Thomas Jefferson Ale

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kdsarch

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I found a recipe for an ale that was brewed by Thomas Jefferson.

8 lbs pale malt
4 lbs wheat
1 lb molasses

1 1/2 oz east kent goldings 60 min
1/2 oz east kent goldings 10 minutes
american ale yeast

Anyone ever brew something like this? Any comments as to what this might taste like? I might give this one a go, but am surprised to see so much wheat, and the molasses.

Interested in anyone's thoughts.
 
I've seen recipes like this floating around too. I saw one from (apparently) George Washington that included mostly molasses and was a little more ... rustic (?) than the one you have. I'm curious if anyone's tried these and had them come out decent.
 
Mollasses was considered a brewing adjunct in colonial times, evidently...It is an ingredient in poor richard's ale as well, which is based on tidbits found in Franklins diaries and poor richard's almanac. It's not a true historical recipe, but an EXTRAPOLATION of what a colonial recipe would be...I have a feeling it is the same thing with the Jefferson Recipe...not a true recipe from his home brewery, but an extrapolation based on his notes and entries...but I could be wrong.

I figured there would be a recipe here, Beer - Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

That's why I wonder if it's a true recipe, or and idea of one...it's still cool either way. I love historical brewing stuff.


I just brewed up a batch of Poor Richard's ale...Can't tell you anything about it, I only bottled it a week ago...and I'm not a beer pedaphile.
 
I saw the recipe in one of my beer books which are home now. I am at work. I don't recall the name of it, but will post later. There was also a recipe based on an ale that was server at harvard in 1694. Both recipes seem intriguing.
 
Tag post.

I'd like those sources, too, please! :D

Washington's molasses 'porter' dates from his time being whupped by the French (1750s) near Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Here is the receipt:

To Make Small Beer

Take a large Siffer full of Bran Hops to your Taste. Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall into a cooler put in 3 Gall Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & Stain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yest if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank't & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask -- leave the bung open till it is almost don Working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."

I have brewed this. It is, without exaggeration, perfectly foul. Even after aging for six months, it was utterly revolting. I made the mistake of brewing five gallons of it (not the original receipt, but redacted for five gallons); I had to dump all but the sample bottles.

I don't think the recipe the OP posted is at all correct, either; it's a modern idea of what a Colonial beer might have been.

In the first place, it's written like a modern homebrew recipe, with modern ingredients.

In the second place, Jefferson didn't share his receipt or procedure in writing. In fact, the link Revvy posted says:

"I have no reciept [sic] for brewing," Jefferson replied, "and I much doubt the operations of malting and brewing could be successfully performed from a reciept. If it could, Combrune's book on the subject would teach the best processes: and perhaps might guide to ultimate success with the sacrifice of 2. or 3. trials. . . . We are now finishing our spring brewing. If you have a capable servt. and he were to attend our fall brewing, so as to get an idea of the manual operation, Combrune's book with a little of your own attention in the beginning might qualify him."

I have copies of Combrune in PDF (30MB) and Text (<0.5MB) should anyone want them. The PDF is sufficient to print a facsimile of the original; the TXT file has some OCR errors in it.

Whee! Historical brewing! :D

Bob
 
I believe the recipe is from The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide by Patrick Higgins, Maura Kate Kilgor, and Paul Hertlein.

There is a lot of cool recipes and tips in the book along with one supposedly one used by Geo Washington.

I can't remember if I've actually used any recipes yet but I have several bookmarked. You know how it is; too many recipes too little time. :D
 
Correct. It is from the Homebrewers Recipe Guide.

Here is the exact recipe:

6 lbs Pale 2 row
4 lbs Malted Wheat
1 lb Molasses
1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings (60 min)
1 oz Kent Goldings (10 min)
American Ale Yeast

Beersmith comes up with:
Original Gravity 1.057
Final Gravity 1.014
IBU's 29.3
Color 10.9

So, to me, it sounds interesting. Perhaps a brew to enjoy on the 4th of July. Just want to make sure that the molasses flavor comes through too much.
 
You will for sure taste the molasses in that recipe, a pound of that stuff would add a lot of color and flavor to the beer. I would go with about half that if you are not looking for a strong flavor off of it.
 
