

1.005 No 1 Invert = + 0.395 Kg

THUS Raising the Gravity to 1.060.75 ON 25.175 Wort Litres

3 Rd Hop Charge : Let Off - 60 Minutes

@ 1.062.75 ON 21.730 Wort Litres

10 IBU Tettnanger @ 4.5 % a/a = + 22 g

10 IBU East Kent Goldings @ 6.5 % a/a = + 16 g

At Let Off - 12 Minutes , ADD Copper Finings

AT Let Off STAND 15 Minutes ,

RECIRCULATE In Copper 15 - 20 Minutes ;

STAND 3/4 Hour ,

COOL A S A P to Pitching Heat

22.115 Wort Litres @ + 60 Minutes AT 1.068.5

YEAST

Pitch with 80 ml of a LIVE YEAST @ 14.5 c

Burton on Trent type Yeast Strain

21.500 Wort Litres IN F V 1 @ 1.068.5

ATTENUATION

Day	Hour	Heat	Gravity
1	P	14.5	1.068.5
2	M	16.5	1.066
	E	18	1.062
3	M	19.5	1.058
	E	21.5	1.052
4	M	21.75	1.046
	N	20	1.040 *
	E	20	1.033
5	M	17	1.026
	E	17.5	1.022.25
6	M	16	1.020.5
	E	14	1.019
7	E	13.5	1.018.25
8	E	13.5	1.017.75
9	E	13	1.017.25
10	M / N	13	1.017.25 **

* : Send to 2 Nd F V = 21.000 Wort Litres

** : RACK TO DRAUGHT = 20.400 Beer Litres Racked Down ( Est`d )

STAND : 1 Week at 13 c ; Vent EXCESS C O 2 and Re Seal .

CELLAR : 3 Months at 8 c ; ADD FININGS then @ 10 - 12 c 2 Weeks .

STILLAGE : 1 Week @ 10 c then FULLY VENT and allow 6 - 8 Hours BEFORE Q . C

Cheers All and Happy Brewing 🍻 ,

Edd

AS WITH ALL OTHER BLOGPOSTS ;

NO PART OF THIS BLOG OR IT`S CONTENT

MAY BE USED TO TRAIN ARTIFICIAL INTELEGENCE MODELS OR ,

DEVELOP AND TRAIN A I SOFTWARE / COMPUTER SOFTWARE & PROGRAMMES

Thursday, 6 August 2026

W B MEW , LANGTON & Co : FOURPENNY ALE " 4 d " 1884 - 1887

How Do All ,

Some time ago , I began to re examine the W B Mew, Langton & Co brewing records ;

Photos of which were kindly sent by Jeff Secchiari of The Brewery History Society ,

Cheers Jeff 🍻.

To excise a drawn out fable , I began to be unhappy with my analysis .

In particular the gross disparity in I B U bandwith in the Osbourne Pale Ales and ,

The Grist Proportions of the Porters and Stouts * .

In consequence of this rather irritating conclusion , I started my analysis afresh ;

Reasoning that a successfull commercial brewery capable of producing up to 200 Barrels

Of a beer such as Osbourne Pale Ale would , In the interest of product consistency and ,

Repeat sales have ensured a reasonable degree of homogenisation in re `Perceived Bitterness `,

And , Hop Charge Points ( Relative to Gravity @ Charge and , Wort Length IN COPPER )

across All ( sic ) brewings of O P A as recorded in the surviving brewing books from Mew`s

Newport brewery **.

The table below shows the reformed analysis of the O P A brews selected for investigation ;

With the * in table referring to the AVERAGE Original Gravity ;

As a number of the brewings contain eg 138.5 Barrels in FV 1 @ 23.6 Lbs / Brl and

up to 3 - 4 Other Wort Lengths IN F V 1 ; Eg : FV 2 : 48.5 Wort Barrels @ 20.8 Lbs ,

FV 3 : 42 Wort Barrels @ 23.6 Lbs , + X Barrels of other Worts = Average Original Gravity / * .

Today`s outpouring of beery knowledge continues my analysis of the beers of

W B Mew, Langton & Co ; In the shape of their Fourpenny Ale " 4 d " ;

I hope you all enjoy the information .

The 3 Surviving Brewing Books from the Newport Brewery of W B Mew , Langton & Co

Are cared for by the team at The Isle of Wight Records Office , Cat Ref : ML 44

* This relates to the Extract Poundage of 1 Quarter of Black Malt @ an Av of 50 Lbs / Qtr

** I believe the Mew family operated another brewery on the Isle of Wight ,

Any technical details or , even brewing records would be welcomed ,

Please get in touch or comment below if you`re able to assist .

