Graham Wheeler’s Wadworth 6X recipe variations

[NeilE1970]

Hi all,
I recently was in a thread on the American board over here and there’s a chap brewing Wadworth 6X. I have 3 versions of Grahams book and remembered I’d seen the recipe in there. So I went to the most recent version (illustrated 2013) and found an error. It mentions black malt twice.
So I went to the next (1998,2001)and the recipe ingredients are considerably different.
So I went to the oldest book 1993 and it’s as different again.
My guess would be that the list on the new version would be : Pale malt, Crystal, Sugar then Black Malt.
Any views on this would be gratefully received.

Many thanks
Neil


2013, 1998-2001, 1993

F9770D40-3A36-442D-B90C-8855FAC0E914.jpeg (621.47 KiB) Viewed 2667 times

Many thanks in advance.
Neil

[Eric]

According to the 2009 edition, the first listed Black Malt should be Crystal Malt, no colour or type given.

I suspect the second black malt addition is colour adjustment for using white sugar in place of, most probably, Ragus #2 Invert Sugar Block.

[micmacmoc]

Blimey! You dont want all that black in 6X! Off to correct my book. Well spotted!
I expect GW meant medium crystal, about 150EBC?
I've never used any of these sugar block things, though I've used golden syrup, black treacle and honey in stouts.
Would any of those be (ballpark) substitutes for sugar block?
Desperate to be back brewing again after a prolonged illness....6X would be lovely!

[f00b4r]

PeeBee did some tasting trials by mixing various cane sugars and comparing the results against some invert 1/2/3 that I sent him. I have to be somewhere but you should be able to find it by searching his posts. Eric and others have also made the various inverts before and I know Eric has also had the real deal.

[Eric]

indeed, read Peebee's posts on the subject.

You might wish to read this bit to get a taster.

Ragus advise that their Black Treacle is used in stout. I mix it with home inverted refined cane sugar for darker beers. Avoid Golden syrup as Peebee has uncovered and instructs.

[micmacmoc]

Thanks Foobar and Eric, much appreciated!

[NeilE1970]

Hi guys,
Many thanks to you all for this input. I’ve never tried or indeed heard of this beer but I saw an expat on a US board and he was brewing it so I thought I’d have a look.
Actually I’m quite happy messing around with the Banks’s Bitter recipe at the moment. With 1469 yeast it is superb. The head retention is improved with some oats added but I’ve got some Briess carapils to try out which seem to be popular over here.
Thanks again fellas.

[f00b4r]

Hi guys,
Many thanks to you all for this input. I’ve never tried or indeed heard of this beer but I saw an expat on a US board and he was brewing it so I thought I’d have a look.
Actually I’m quite happy messing around with the Banks’s Bitter recipe at the moment. With 1469 yeast it is superb. The head retention is improved with some oats added but I’ve got some Briess carapils to try out which seem to be popular over here.
Thanks again fellas.

1469 is one of my favourite yeasts. You might want to check out this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=84003&start=15

It starts off talking about the new White Labs packaging but then turns to The Malt Miller starting to supply Brewlab slopes. Given that the American based companies supposedly took samples from homebrewers over there after the year has been kicking around for quite a while and probably drifted a fair bit from the originals, the Brewlabs ones are likely more authentic. If you read the thread you should be able to order them to the USA (they also have a video on their website of how to use them). Hopefully the demand for them also makes it worthwhile for them to expand the range.

[PeeBee]

What's this?

My names been mentioned?

Well ... I'm here now. So down on your knees, and
TTTREMBLEEE


I've always wanted to do that. So, I've done it now ... and no-one was impressed when I did it last time either.

Now, let me see. Give me a moment to collect thoughts together ...

F00b4r: You've blown the cover I'd carefully arranged for you? Well, don't blame me if you have queues of people at your door wanting samples of Ragus Invert Sugar too! (And thanks again for mine).

I've done a bit of research on Wadworth 6X (I used to enjoy drinking that beer when I was riding down near Marlborough i.e. proper Wadworth country). Mr Wheeler's books are a tad inconsistent on this subject, aren't they.

I managed to dig this up, an old post on an American forum (http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=56396):

TASTING NOTES
6X - 4.3% ABV.

Wadworth have been brewing 6X in their Devizes brewery for over 80 years.
This delightful copper-coloured beer has a malty, fruity nose with a restrained hop character.
The same characteristics emerge on the palate but with more intensity, leading to a lingering malty finish. The beer is full bodied and distinctive but with a high drinkability, ensuring its position as one of the South of England's most requested beers.

No matter where you are you can be sure that every pint of 6X is handmade in Devizes.
6X is brewed from 93% pale malt, 4% crystal malt and 3% cane sugar. The bitterness units of 22-24 are obtained from Fuggles hops (85% of total) in the copper and Goldings hops (15%) on the hop back plates. Colour rating is 28.

