Historical Beers George Washington's Small Beer

[Kirkwooder]

I've had a couple of clear bottles of this in my fridge for a while now, they are still very cloudy. Well, more like mud! lol There seems to be lots of sediment as well (1/2"), but I did prime mine and carb them.

 

[Robotcrab]

Hi not sure where my last post went, but I have just tried this out, and interested to hear if anyone has had any really good success with it? I like your four fathers live in a remote area so malt isn't always affordable or accessible so that's what drew me to this recipe. My first batch is bubbling away but going to make another today with a few tweaks, planning on cold crashing the first with gelatine, to clear it a bit and the only other changes I made to original was some torrifies wheat to help with head and wheat flavor and I dry hopped the primary with some northern brewer, using a lighter golden syrup on next batch and targeting 1050ish rather than the 1038 I got on the last.

Any ideas?

 

[Kirkwooder]

Mine turned out surprisingly good. It's not a beer that I would care to drink very often but was not something that turned out offensive either. It ended up fairly cidery, as one could suspect, with the vast majority of fermentables coming from the molasses, but not in a bad way. It is interesting to say the least, but I don't think there is anything that you could do to make this drop clear. It truly is like a light colored mud to look at. lol

I think if I was to do it again I would ad a little malt and shoot for a higher volume of Co2 in my carbonation attempt. I added just enough fermentables to put a little pressure in the bottle.

I at first thought that I had over hopped this, but it really benefits from the hops.

 

[Zoidberg]

Planning on brewing this in the next few days.

Bought enough for 2 gallon batches and am going to sweeten 1 gallon with 11oz of Lyle golden syrup and 1 gallon with orange 16oz blossom honey to see the difference.

Honestly I've never done 1 gallon batches but am using 1 gallon growlers wih airlocks. Should o expect to use blow off tubes if its a full Gallon? Or should I just do closer to .8 gallon batches?

 

[GeneticBrew]

So a "large Sifter full of Bran" was about a bushel of grain. If the sifter was about 1 bushel in volume, this reference puts bran at about 20 lbs/bushel. That would suggest 0.5 lbs of bran per U.S. gallon (my first attempt at this brew used 2 lbs/gal. based on a questionable earlier assumption).

A 1 bushel sifter (sieve) would be very large and unwieldy especially with heavy grains like wheat (60lbs per bushel) and corn (56lbs per bushel).

My guess is that the sifters were more likely around a quarter bushel and perhaps a half bushel was large.

The referenced document says that bran weighs 19lbs per bushel.

19lbs per bushel / 2 = 9.5lbs per half bushel

9.5lbs / 30 gallons = 0.32 lbs per gallon

Ignoring U.S. / Imperial gallons, of course.

My guess is on the order of a quarter (.25) to a third (.33) of a pound of bran per gallon.

Considering the bran gives body to the beer and doesn't contribute much in the way of fermentables, it may have been a "to taste" measurement.

Was the OP able to measure a "large sifter" of the era to verify the 1 bushel assumption?

 

[stonecutter2]

Planning on brewing this in the next few days.

Bought enough for 2 gallon batches and am going to sweeten 1 gallon with 11oz of Lyle golden syrup and 1 gallon with orange 16oz blossom honey to see the difference.

Honestly I've never done 1 gallon batches but am using 1 gallon growlers wih airlocks. Should o expect to use blow off tubes if its a full Gallon? Or should I just do closer to .8 gallon batches?

You should probably use blow off tubes. I don't think you'll have much headspace for the krausen.

 

[stonecutter2]

A 1 bushel sifter (sieve) would be very large and unwieldy especially with heavy grains like wheat (60lbs per bushel) and corn (56lbs per bushel).

My guess is that the sifters were more likely around a quarter bushel and perhaps a half bushel was large.

The referenced document says that bran weighs 19lbs per bushel.

19lbs per bushel / 2 = 9.5lbs per half bushel

9.5lbs / 30 gallons = 0.32 lbs per gallon

Ignoring U.S. / Imperial gallons, of course.

My guess is on the order of a quarter (.25) to a third (.33) of a pound of bran per gallon.

Considering the bran gives body to the beer and doesn't contribute much in the way of fermentables, it may have been a "to taste" measurement.

Was the OP able to measure a "large sifter" of the era to verify the 1 bushel assumption?

I don't think TC was able to measure a large sifter from that era. They'd probably be hard to find, and expensive as well. Your guesstimations are right in the ballpark of what seems to work well.

I've used 1/2lb of bran in each of my attempts. It does leave a good amount of trub, though, and a somewhat thick body. I'm considering going with 1/4lb next time around, just to see how it affects body and flavor. I also want to change up the hops to a different variety (I've used Liberty) and truly take advantage of "hops to your taste," haha.