This Table , Analysis Etc C Edd Mather 2026

W B Mew , Langton & Co`s Maltings ;
Photo from the Brewery History Society Webpage on the Company

1884 - 1885 Brewing Book

Gyle	Date	Original	I B U	A B V
3	10 / 10 / 1884	1.055.75 *	26	6.1 %
		1.056.25	26	6.7 %
		1.055.25	26	6.0 %
9	13 / 10 / 1884	1.055.75 *	28	6.3 %
		1.056	28	6.4 %
		1.054.75	28	6.25 %
28	10 / 11 / 1884	1.055.5 *	28	6.3 %
		1.056.75	28	6.9 %
		1.055.5	28	6.7 %
		1.054	28	6.5 %
		1.051.75	28	6.2 %
		1.050.5	28	6.0 %
54	19 / 12 / 1884	1.055.75	20	6.6 %
		1.057.25	20	6.8 %
		1.050.5	20	6.4 %
58	29 / 12 / 1884	1.055.25 *	30	6.5 %
		1.056	30	6.6 %
		1.054.25	30	6.4 %
64	5 / 1 / 1885	1.056.75	30	6.9 %
		1.057.5	30	7.0 %
		1.056.5	30	6.8 %
71	7 / 1 / 1885	1.054 *	30	6.1 %
		1.053	30	6.0 %
		1.052.25	30	5.9 %
		1.051.25	30	5.7 %
77	22 / 1 / 1885	1.055.75 *	32	6.5 %
		1.056.25	32	6.6 %
		1.055	32	6.4 %
114	17 / 3 / 1885	1.055.75 *	24	6.3 %
		1.056.25	24	6.5 %
		1.055	24	6.2 %
134	17 / 4 / 1885	1.052.75 *	28	5.9 %
		1.053.5	28	6.0 %
		1.052.25	28	5.9 %
135	20 / 4 / 1885	1.054.5	28	6.2 %
169	8 / 6 / 1885	1.053.5	28	5.9 %
208	29 / 7 / 1885	1.052.75	30	6.5 %
253	28 / 9 / 1885	1.053.75 *	26	6.1 %
		1.054.5	26	6.2 %
		1.052.25	26	5.9 %
24	2 / 11 / 1885	1.054 *	30	6.1 %
		1.054.25	30	6.0 %
		1.053.5	30	6.1 %

1886 - 1887 Brewing Book

Gyle	Date	Original	I B U	A B V
71	7 / 1 / 1886	1.053.75 *	30	6.1 %
		1.053	30	6.0 %
		1.052.25	30	5.9 %
		1.051	30	5.7 %
84	25 / 1 / 1886	1.055 *	30	6.2 %
		1.056.5	30	6.4 %
		1.053	30	6.1 %
121	19 / 3 / 1886	1.054.5 *	30	6.0 %
		1.056.25	30	6.3 %
		1.054.25	30	6.0 %
		1.052.75	30	5.8 %
131	5 / 4 / 1886	1.053.25 *	30	6.0 %
		1.054	30	6.3 %
		1.052.75	30	5.8 %
160	28 / 5 / 1886	1.055.5 *	30	6.3 %
		1.061.25	30	7.1 %
		1.057.25	30	6.6 %
		1.047.25	30	5.2 %
198	12 / 7 / 1886	1.053.75	30	6.3 %
17	25 / 10 / 1886	1.053.5	32	6.3 %
22	1 / 11 / 1886	1.051.75 *	32	6.2 %
		1.052.25	32	6.3 %
		1.050	32	6.0 %
32	15 / 11 / 1886	1.051.25	30	6.3 %
74	13 / 1 / 1887	1.052.75	30	5.9 %
		1.053.5	30	6.0 %
		1.052.75	30	5.9 %
		1.052	30	5.8 %
96	15 / 2 / 1887	1.052.75	30	6.1 %
116	17 / 3 / 1887	1.052.75	24	6.1 %
126	31 / 3 / 1887	1.053 *	22	6.0 %
		1.053.5	22	6.1 %
		1.052.75	22	5.9 %
135	15 / 4 / 1887	1.053.75	22	6.1 %
154	16 / 5 / 1887	1.052.75	26	5.9 %
161	25 / 5 / 1887	1.052.75	22	5.9 %

Cheers All 🍻 ,

Edd

AS WITH ALL OTHER BLOGPOSTS ;

NO PART OF THIS BLOG OR IT`S CONTENT

MAY BE USED TO TRAIN ARTIFICIAL INTELEGENCE MODELS OR ,

DEVELOP AND TRAIN A I SOFTWARE / COMPUTER SOFTWARE & PROGRAMMES