blast from the pa(b)st

it don't matter what brew i contemplate brewing, my dad has a hankerin' for the ole fashion pabst blue ribbon extract, 3lb. sugar, yeast cake recipe. wtf?
he said he could make it for $3 in the '70s. is that extract still available? i'd love to please the old dude.

I don't think they've made that for 30 years. I remember seeing some old cans of it on ebay some time ago. You probably wouldn't want to brew with it though....

It sounds like a no-boil kit in a can would work just fine for him.

Go PBR!!! My grandpa used to drink that too. I wonder if it was because it was cheap? I can't recall the taste, but I think my other grandpa gave me a drink of that stuff when I was 4 yo.

What he's talking about is nicknamed "Pre-Prohibition Pilsner" It was what homebrewers did from prohibition until 1978 when homebrewing was legalized...pretty fascination...

Here's the recipe and a little information on it... http://hbd.org/brewery/cm3/recs/13_04.html

But this is what was used;


If you really wanted you could attempt it with any prehopped canned malt extract...though from what I hear it was pretty terrible stuff compared to todays homebrew...

If you want to hear about actual homebrewers who used it in the 70's (including charlie Papazian) listen to this Basicbrewing podcast from a couple weeks back.

Just click to start listenning.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr02-14-08history.mp3


There's actually a thread about cloning PBR https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44487

Ah, so it looks like it wasn't "Pabst", but a "Blue Ribbon" malt extract. Never heard of that stuff. The story on your first link is pretty interesting read. no return address.... LOL!

Homercidal said:

Ah, so it looks like it wasn't "Pabst", but a "Blue Ribbon" malt extract. Never heard of that stuff. The story on your first link is pretty interesting read. no return address.... LOL!

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I always thought Blue Ribbon Malt was produced by pabst... A lot of the breweries made malt syrup for food to keep in business during prohibition...

Pabst Blue Ribbon History on Wiki said:

Growth continued up to Prohibition when all alcohol production stopped. Fred Jr. and Gustav successfully guided the company through the discouraging years of prohibition by switching to malt syrup, tonic, cheese and near beer.

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But yeah...Porn and beer recipes coming in brown paper wrappers...

Revvy said:

What he's talking about is nicknamed "Pre-Prohibition Pilsner" It was what homebrewers did from prohibition until 1978 when homebrewing was legalized...pretty fascinating...

Click to expand...

Very neat. Thanks for that, Revvy.

Beerthoven said:

Very neat. Thanks for that, Revvy.

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I swear I had posted some more info on here about that stuff that I dug up around Christmas...Couldn't find it on search.....ANd couldn't find the websites I had dug up on google either...I thought someone had actually scanned or photographed one of those old mimeograph pamphlets with all 4 of the beer recipes on it....

PBR is good beer, for what it is. I challenge anyone to do a blind taste test with PBR and canned, yes canned Heinekin. While similar in taste the PBR will win every time.
Bottom line, you can get PBR for 12 bucks a 30 pak. Try finding your euro swill for that price.
I would love to make a light lager like Pabst, but its just darn cheaper to buy it already made and bottled.
AP

Blue Ribbon is now Premier Malt Extract. You can get it from E C Kraus in Missouri. www.eckraus.com Comes in a 2.2 lb can. I plan on getting some in about a week to use as part of my great grandads Prohibition recipe

fatboy570 said:

Blue Ribbon is now Premier Malt Extract. You can get it from E C Kraus in Missouri. www.eckraus.com Comes in a 2.2 lb can. I plan on getting some in about a week to use as part of my great grandads Prohibition recipe

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Oh that's cool!!!! Keep me posted on your progress....

The hardest thing will be using a yeast similiar to the basic yeasts that were available at that time...I'm assuming the yeast that comes with the PME is close to what they used in the 70's. It may be worth looking through some of Google's links on Pre and Prohibition pilsner infos to see if anyone suggests a different yeast, one that closely resembles what was used back then...also I'm sure some of the old codgers used plain ole bread yeast as well....as Gramps what he used to use...

Just remember it won't be as good as "modern" home brew...