Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

[dpalyka]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

I bet one of those kegs would make a porter or stout taste great. Which style would you recomend?

(This thread should be in the sinks)

I was just reading an article online (Sorry, I cant find it again) that was talking about how this can completly ruin a beer because of the high oak to liquid ratio.
It didnt say dont do it, just warned against.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

I was just reading an article online (Sorry, I cant find it again) that was talking about how this can completly ruin a beer because of the high oak to liquid ratio.
It didnt say dont do it, just warned against.

Anybody know of a better wood? One that would inpart the best flavor?



Beechwood aged mess!

[dpalyka]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Anybody know of a better wood? One that would inpart the best flavor?



Beechwood aged mess!

What I would do is just add woodchips (you can buy these for winemaking) and add them to the secondary fermentation... this way you would have more control.

I was looking at the beeswax lined casks mostly for authentic serving purposes.
I imagine it is a pain in the ass to sterilize wood.

[Silas]

Period Ginger Beer

I posted the below thread on the Chaps private discussion group. Not being a private matter, I'm posting it here. My intent is to bring it into camp Saturday night and for the batch to be consumed that night.

===================================

"My 4th generation yeast is having a wild party in the five gallons of molasses, water and ginger. There will be a car boy in the ranks - or within the ranks as the case may be - at MudIver. It's always a wonderful thing to see the airlock bubbling away.

"I finally bottled the batch I made last August and reused the yeast at the bottom of the carboy once again. (And if you're wondering, Dave, the blackberry brown ale is just wonderful.)

"The beer receipe comes directly from the Confederate Receipts Book: a compliation of over one hundred receipts, adapted to the times. Here's the receipt from which I worked:

Quote:
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GINGER BEER. One pint of molasses and two spoonfuls of ginger put into a pail, to be half filled with boiling water; when well stirred together, fill the pail with cold water, leaving room for one pint of yeast, which must not be put in until lukewarm. Place it on a warm hearth for the night, and bottle in the morning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The smell emitting from this batch reminds me of liquid gingerbread men. From reading other receipts in the book, the rule is one pint of molasses per gallon of beer. Well, I used a gallon of molasses for five gallons of beer. That's enough molasses for eight gallons of beer. I diced a mass of ginger and dropped it into the brew. My hope is that there will be a wild fermentation with all that extra sugar. The more wild the fermentation, the more alcohol in the batch.

"For the uninitiated, the bacteria in the yeast consumes the sugar and oxygen to produce the by products of carbon dioxide and alcohol. The bacterial continues to party hardy until it consumes all the available sugar or it creates too much waste product and dies in it's own excrement. One of my biology professors described alcohol as 'yeast pee.' I've always liked that analogy.

"This period beer is either going to be really great or really scary. Either way, King Headache will reign supreme Sunday morning. (This is a Saturday night thing because once we open the carboy, we must consume the goods. It may acquire unwanted bacteria otherwise. Besides, the thing is too darned heavy to carry to the Friday outpost.)"

Silas Busch

[K Bartsch]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Alrighty then herr brewmeisters. Methinks its time for an "immersion" event. Think of the possibilities. Federal camp of instruction. This September or Oktober, crisp fall days, somewhere kind of centrally located like around Cincinnati in a quaint rural setting between there and Dayton. Or maybe around Indianapolis. Enlistment ceremony, then lots of the fruits of your production. Planks on barrels for ersatz tables, under leafy arbors. Crockery steins. All manner of sausages. Much singing and linking of arms. Federal uniforms, speeches by puffed up politicians. A brass band. Sleep. Reveille and drill the next morning, then more beer. repeat.

Wunderbar! :tounge_sm

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Mark

There is no way to top the beer I had in Chattanooga! :confused_

[dpalyka]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

All manner of sausages.

Could you please clarify this, I'm frightened... :tounge_sm

[dpalyka]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

For those of you subscibed, I updated the original post to include the recipie.

[K Bartsch]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Could you please clarify this, I'm frightened... :tounge_sm

Damon,
Beer, sausages, and singing...its a Bavarian thing. :wink_smil

cheers,

[dpalyka]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Damon,
Beer, sausages, and singing...its a Bavarian thing. :wink_smil

cheers,

Thats what I was hoping you would say... I was worried the brass band was going to be playing YMCA... :)

[10TnVI]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Damon- for mundane use I have several "Cornelius Kegs"- these are stainless steel 5 gallon kegs. If your old enough you'll remember them as the "soda cans" once used in concession stands. To work best you also need a CO2 tank and a dispensing hose with "snakehead". Great way to store beer and easier to transport when dispensing large amounts. Don't generally bring them to CW functions since I can't carry the whole mess in my knapsack:-) and most events have a restriction on alcohol use. For home use, several people I know have scrounged up old dorm refrigerators, installed taps in the top and keep cold draft beer around all the time. For wooden kegs you might check your local homebrew store or group, they might have a source. One of the local brewpubs in my area puts up a limited amount of their beer in smallish wooden kegs so they must be out there somewhere.