 

[stonecutter2]

Hi not sure where my last post went, but I have just tried this out, and interested to hear if anyone has had any really good success with it? I like your four fathers live in a remote area so malt isn't always affordable or accessible so that's what drew me to this recipe. My first batch is bubbling away but going to make another today with a few tweaks, planning on cold crashing the first with gelatine, to clear it a bit and the only other changes I made to original was some torrifies wheat to help with head and wheat flavor and I dry hopped the primary with some northern brewer, using a lighter golden syrup on next batch and targeting 1050ish rather than the 1038 I got on the last.

Any ideas?

Sounds great, let us know the results once you start your tasting!

 

[Zoidberg]

I liked someones comment about a slow lead into a boil. This is how I read into the instructions. To boil that much would have taken a good amount of time. I decided to steep and boil to total 3 hours. It basically went 45-55 minutes of steep then boiling for last 2 hours. hardest for only last 60 minutes after first hop addition. Here are some clips from brew notes and descriptions on how I estimated out my version. I also think i figure out the potential OG of Wheat Bran, it's 1.012.

Batch Size: .8 Gallons
Target OG: 1.035
Target IBUs: 30.5

Fermentables:

.5oz of wheat bran (Brought up to boil slowly and boiled for 60 minutes
11oz by volume Lyles Golden Syrup (light molasses) Added only for last 5 minutes

Hops:

.16 oz cascade 60min
.25 oz cascade 5min

Yeast:
M44 yeast from .5L starter.

In the future I may add whirlfloc in an attempt to clear out this incredibly hazy and described as looking like a tan mud. Not this time though.

GW is ambiguous on brewing procedures but my assumption is the 3 hour boil included at least 90min of bring bran and his 30 gallons of water to boil producing a small mash.

Because of long times to boil 30 gallons in GW's time, I left the wort near 140-170 for first 50 minutes then turned up burner. Then, slow to a slow simmermmer until the 60 min left mark

Measured gravity after 50 min of "mash" with refractometer and got 1.004 with a water volume of 1.5 Gallons or 6 gravity points. Used beersmith to estimate bitterness with 1.3 gallon pre-boil volume, batch size of .8 gallons and estimated pre-boil gravity of 1.004.

Then I used brewsmith to estimate gravity and IBUs.

Beersmith estimate 15.4oz of Lyles adding a lot more to the gravity than stonecutters attempt. But did he did full gallon batch? And I did .8. I will weigh out less and then take gravity reading before adding anymore.

Going to shoot for 1.035 OG and 30 IBUS.

Depending aau of liberty, I think .25 at 60 especially with such a low boiling gravity may have been to much. I like a bitter hoppy beer but .16 @ only 60 minutes estimates 23.6 by itself and 31 IBUs in 4.1% beer is quite a bit. No way would they brew his bitter of a beer but it does say to taste so I'm going with 31 IBUs and .25oz aroma addition with a great American hop.

My guess is Washington didn't add most of the fermentable until the end to preserve hops. By boiling hops in low gravity wort, he saved money and hops by using less for same bitterness.

This gravity is estimated by adjusting wheat bran grain to a gravity of 1.012

Before I finished with 60 minute full boil I measure a gallon of wort at 1.006. All other variables the same adjusting preboil volume to 1 gives me 1.006 SG.

I had pictures of the beersmith calculations but not posting for some reason.

Will update with more notes later, its acutally boiling right now.

I think this will turn out really good. The bran gives very little sugars but probably some fermentables and body because the sugar water would be so unbearably thin.

 

[Zoidberg]

I strained to other pot with 10.4oz of lyles syrup weighed out and accidently got a good amount of bran into that pot. Had to filter again a couple times to get all out and when I topped off i basically did a cold sparge by rinsing the bran in distilled water pouring it into pitcher through screen again. Ended with gravity of 1.030 so I added rest of lyles syrup and overshot by getting 1.042. Still unsure of lyles exact sugar additions because some may have been absorbed into bran. Finishing lsat 5 of boil with .25 ounce of case now, will cool and pitch m44 at 70F

 

[Robotcrab]

I also have to agree with the idea that the three hours includes some sort of warming up, 30 gallons is a shed load of water to be boiling over an open fire from a cold start. Didn't get a chance to do my second yesterday will keep it for the weekend now I think, like the idea of sparging the bran, in my first attempt I only sparged about half a liter over about a quarter of the bran I sieved out to bring it up to 5 liters volume, think I'll use a bigger sieve next time and Sparg the whole wart through the bran bed and see if it help filter it, also using agricultural bran this week like what I put in sheep feed, rather than the fancy health food stuff I used on the first, a tenth of the price and probably (not that I'm worried about historical accuracy) closer to what GW used.

