Beer History Sites - Page 3

**Revvy** · 04-01-2011, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northcalais40

Revvy, do you ever find older articles to be intentionally obfuscated? I have found this with woodworking descriptions from pre 1900, as I understand, due to the guild system and the desire to keep trade secrets secret. A lot of times it is pretty humorous. I've actually seen an article about an old french woodworking text with woodcut prints depicting totally fake techniques and tools.

I haven't had a chance to read any of your links yet, but I'm curious.

I haven't come across anything like that in terms of brewing, but I haven't read everything...I know what you're talking about. I don't know enough about the guild system in terms of brewing, and it seems like a lot of early brewing was done first by housewives, or the women in society so I don't think they were much for that.

I know some of the stuff is lacking in details...but I think that's just because people were less sophisticated in some ways. I have a couple of old mead making links on my home computer, that I have to add to this list when I get back to my computer where the instructions are something like "Boil the honey for the length of time it takes to walk a farmer's field and back." Of course in the 15th century there weren't really wrist watches. So it might be more that than obvious protecting of guild secrets.

Now you got me curious though. I bet it was right under my nose and I never noticed it before.

**Revvy** · 04-06-2011, 06:50 PM

The latest Basic Brewing podcast is about Colonial Brewing.

Quote:

April 7, 2011 - Colonial Brewing
Frank Clark of Colonial Williamsburg joins us to talk about the state of beer and brewing in Colonial United States.
Click to listen Mp-3

Video of Brewing at Colonial Williamsburg.

The Original text of George Washington's "To Brew a small beer."

NY public Library's text of the above.

**JLW** · 04-06-2011, 10:18 PM

Revvy, My porter recipe based on George Washington's porter recipe turned out great! Deep dark brown almost as dark as a stout with a nice thick brown head. Taste is fantastic. I may have to put this in my regular rotation of beers to brew.

**Revvy** · 04-07-2011, 12:18 AM

Prohibition Brewing information and recipes.

I posted this several years ago.....Stuff I found on the web.

Quote:

Around 1975 or '76, the first time I got interested in brewing, I bought a can of the mysterious Blue Ribbon malt syrup. The label invited me to write to Premier malt products for a recipe book, and I did. A few weeks later it arrived: a well-produced, four-color print job with recipes for using malt syrup in cakes, cookies, biscuits and the like, but not a word about making beer. A few weeks later a plain brown envelope with no return address appeared in the mail. Inside were two mimeographed sheets of beer recipes---including this recipe.
Ingredients:
1-3/4 pounds, sugar
1 can, Blue Ribbon hop-flavored malt syrup
yeast
Procedure:
Dissolve sugar and malt syrup in 6 quarts of hot water. Stir until dissolved. Pour 14 quarts of cold water into a crock that has been scoured with Arm & Hammer baking soda and rinsed with clear water. Add hot solution of malt, sugar, and water. The temperature should be about 65F. Dissolve a cake of compressed or dehydrated yeast in a small quantity of luke warm water (about 8 ounces of 75F water) and add to crock. Stir thoroughly. Cover crock with clean cloth and allow to ferment 4 or 5 days. Skim off foam after first and second days. Siphon beer into 12 ounce bottles. Before siphoning, place a scant 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into each bottle. Cap and allow to remain at 60-70F for 7-10 days. Cool and consume.
Things to remember: Cleanliness of utensils, including bottles, siphon hose, crowns and crock is essential for good results. Wash everything in soda solution or detergentbefore and after each batch. A 7 or 9 gallon crock can be used to prevent messy foam-over.

Many consumer failures can be averted by using a starter consisting of: 1 package of yeast, 2 ounces of sugar, 1 pint of 72F water. Let starter stand for 3-4 hours before mixing into crock with malt solution.

The story of that can be found in this episode of Basic Brewing Radio for 2008.

Quote:

February 14, 2008 - Homebrew History
Charlie Papazian shares a bit of homebrew history 30 years after legislation legalizing home brewing passed Congress. Also, home brewer Robb Holmes talks about brewing when it was breaking the law.

Click to listen- mp3

Here's some more of the recipes from those days...

Here's some of the "Prohibition Pilsner" recipes that were discretely mailed to people who wrote to the blue ribbon malt extract company....They came in plain brown envelopes with no return address and were simple mimeographs.