QUOTE=dpalyka]So how do you do that?
Instead of bottling at the last stage you keg it up?
Are they difficult to seal/serve from?[/QUOTE]

[Campjacksonboy]

Re: Beer (homebrewing period recipies)

Thanks for passing on the link for the cooper.

Well a week has come and gone and I was unable to post this - its been that busy. To echo what someone said earlier Ales, Stouts, Porters, Lagers they're all good. I am posting two recipies to make up for my tardy post- Neither of which are beer. The Mead recipie was the first batch I ever tried and I ended up with a 14% alcohol concoction and there's a long funny story about what happened to me the day I bottled it (but I digress).

I'm probably doing more explaining than what any of you want or need but I'm assuming somebody out there has never tried it and if a few more people do - well that's more free beer for all of us.

Actually neither of these are beer but Mead is the oldest known alcoholic beverage one recipie calls for only 5 lbs of honey and adding 5 oz of hops for an "Ale mead." I've never actually tried that. The other one-Cherry bounce is an 1850's recipie passed on to me by a reputable living historian.

To make 5 gallons you will need a large pot that holds at least 3 1/2 gallons. I bought a cheap 3.5 gal pot at the local Walmart.
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
15 lbs honey
1 tbst gypsum
4 tsp acid blend (optional)
1/2 oz yeast extract (optional)
1/4 tsp. Irish moss powder
14 gr or 1/2 oz dried champagne yeast (Id be curuous to see how it would work with Ale yeast)

I'm not sure if the acid blend, gypsum, or yeast extract are period but they help control the ph level or help insure that the yeast stays active and that you don't have a stuck fermentation. Yeast produces carbon Dioxie and alcohol as it eats sugar. The alcohol subequently kills off the yeast and in the case of mead seems to kill all the yeast when the alcohol level reaches roughly 15%. Sometimes the yeast will stall before it reaches the required 12-15% and the stuff listed above prevents that from happening.

Another key is to clean everything that comes into contact with the mead I use B-brite it kills bacteria as it air dries. I even boil the water I clean with. The key is to focus on cleaning because nothing can go wrong if your stuff is clean but skip that step and you might get vinegar or something worse - Something I didn't want to happen since the honey alone cost me nearly $35 this past fall.

Mead makers often will debate whether or not honey should be boiled before it is fermented. Boiling drives off some of the delicate floral character of the honey. However others argue that it kills micro-organisms that might spoil your batch. either follow directions below or add honey to the hot water after it is boiled. All the water you add should be boiled.

Add the honey (see comment above), gypsum, acid blend and Irish moss to 1 1/2 gallons of water and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Skim foam off the surface. Be careful honey worts will boil over. Transfer hot mead "wort" to a closed fermenter system and add cold water (that has also been boiled) so that it fills the remainder of the carboy. Seal the carboy brielfly and shake the contents to areate the "wort." Glass carboys are ideal for mead fermentation. Rehydrate the yeast and pitch(add yeast) when temperature is below 80 degrees. Ferment to completion then carefully rack (bottle). Fermentation of mead will take at least two months. You can drink it once it clears.
Store in a sealed bottle fully matures in a year.

I have found that people either seem to love it or hate it. Interestingly my modern 21st century friends are polite say its good but don't actually drink it and my pards can't seem to get enough.

One last thing - make sure when the mead is fermenting that you have an air lock - something that allows the gases to excape but does not let air in. If you simply seal the container it will blow up, you have a huge mess and the wife gets pissed.

Just an FYI I got this book called: The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by, Charlie Papazian and have found it very useful - it came with the brew kit and incidentially its where the Mead recipie comes from. I also came across Making Mead by, Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan.

Also another fine 1850's recipie: Make this stuff in June when cherries are in season and serve at Christmas.
Cherry Bounce:
Fill a jar full of cherries (whole with seed minus stem)
add 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
Fill the rest of jar with cheap whiskey (The Cheapest you can find-Here in St. Louis we have E L Schnuck)
let sit from June to Christmas-Good stuff
add water if bounce is too strong
eat cherries for added effect.

As for the beer has anyone tried brown sugar just before bottleing for carbonization?
Frank Aufmuth

[Masked Battery]

"Original" yeast available?

This might have been mentioned in one of the above links, but...

I remember reading that some bottled beer had been recovered from a sunken (1850's English ?) ship, and that the yeast (being anaerobic) was still "alive." A friend of mine who's a home-brewer told me that this same yeast strain is now commercially available. Now, wouldn't this yeast be oh so suitable for "repro" beer?

If you make it, I'll drink it.

Neal