Prohibition homebrewing notebook.

[Pickle29]

Subscribed. This is a really awesome find! I can't wait to hear more about this.

 

[wxman73]

Subscribing. This is very neat. A part of history around the prohibition era!


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[henchman24]

Looking at the first recipe posted, it reads something like....

8 1/2 gallons total
2 qts malt
4 lbs cane sugar
6 hops
3 cakes yeast

Boil water and hops for an hour, boil malt and water and combine, boil another 20 minutes and pitch yeast when warm....

I doubt you will win any medals, but still might be a fun project...
with enough aging, beers like this are pretty crisp, young they can be rather cidery w/ all the cane sugar IME.

I think I see an oz behind the 6 in the picture.

 

[hausofstrauss]

Whether it's good or not, awesome taste of history. Very Cool!

 

[bzwyatt]

Nice book, I'm jealous. Your version of Brewing Classic Styles.

 

[NickTheGreat]

What an awesome find and story

 

[invictusbrew]

This has got to be one of the coolest finds I've seen here on HBT, if for nothing other than the historical aspect. Very nice!

 

[JohnSand]

I think it's amazing. I wish I had something like it from my own family. One of my great uncles made wine, but by all accounts it was bad.
I think if it were my book I might try to brew it straight, even if it were a small batch.

 

[sundevil]

Subscribed. What a find!

 

[danath34]

that is awesome. I'd brew it as close as possible to how the book calls for. good or not, you'd get a good sense of what he drank back in the day.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Looking at the first recipe posted, it reads something like....

8 1/2 gallons total
2 qts malt
4 lbs cane sugar
6 oz hops
3 cakes yeast

Boy do I feel old now, believe it or not, this is kind of how it went down for my first batch in 1986. There wasn't a lot of information available back then besides Charlies book haha.

We didn't use a prohibition style clay crock with cheesecloth over the top FWIW

 

[b-boy]

This makes me want to start keeping a written log. All my stuff is sitting out on the cloud. I don't think anyone will be finding it there.

 

[JBOGAN]

Here is one for the bunch.


Formula #5



Raisin Wine

2 LBS. Raisins
2 LBS. Whole Wheat
4 LBS. Brown Sugar
1 Raw Potato
1 GAL. Boiled water
1/2 Cake Yeast


Add yeast when luke warm, cover and let stand 21 days. Strain and bottle



I will have some history on this fellow soon and a few more recipes.

 

[David_Trucks]

Subscribed and jealous.


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[pickles]

Coolest find ever! That said, I hope you find in his notes that recipe #5 is one of his dumpers and not a keeper, otherwise I won't be pre-ordering the soon to come recipe book...

 

[JBOGAN]

Coolest find ever! That said, I hope you find in his notes that recipe #5 is one of his dumpers and not a keeper, otherwise I won't be pre-ordering the soon to come recipe book...

No spud wine for you then sir..Said the guy who will choose not to brew this one himself.

 

[steveoatley]

JBOGAN

Did you brew that beer yet ?

how'd it turn out ?

 

[sboyajian]

I'd be curious too.. pretty simple/generic recipe, but that is exactly what I'd expect from Prohibition home brewing. Not like they had the resources we had.

A quick build of the ingredients (5.6lb of malt and 4 lb of cane sugar) seems to put this at 4.5% with the 8.5 gallon batch it stated. As said, doubt it would win any awards, but definitely a cool story.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

I think this is a phenomenal piece of history. If I were you I'd first be figuring out how to preserve it after recording everything in it in a more durable location.

I'd start with brewing the exact recipe, or as close as possible, and then begin the tinkering from there. You've got the opportunity to claim something awesome here. Anyone up for a bottle of "Grandpa's Cough Syrup" or "Grandpa's Ale?" You could truly stamp on it as a prohibition piece of America's history, and it wouldn't just be a marketing gimmick. Even if you don't plan to sell it or anything like that, I just think being able to share it and stamp it as that would be awesome in its own right.

I'd be curious just to see with better quality ingredients if some of the recipes would be decent anyway, or how much tweaking they really need.

 

[JBOGAN]

Have not brewed one of the recipes yet. There is a recipe for dandelion wine that i have decided to turn into a pale ale or golden ale of sorts but that will have to wait until next year when they sprout up. Thinking of adjusting the beer recipe to 2 gallons and throwing that in my lonely mr.beer barrel.

 

[JBOGAN]

I'd be curious too.. pretty simple/generic recipe, but that is exactly what I'd expect from Prohibition home brewing. Not like they had the resources we had.

A quick build of the ingredients (5.6lb of malt and 4 lb of cane sugar) seems to put this at 4.5% with the 8.5 gallon batch it stated. As said, doubt it would win any awards, but definitely a cool story.

If it turns out horrible I will hand out a award for drinking the whole batch. So, there is a 50/50 shot at grabbing some medal ware.

 

[JBOGAN]

While reading a BYO article I found this gem.


George S. Hobart, a former member of the New Jersey assembly, in arguing that beer sales should be limited to near beer, wrote: "I am told that a recent test has been discovered in Washington which can be used only when the moon is at the full. It is said that if a man sees only one moon he has been drinking less than one half of one percent [beer]; if he sees two moons he has been drinking more than one half of one percent; and if he sees no moon at all, he has been drinking wood alcohol!"

 

[steveoatley]

Ok, I'll do it

JBOGAN, did you brew it?

How did it turn out ?


S

 

[bobeer]

I know this tread is from last year but, Wow! What an awesome piece of history and family keepsake! I hope you brew something in there. You could even bring a recipe up to current standards if it needs it.
A truly amazing find. I wish I had something, anything, from my great grand parents.

This is is why I choose to keep all my notes in a book rather than a computer--and I'm in the IT industry. Nothing beats hand written notes and recipes that get handed down. Hopefully mine will find it's way into my future family's hands.

 

[unionrdr]

That's why I wish my BS2 recipes hadn't been corrupted. Lost a couple of'em, & some notes from others I just brewed. But I do have a recipe for Al Capone's Prohibition lager; http://www.brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/13_30.html