 

[brandonman]

Anybody have pictures of it? :rockin:
I still haven't gotten around to trying this.

 

[Zoidberg]

I have lots of pics of my process, having issues uploading. Will try later tonight, at work right now. It smelled delicious this morning. I honestly think I have a very decent brew here. The key is gonna be lots of filtering before adding molasses/cane sugar syrup. I used a fry guard screen over end of pot and pot , then sparge by adding top off distilled water to bran muck and re filtering through screw. I started woh 1.5 gallons and ended with something like a quart. Looked like a lot more until I filtered out bran and it absorbed a lot of water.

 

[stonecutter2]

I liked someones comment about a slow lead into a boil. This is how I read into the instructions. To boil that much would have taken a good amount of time. I decided to steep and boil to total 3 hours. It basically went 45-55 minutes of steep then boiling for last 2 hours. hardest for only last 60 minutes after first hop addition. Here are some clips from brew notes and descriptions on how I estimated out my version. I also think i figure out the potential OG of Wheat Bran, it's 1.012.

Batch Size: .8 Gallons
Target OG: 1.035
Target IBUs: 30.5

Fermentables:

.5oz of wheat bran (Brought up to boil slowly and boiled for 60 minutes
11oz by volume Lyles Golden Syrup (light molasses) Added only for last 5 minutes

Hops:

.16 oz cascade 60min
.25 oz cascade 5min

Yeast:
M44 yeast from .5L starter.

In the future I may add whirlfloc in an attempt to clear out this incredibly hazy and described as looking like a tan mud. Not this time though.

GW is ambiguous on brewing procedures but my assumption is the 3 hour boil included at least 90min of bring bran and his 30 gallons of water to boil producing a small mash.

Because of long times to boil 30 gallons in GW's time, I left the wort near 140-170 for first 50 minutes then turned up burner. Then, slow to a slow simmermmer until the 60 min left mark

Measured gravity after 50 min of "mash" with refractometer and got 1.004 with a water volume of 1.5 Gallons or 6 gravity points. Used beersmith to estimate bitterness with 1.3 gallon pre-boil volume, batch size of .8 gallons and estimated pre-boil gravity of 1.004.

Then I used brewsmith to estimate gravity and IBUs.

Beersmith estimate 15.4oz of Lyles adding a lot more to the gravity than stonecutters attempt. But did he did full gallon batch? And I did .8. I will weigh out less and then take gravity reading before adding anymore.

Going to shoot for 1.035 OG and 30 IBUS.

Depending aau of liberty, I think .25 at 60 especially with such a low boiling gravity may have been to much. I like a bitter hoppy beer but .16 @ only 60 minutes estimates 23.6 by itself and 31 IBUs in 4.1% beer is quite a bit. No way would they brew his bitter of a beer but it does say to taste so I'm going with 31 IBUs and .25oz aroma addition with a great American hop.

My guess is Washington didn't add most of the fermentable until the end to preserve hops. By boiling hops in low gravity wort, he saved money and hops by using less for same bitterness.

This gravity is estimated by adjusting wheat bran grain to a gravity of 1.012

Before I finished with 60 minute full boil I measure a gallon of wort at 1.006. All other variables the same adjusting preboil volume to 1 gives me 1.006 SG.

I had pictures of the beersmith calculations but not posting for some reason.

Will update with more notes later, its acutally boiling right now.

I think this will turn out really good. The bran gives very little sugars but probably some fermentables and body because the sugar water would be so unbearably thin.

Yep, I did a full gallon batch. And I used a full bottle of Lyle's Golden Syrup which is listed as 11oz by volume.

 

[Zoidberg]

Yea beersmith estimates it by weight (lbs) but I think it may be innacurate. Next time I brew I will add only after fully filtered and I've added all top off water so I can see exactly how much gravity it adds

 

[stonecutter2]

I strained to other pot with 10.4oz of lyles syrup weighed out and accidently got a good amount of bran into that pot. Had to filter again a couple times to get all out and when I topped off i basically did a cold sparge by rinsing the bran in distilled water pouring it into pitcher through screen again. Ended with gravity of 1.030 so I added rest of lyles syrup and overshot by getting 1.042. Still unsure of lyles exact sugar additions because some may have been absorbed into bran. Finishing lsat 5 of boil with .25 ounce of case now, will cool and pitch m44 at 70F

I don't think getting bran in the fermenter is a big deal. It should just get buried in the trub at the bottom. My last batch had an OG of 1.042, and finished at 1.000 - 5.5% ABV...a bit of a big small beer, haha. But it tastes great.

 

[stonecutter2]

Okay, so I bottled my 4th of July brew of this last night.