Here is Radical Brewing's interpretation: (Plz feel free to delete if this is a copyright issue)

Plug Nickel - Thomas Jefferson's Pale Ale
Yield: 5 gallons
Gravity: 1.069 (16.5 P)
Alcohol/vol: 5.2-6.2%
Color: Pale amber
Bitterness: 44 IBU
Yeast: English ale
Maturation: 6-8 weeks

9 lb pale ale malt
2 lb Indian corn, ground to grits and precooked
1 lb biscuit/amber malt

Infusion mash at 154 for 60 min

2.0 oz US Fuggle 60 min
1.5 oz US Fuggle 10 min
 
A pound of molasses in 5 gallons will definitely have an impact on the beer - a significant impact. My redaction of an 1812 porter recipe called for ~2 lbs molasses in 15 gallons, and it was very significant. I find it pleasant, with buttery notes, a certain residual sweetness, and dark fruit flavors from carmelization.

I find it interesting how all these people can have Thomas Jefferson's ale. You'll notice that all of them are different. Combined with the certain knowledge that Jefferson never had a recipe, it boggles the mind. :rolleyes:

The Indian corn recipe sounds exactly like one of Mosher's stunts. It has no basis in history, certainly, but it sounds like an interesting experiment.

Cheers,

Bob
 
Alright Bob....so you made 5 gallons of the Mollases Ale...when are you in your search for brewing historical accuracy, going to attempt this...:D


COCK ALE (circa the 1500's) A real recipe from some obscure text found in the Scottish Highlands... Enjoy....
Procedure:
"Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun - stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel.

In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale."
Alternate recipe:
Brutal, eh? I was also given a modern recipe written by some guy named C.J.J. Berry.... Here goes this one...

"Take a few pieces of _cooked_ chicken and a few chicken bones (approx one tenth of the edible portion of the bird) well crushed or minced.

Also take half of pound of raisins, a very little mace, and one or maybe two cloves. Add all these ingrediants to half a bottle of string country white wine. Soak for 24 hrs. Then make on gallon of beer as follows:

1 lb Malt extract
1 Oz Hops
1/2 lb demerarra sugar
1 gallon water
Yeast and nutrient

Add the whole of the chicken mixture to the beer at the end of the second day. Fermentation will last six or seven days longer than usual and the ale should be matured at least one month in the bottle. This cock ale is of the barley wine type.
Click to expand...
 
Revvy said:
Mollasses was considered a brewing adjunct in colonial times, evidently...
Click to expand...

Dunno about early colonials times (perhaps still imported from Europe at that time) but during the 18th c. molasses was a close-at-hand byproduct of the sugarcane plantation African slavetrade.
 
fratermus said:
Dunno about early colonials times (perhaps still imported from Europe at that time) but during the 18th c. molasses was a close-at-hand byproduct of the sugarcane plantation African slavetrade.
Click to expand...

That's why it was avaliable to the colonials, along with RUM...IIRC it was produced and brought from the carribean
 
NQ3X said:
I find it interesting how all these people can have Thomas Jefferson's ale. You'll notice that all of them are different. Combined with the certain knowledge that Jefferson never had a recipe, it boggles the mind. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If one wants to get into TJs brewing, it would be useful to read what he was reading on the topic. It appears to be the Palmer of his times:
Theory and Practice of Brewing (etext, pdf, etc) by Combrune.
 
Fratermus,

I have copies from that very source. :D

Revvy,

There is an interesting story about Fritz Maytag when he first bought Anchor. It involves employees boiling holiday turkeys in the wort, IIRC... :eek:

Cheers,

Bob
 
Both the Washington Porter and the Jefferson Ale are actually brewed by a local brewery called Yards right here in Philadelphia, and have just become available at my six pack store. There is also Poor Richard's Spruce Ale available.
 
MacGruber said:
Both the Washington Porter and the Jefferson Ale are actually brewed by a local brewery called Yards right here in Philadelphia, and have just become available at my six pack store. There is also Poor Richard's Spruce Ale available.
Click to expand...

