Oat ale and a couple of sources

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santosvega

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Hey guys,

I don't know how many of you are as fascinated as I am by historical brewing manuals, but while searching for information about a lost style known as Yorkshire Oat Ale, I've just stumbled upon a couple that I wasn't previously aware of which are readable in their entirety via Google Books, so I thought I'd share them.

The complete practical brewer; or ... - Google Books

The town and country brewery book ... - Google Books

Definitely some interesting reading in there for those so inclined. Yorkshire oat ale, which as I said led me to these, is a really interesting recipe, particularly as the malted oats don't seem to have been mashed per se, but rather left to stand in cold soft water for twelve hours. There's a related recipe from the era for Edinburgh Oat Ale, wherein the oat malt was mashed conventionally. Both versions were lightly hopped, and the Edinburgh version seems to have had a very high original gravity. Anyone have any guesses as to how an all-oat malt ale would taste? I'm damn curious and I may try it out in the near future.

Special bonus off-the-wall historical recipe:

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The American Practical Brewer and Tanner, by Joseph Coppinger

I posted this link in another thread but I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it contains a recipe supposedly of Swiss origin that includes rice, mustard, and a good amount of lean beef. It'll take a brewer more adventurous than I to try out that one, but if anyone's crazy enough I'd love to hear about it.
 
Hi,

Seen this a little late, but I've signed up on the strength of it.

I've been reading some of those things myself, thanks to the copyright/public domain law, and Google being very busy photocopying them on my behalf.

I'm planning on brewing an oat ale over the summer, so I'll let you know how I get on. The one thing I'nm struggling with though is:

How much does a bushel of oat malt weigh?
 
How much does a bushel of oat malt weigh?[/QUOTE said:
try here: http://brewery.org/library/PeriodRen.html

"Finally, a brewing reference with some hard data! A quarter is defined as a unit of weight equal to 2 stones, or 28 pounds. It is also defined as a unit of dry volume equal to 64 gallons. Since 1 gallon of grain weighs about 4 pounds, we have a quarter being equivalent to 256 pounds of grain. "

A quarter is equal to 8 bushels, about 32 pounds based on the above reference.

There are differences between "gallon" volumes based on period you are talking about.

The reference links to a discussion on the oat ale from the "doomsday book" of 1054 ad or so.

t
 
Hmm, never as easy as it seems! I think I'll order loads of Oat Malt, and then measure it into my fermenting vessel, then I'll at least know the volume...

Thanks for the doomsday book link.
 
Just tried my Yorkshire Oat Ale attempt. Two pieces of advice: treat it like wine and sulphate the life out of it, and don't worry about filtering it so much, as it all drops out as sediment. Rack this like wine.

Also, don't be surprised if the 18th century meaning of 'balsamic' is the same as now. It's tart!
 
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