Old bootleg recipe

[tpeterseufl]

So a friend of mine stumbled on an old recipe in his grandmother's recipe book. It's for bootleg beer from the 1920s. He'd like to try to make it.

Here's what the recipe says:
1 can of Blatz malt
1 compressed yeast
1 cup sugar
5 gal. water
Warm 1 gal. water and dissolve malt. Stir into balance of water, add sugar and yeast. Let stand three days and bottle.

I've figured out that Blatz malt was basically hopped extract that breweries sold, supposedly to make bread, but was really for homebrewers.

My question is: does anyone have any idea what Blatz malt might have been like? Could I come up with a recipe that might be close to what his grandma was making in her basement? It seems to me like an old fashioned Mr. Beer kit. Thoughts?

 

[Hannable1975]

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/reminiscing070705.htm

 

[brrman]

Yeah I would buy a simple hopped pilsner malt extract and use that. Perhaps you could let it sit in a hot garage for a year, and then you might get something like what they would have had in the 1920's.

 

[Hannable1975]

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/reminiscing070705.htm

From the link

The Lima (Ohio) News on March 31, 1929 noted:
“Local distributors of malt syrup reported that an average of approximately 8,000 cans of malt extract are sold in this city every week. The contents of each can will make at least 50 pint bottles of beer, thus the weekly consumption of malt in Lima has the beverage equivalent of 400,000 pints of home brew.”
The article said that one malt extract label advised: “For bread making use one half as many tablespoonsful of malt extract as formerly used of sugar. [¶] This will make the bread light and perfectly browned.”
The newspaper observed that “no mention is made as to what benefit the hops are to bread.”
The newspaper reckoned that “enough malt extract is sold each week in Lima to provide the necessary sweetening for 800,000 loaves of bread, or more than 16 loaves for every man, woman, and child.”

 

[lumpher]

it was sometimes hopped, sometimes not. pretty obvious what it was for if it was hopped. it was just a pale malt extract.the compressed yeast was bread yeast. it'll come out nasty, i'd bet; prohibition hooch

 

[tpeterseufl]

Hannable, I found that link too. When he told me he found the recipe, I was excited, thinking of Koch's (phony?) story of finding his grandfather's recipe. When I saw the recipe, I was disappointed. I might just tell him it's not worth our time and I'll make him something better.