I was around for the debut of both TJA and WP. Both are excellent beers! Plus, I am acquainted with and respect the owners and brewers of Yards. Neither of those beers, however, have any historical basis other than the names, a certain level of knowledge and some advertising claims.

Look - just because it has an historical name and/or the brewery says it's 'historic' doesn't mean it actually is. Historical brewing is a fairly specialized pursuit, first of all, and the result is often so far removed from what we expect in terms of sensory perception that it would be unwise to make an attempt at marketing the product. It really doesn't matter if the label says "Authentic Recipe" - people can tell you anything they like.

Cheers!

Bob
 
I brewed a batch figuring what you would need in Molasses and made a small batch of the very extra stout ale and it rocked my world!!!

1 Quart Black strap

5 lbs 6 row Briess

Single mash 6 row at 155 deg F for 60 minutes. Sparge off mash to 2.5 gallons of wert add 1 quart black strap bring to boil add hops I used cascades for bittering and wilimettes for finishing after about 1 hour slow boil topped up with fresh water to 3 gallons wert. Before pitching yeast the wert had a completed potential of 7.5 percent alc. I only make small batches of this very stout beer and let it set for two or three weeks after charging and bottling before drinking. This style of ale is not for the average beer drinker it is a very stout ass kicker.
 
Mr-Bert said:
I brewed a batch figuring what you would need in Molasses and made a small batch of the very extra stout ale and it rocked my world!!!

1 Quart Black strap

5 lbs 6 row Briess

Single mash 6 row at 155 deg F for 60 minutes. Sparge off mash to 2.5 gallons of wert add 1 quart black strap bring to boil add hops I used cascades for bittering and wilimettes for finishing after about 1 hour slow boil topped up with fresh water to 3 gallons wert. Before pitching yeast the wert had a completed potential of 7.5 percent alc. I only make small batches of this very stout beer and let it set for two or three weeks after charging and bottling before drinking. This style of ale is not for the average beer drinker it is a very stout ass kicker.
Click to expand...

How much of each hop did you use?
 
As the mighty George recipe states"Hops to taste" to get the taste that I like I use just 1 oz in the 2.5 gallon recipe and I brew like they would have then using just one type of hops lets say cascade use 1/2 oz at start of boil and the other 1/2 oz at the last 15 mins of the boil.
 
Remember to top the batch up to three gallons after you start cooling it using fresh water it helps cool the wert and it takes the edge of the brew as well. I use dry coopers ale yeast it ferments in about 24 to 48 hours i let it set for 4 or 5 days and rack it over to set another 4 or 5 for a total of ten then charge it and let it set for 2 weeks at room temp. after that I put it on the cool basement floor and drink it at the basement floor temp which George would have done no refrigerate then probebly and the beer tastes better warmer anyway
 
Oh and every time I drink a bottle I thank god for George Washington the first president commander and chief and this awesome country he liberated from tyranny
 
Has anyone gotten a reasonable adaptation of Combrune's work into modern ingredients? My small apartment sadly limits me to extract brewing. It seems that colonial/revolution-era brews were wheat-heavy and further malted/darkened/sweetened with the readily-available molasses - but what else do we know about the methods and ingredients of that time (other than fermenting a Scottish rooster from a couple hundred years before)? What hops would be appropriate? Are there any Wyeasts or White Labs yeast strains that have that long a lineage?

I've got the Higgins/Kilgore/Hertlein, and they don't seem to ever claim that these were authentic, just likely representatives of the beers of the day. Like Mosher, essentially just informed speculation.
 
Hello Again

The most common hop of the day was probably a cascade. The yeast? well that's anyone's guess. I think just plain old yeast was probably used the most as there were probably no sophisticated suppliers of yeast in those days. I could be wrong as I sometimes am but if I wanted to make beer then with what was available at the time it would be either yeast for leavening bread or the use of wild yeast from plants leaves such as grape vine leafs and such. The problem with using grapevine leafs would be getting the good yeasts to take over before any bad microbes could foul the brew. Than again not having any real good technical info from that time period makes a lot of what I am saying pure speculation.
 
