I was kicking around what my next batch of homebrew would be and thought about doing something with a bit of history. I caught the history channels documentary on beer making in the U.S. and saw that George Washington had a recipe for a porter. It's posted below.
"To Make Small Beer
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. -- Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yeat if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask -- leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."
Pretty hard to follow right, or make into a manageable 5 gallon batch of beer. It seems that we've changed our techniques quite drastically since the days of GW.
Does anyone know of a good historical recipe? I have a book that has Dogfish Head's Midas touch which is based off a recreation of beer found in Kind Midas' tomb, but was looking for something more American or English. Any of the founding fathers recipe would be awesome, but anything to add to my files would be greatly appreciated. I bet there's some neat stuff out there or hope there is. It would be great to re create beer the Indians drank, British soldiers drinking one of the first IPA's, ect.
"To Make Small Beer
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. -- Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea
Pretty hard to follow right, or make into a manageable 5 gallon batch of beer. It seems that we've changed our techniques quite drastically since the days of GW.
Does anyone know of a good historical recipe? I have a book that has Dogfish Head's Midas touch which is based off a recreation of beer found in Kind Midas' tomb, but was looking for something more American or English. Any of the founding fathers recipe would be awesome, but anything to add to my files would be greatly appreciated. I bet there's some neat stuff out there or hope there is. It would be great to re create beer the Indians drank, British soldiers drinking one of the first IPA's, ect.