That's a sample, the actual thread containing the post descends into a bit of a bun fight. The Wadworth site doesn't cover it with that information no more, and I couldn't verify it via the "Wayback Machine" (an Internet archiver). The recipe is round about the same as GW's recipes though. But the Wadworth site can provide useful snippets: The beer is at its 100th anniversary (this year seemingly!), to the same recipe, but they do admit it was a little stronger back then (6% ABV). As is often the case these days, Wadworth don't use the term "Bitter" no more.

I look back at what Ron Pattinson has gleaned from about that era:
https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/201 ... h-xxx.html
https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/202 ... -xxxx.html
They are both for XXXX (4X not 6X) but do provide some insight. XXXX is potentially a designation for "Mild Ale", but RP does mention it's use with "stock ales". But these Wiltshire examples are pretty weedy compared to London XXXX, so they were "Milds" (minimally hopped too, 4X wasn't destined to be hanging about too long). As for "6X": No such widely recognised designation, so it was likely a bit of marketing. 6X might have been a "Mild Ale"! "Mild Ale" was the most popular beer of those times, and they were quite different to modern-day milds before both World Wars ravaged them. "6X" could have been a more up-market mild ale made of malt undiluted with cheaper maize from the States?

But the interesting facts that can be made from the XXXX recipes; Wadworth's weren't averse to using dark Invert Sugars ("No.2", or perhaps "No.3" if "6X" really was a "Mild Ale") nor using caramel colouring (black caramel that is).

So ... plugging all that into "Beersmith" for a 23L brew length at 75% "brewhouse efficiency":

Wadworth 6X.jpg (81.92 KiB) Viewed 2525 times

OG 1.041, Bitterness 22.7 IBU, Colour 26.6 EBC, Est. ABV 4.2%.

That goes on my to-do list!

[EDIT: The above recipe does assume Wadworth's still use "Invert Sugar". As most breweries have changed over to "modern" syrups (sucrose or glucose based) it could be the case with Wadworth's. Does anyone know?]

One last thing ... Ron, Ron, Ron ... can I have a gold star for all that .... pleeeeaaase?

[PeeBee]

A few Web sites dotted about do confirm that Wadworth's once listed the ingredients in 6X, very unusual, and the 93% pale, 4% crystal and 3% sugar (85% Fuggles, 15% Golding) crops up again and again. One such is http://www.britishbrewer.com/tag/wadworth-6x-clone/.

Also, we can find http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/a ... 137/6X.pdf. This suggests 6X was a variation of XXXX:

So in late 1923 the brewers at Wadworth, faced with the fact they had two versions of XXXX, simply changed the name of the stronger version to 6X to reflect the strength of the beer at that time.

So it could be considered a "Mild Ale"? "XXXX" is recorded by Ron Pattinson to contain Invert Sugar No.3, so perhaps 6X was originally coloured with No.3 (and caramel colouring; I'd suggested Invert Sugar No.2 earlier). The piccie of the records in the above PDF is too blurred to read. OG was originally 1.055, falling to 1.050 following WWII (later to 1.043 then 1.041). Perhaps 6X did contain Maize and it was dropped at a later date? (But wouldn't be the "original recipe" then).

Cor ... we can't often get so much information handed to us on a plate (fortunately we have Ron Pattinson to dig up the hard stuff).

[PeeBee]

I've used 2.5ml caramel in that "Beersmith" snip but can't get Beersmith to show "ml" quantity and grain in kilos. And was using the Brupak's "Brewer's Caramel". If using Invert Sugar No.3 you'd use less (perhaps), if using plain sugar or glucose you'd use more (or else some other black colourant?).

[Eric]

6X has never inspired me enough for me to consider brewing it. The beer looks great and the clip attracts my eye, but it always turned out like a chocolate eclair would without any chocolate. Not had it for a long time, maybe it is time to try making it.

Thanks for the information PeeBee.

[PeeBee]

6X has never inspired me ...

Hey, that Brian Yorston guy (who wrote the 6X history article) is/was from up your way.

Do you know him?

[Eric]

No Paul, well I can't remember him, but he does/did work at Brewlab and I never knowingly met him there. He wrote a good article on Brewlab's website about a Green Hop brew done at Wadworth, but couldn't find it today. My records show it was written Aug 14th, 2020 because I referred to it when doing a Green Hop beer last year. He also, with Keith Thomas and Julio Johnson, wrote a book titled Homebrew, but Julio left Brewlab in October. I think F00b4r might have a copy of that book.

[f00b4r]

No Paul, well I can't remember him, but he does/did work at Brewlab and I never knowingly met him there. He wrote a good article on Brewlab's website about a Green Hop brew done at Wadworth, but couldn't find it today. My records show it was written Aug 14th, 2020 because I referred to it when doing a Green Hop beer last year. He also, with Keith Thomas and Julio Johnson, wrote a book titled Homebrew, but Julio left Brewlab in October. I think F00b4r might have a copy of that book.

Think you might have just missed it but it is still up (made much easier by you having the date): https://brewlab.co.uk/green-hop-beer/

I have the e-book, usually I would go for the physical one but it had a much later release date. It appears that both are now available. TBH I have skimmed through it but need to go back and have a read now that I have some time.