Mr-Bert said:
Hello Again

The most common hop of the day was probably a cascade. The yeast? well that's anyone's guess. I think just plain old yeast was probably used the most as there were probably no sophisticated suppliers of yeast in those days. I could be wrong as I sometimes am but if I wanted to make beer then with what was available at the time it would be either yeast for leavening bread or the use of wild yeast from plants leaves such as grape vine leafs and such. The problem with using grapevine leafs would be getting the good yeasts to take over before any bad microbes could foul the brew. Than again not having any real good technical info from that time period makes a lot of what I am saying pure speculation.
Click to expand...

Ummmnnn....No. Cascades were developed in a cross breeding program in the 80's (or maybe it was the 70's, but I'm pretty sure it was at oregon state), regardless, they are a relatively modern variety. I think what you may be referring to are Cluster hops, which are the first hops cultivated in North America. Also, brewers yeast was a known commodity in colonial times and was in fact brought over from the "old world" for the specific purpose of beer. Picture if you will all those casks of beer brought over on the Mayflower with all of that residual yeast at the bottom of the casks. The pilgrims may not have understood modern germ theory, but they damn well knew that the dregs of those casks were what started their beer.

On a different note, I think a wheat and molasses ale sounds quite tasty right now, especially if you throw in some (modern) chocolate malt. Mmmmnnn porter....:D
 
rnrchemnerd said:
Ummmnnn....No. Cascades were developed in a cross breeding program in the 80's (or maybe it was the 70's, but I'm pretty sure it was at oregon state), regardless, they are a relatively modern variety. I think what you may be referring to are Cluster hops, which are the first hops cultivated in North America. Also, brewers yeast was a known commodity in colonial times and was in fact brought over from the "old world" for the specific purpose of beer. Picture if you will all those casks of beer brought over on the Mayflower with all of that residual yeast at the bottom of the casks. The pilgrims may not have understood modern germ theory, but they damn well knew that the dregs of those casks were what started their beer.

On a different note, I think a wheat and molasses ale sounds quite tasty right now, especially if you throw in some (modern) chocolate malt. Mmmmnnn porter....:D
Click to expand...


You see, like I said earlier I'm not always correct nor do I know everything about beer but it's good that someone here does. :)
 
Thanks for the tips, guys!....can't believe I didn't think of the yeast coming over with the Pilgrims (and, throughout, everyone else who needed to drink something during their voyages to the New World). So the question becomes one of who populated what parts of the colonies. English folks in New England and the plantation economies, with pockets of Germans and Dutch, I believe, in the mid-Atlantic colonies. So, adding it all up, we're probably looking at a combination of wheat grain/LME, molasses, Cluster hops, and some basic English ale yeast. That oughta take the edge out of New England's winter in the 21st century or the 18th.
 
theres a local brewpub here in CA that makes a thomas jefferson ale for 4th of july every year. heres his description of it.

The English brewer I trained under found a book on Monticello w purchase orders listing ingredients needed for brewing on site. It included barley AND wheat (it's got around 33% wheat malt). He essentially speculated what a colonial beer would have been like based on the purchase orders. He knew Jefferson had an English brewer (obviously single step infusion mash) and beers were often darker and stronger.

We use East Kent Golding bc it's the only British hop still in use today that may have been used back then. More than likely they were using hops from NY.

Base malt is Maris Otter. Also has crystal 60, wheat, and a bit of carafa 3
 
ok has ANYONE done the "chicken beer"? that sounds crazy but you never know might be good. kudos to the first homebrewer to attempt it :rockin:
 
i thought i read someone where that the Small Beer recipe yeilds a low alcohol beer that was probably drank daily.
 
kdsarch said:
I found a recipe for an ale that was brewed by Thomas Jefferson.

8 lbs pale malt
4 lbs wheat
1 lb molasses

1 1/2 oz east kent goldings 60 min
1/2 oz east kent goldings 10 minutes
american ale yeast

Anyone ever brew something like this? Any comments as to what this might taste like? I might give this one a go, but am surprised to see so much wheat, and the molasses.

Interested in anyone's thoughts.
Click to expand...

just brewed it.
 
I kind of forgot about this thread. For you guts that brewed it, how did it turn out?
 

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