Blue Ribbon 1

Blue Ribbon 2

My Daddy's Beer Recipe

Al Capone's Recipe (AG)

Al Capone's Prohibition Beer

Another one
Prohibition Chicago Style

Quote:

Back at the beginning of Prohibition in the early '20s, the Pabst Brewing Company gave up; stopped brewing beer and sold its breweries. The buyer was a guy named Pearlstein who started a business called Premier Malt Products and used the breweries to make Blue Ribbon malt syrup, "for cooking." You could get the syrup with, or without, hops flavoring.

And by God, the cookbook suggests that plenty of dishes that would be oh so much better with a little malt syrup in them: breads and donuts and muffins, of course. And malt loaf, malted chocolate pudding, malted pecan pie, spaghetti and meatballs (with malt), macaroni and cheese (ditto), and even cheese omelets with malt.

All well and good. But what they forgot to mention in the cookbook was that you could use Blue Ribbon malt syrup to make, uh, beer. At home. During Prohibition.

And it was a huge seller. "Ah, yah, I'll take a three-pound can of that fine malt syrup. With the hops flavoring. My wife she sure does make them fine malt, uh, PANCAKES, yah!"

When Prohibition ended, Pabst bought back the breweries and resumed making Pabst Blue Ribbon and other frothy alcoholic favorites. But they kept making Blue Ribbon Malt Syrup, too, because some people kept making their own beer, and other people actually did bake with the stuff.

Pabst unloaded Premier Malt Products in the '80s to private investors, and it soldiers on as a supplier of malt sweeteners and malt products to food processors and bakers. And, yes, the (ahem) "malt beverage industry." Just so you know.

White Bread.
3 quarts sifted flour
1 quart lukewarm water
2 cakes compressed yeast
½ tablespoon sugar
1 ½ tablespoons Blue Ribbon Malt Extract (hop flavored or plain)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons lard or melted butter.
Dissolve yeast, sugar, and Blue Ribbon Malt Extract in lukewarm water. Add lard or butter and half the flour, beat until smooth. Add salt and balance of the flour, or enough to make dough that can be handled, knead well. Place in greased bowl, cover and set aside in a moderately warm place until light, about one and a half hours. Mould into loaves. Place in well-greased bread pans, filling them half full. Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Bake forty-five minutes to one hour at 400o F. If a richer loaf is desired, use milk in place of all or part of the water.

Soft Gingerbread

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspooon cloves
1 tsp each ginger and cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Blue Ribbon Malt Extract (malt flavored or plain)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup boiling water
2 tsps soda
2 beaten eggs

Sift the dry ingredients together. Mix the molasses, shortening, Blue Ribbon Malt Extract, and water thoroughly with the boiling water. Add the beaten eggs. Add to the other ingredients, mix well. Bake in moderate oven at 325 degrees F until done -- about 45 minutes.

**unionrdr** · 04-07-2011, 03:13 PM

Interesting stuff,I like the Al Capone one. Sounds pretty good for early bmc-ish.

**Malticulous** · 05-08-2011, 07:03 PM

I don't see this book listed The private brewer's guide to the art of brewing ale and porter, John Tuck, 1822

This is the oldest homebrewing book I've read. It was published five years after the introduction of black patent, of which he was not a fan.

Today's malts are so much different that I think it is impossible to reproduce historic examples without malting your own.

Quote:

I have already observed, that the real flavour of porter, as originally drank, is completely lost; and this by pale malts being introduced.

**Revvy** · 05-08-2011, 08:25 PM

I saw you had posted the link in the porter thread. I was going to post it here when I got back online. Thanks.

**Malticulous** · 05-08-2011, 09:31 PM

That was a different link to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRI24/ref=docs-os-doi_0, the book Bob credited in the his OP. I like this book here more (but then I've only skimmed over the other one.)

**Malticulous** · 05-08-2011, 10:20 PM

No other work changed brewing more than this; Studies on fermentation, Louis Pasteur, 1879. He changed the world.

**Revvy** · 05-10-2011, 10:31 PM

I didn't even know they made any, but here's a History of Swedish Beer.

From the same site, a thread on 19th century lagers.