I ended up with the following:

Only about 7 bottles (meh, I boiled off a bit too much)
OG = 1.042
FG = 1.000

ABV = 5.51%

Not quite a small beer, but it'll be tasty

I left this batch in primary for a couple of months to try and let more trub fall out, which it did, but the beer itself is still quite cloudy. The desired effect was achieved, however, in that the beer is much less cidery/dry than an initial tasting. This brew does benefit from some age, it mellows and balances out pretty nicely.

Although I forgot to, I'm going to crack a few bottles and drop some fizz drops in, then recap. I enjoy having these as either carbonated or still.

Mouthfeel is best described as full body. Not thick, but definitely not thin. Very smooth, easy drinking, with subtle hops flavor. No significant bittering. I find it very well balanced. Just sort of...thick. I think this is heightened by my slightly lower volume than expected.

My next attempt will probably be with Cluster or Cascape hops, just to see the difference in hop flavor. I do enjoy the use of Liberty hops with this recipe, though.

I'm also going to lower the wheat bran from 1/2lb to 1/4lb and see if the results are better/less thick. I think thinner would be better to appreciate the wheat aspects of this beer.

 

[stonecutter2]

Anybody have pictures of it? :rockin:
I still haven't gotten around to trying this.

I have some bottling bucket dregs chilling in the fridge for tonight. I'll snap a pic when I get home and post it.

Think...pineapple juice.

 

[Zoidberg]

What hops are you using at what length? Just curious though it doesn't matter as the recipe is hops to taste. I just did what George Would have done and use what I had, Cascade. I have lots of it right now and is a good American variety. I might make with a few diff hop varieties. Fuggles, Centennial or Cluster, maybe way out there with a NZ hops like Nelson Sauvin just because its what's available.

 

[Kirkwooder]

Here's a picture of one of mine. Lots of head when fully carbed!

 

[Zoidberg]

Wow, what carb level did you aim for? I plan on a light 1.7 or 1.8

 

[Kirkwooder]

I was shooting for around a 2, and am pretty sure it is near there. It certainly isn't over carbed, but the pour wasn't the best either, though this beer holds a head forever. Way longer than it takes me to drink it. lol

 

[brandonman]

Here's a picture of one of mine. Lots of head when fully carbed!

Looks really interesting! I'm really considering starting one of these soon. Need to get the yeast ordered up (I'm saving my next HBS trip for my next main 5 gallon brew and don't want to drive 25 minutes for a packet of yeast, and am not quite decided on my next batch yet). Anybody have tips on where to find wheat bran? I didn't see it at my nearby grocery store or Wal-mart when I casually looked around while shopping. We have a killer farmer's market here in St. Louis. Not sure if I could find some there or not, especially considering the time of year. Maybe I'll check it out regardless.

 

[Robotcrab]

Just a thought, has anyone tried oaking?

 

[Kirkwooder]

Most of the groceries around here carry them in the foreign/natural foods section. They are packaged by Bob's Red Mill, in a 10 oz. package.

Here is a link to an Amazon listing for them, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KUQIJ6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 .
At least you will have an idea of what it looks like when you go looking for it.

 

[brandonman]

Ugh, guess I'm going to have to order the Wheat Bran off of Amazon, because my grocery store and Walmart don't carry it.

 

[Zoidberg]

Check an animal feed store first. I didn't but I've heard since you can get it really cheap, its sold as a horse feed I believe

 

[brandonman]

Check an animal feed store first. I didn't but I've heard since you can get it really cheap, its sold as a horse feed I believe

I'll have to hunt for one this week. I'll probably check a couple more grocery stores and target, too. Somebody said it's often in the ethnic section? What section exactly? Might I be able to find it at an ethnic grocery store?-

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Zoidberg]

Probably no. Bet bet is to find it in organic or health food section by he flour and oats/cornbread and bread mix stuff. I found it at a Kroger because mine has a "natures market" section. They also had it at whole foods.

 

[brandonman]

I FOUND THE BRAN HIDING IN MY GROCERY STORE!

Now I just need to pin down some of this golden syrup. Might make a second Walmart run to look for this a little closer (last time I went, I was solely on the hunt for Wheat Bran and wasn't paying much attention to anything else). If I'm able to track it down, I will then jet over to the LHBS to get some yeast and hops (hopefully I can make it before they close. And we've established that Nottingham is a good pick since the OP, right? I just read the whole thread again but got lost lol).

If I can't find the golden syrup, has anybody tried the Corn Syrup route, or am I going to have to take one for the team on that? I want to be as true to the general as possible!

If I DO find Golden Syrup, I might do a half gallon of Nottingham and a half gallon of Fleischmann's, just out of curiosity, considering that it's safe to assume the yeast strains of colonial America weren't the most perfectly refined. I'll report back tomorrow evening with how the ingredients runs go. Hoping I get a reply on that corn syrup thing, because I have this feeling I won't be finding golden syrup.