9 replies to this topic

[Seagis]

I have this book on the cookbook shelf in my kitchen. I've made most everything in it at one time or another, but there is a recipe in the "beverages" section that puzzles me. This is the recipe, verbatim:

5 tablespoons fresh yeast
1 cup warm water
5 pounds sugar
3 pounds blue ribbon malt, light hop flavor
water

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of sugar. In a 10 gallon container, mix the sugar and malt together, then stir in the dissolved yeast. Mix in enough water to come to 6 inches below the top of the container to allow for expansion during the foaming action.

Place the crock in an out-of-the-way place, and let it sit for 4 days to 1 week at room temperature. Test the brew after 4 days by putting a little in a glass and stirring. If it forms a heavy foam, let it sit a few more days. Then keep testing until the brew quits foaming and it doesn't bubble.

Pour into bottles, then cap tightly and store at room temperature until the brew is clear. When ready to serve, chill, but be careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

I wondering about a couple of different things here. First, and this is of course assuming that I'd use a carboy, an airlock and copious amounts of star-san, what do you guys imagine this stuff would taste like if made exactly according to the directions? I don't know about you, but 5 pounds of sugar seems like an awful lot to me.

My other question is this: Using the recipe as a starting point, what do you think I would get if I switched to something more specific, say black patent malt and some wyeast 1084 or a similar combination, lowered the original amount of sugar (my question is how much should I really use) and used some priming sugar toward the end?

Overall, I realize that it just makes sense to use tried and true recipes (via promash, a kit, or just plain common sense, etc.) but this is kind of intriguing.

What say you?

[MyaCullen]

I have this book on the cookbook shelf in my kitchen. I've made most everything in it at one time or another, but there is a recipe in the "beverages" section that puzzles me. This is the recipe, verbatim:

5 tablespoons fresh yeast
1 cup warm water
5 pounds sugar
3 pounds blue ribbon malt, light hop flavor
water

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of sugar. In a 10 gallon container, mix the sugar and malt together, then stir in the dissolved yeast. Mix in enough water to come to 6 inches below the top of the container to allow for expansion during the foaming action.

Place the crock in an out-of-the-way place, and let it sit for 4 days to 1 week at room temperature. Test the brew after 4 days by putting a little in a glass and stirring. If it forms a heavy foam, let it sit a few more days. Then keep testing until the brew quits foaming and it doesn't bubble.

Pour into bottles, then cap tightly and store at room temperature until the brew is clear. When ready to serve, chill, but be careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

I wondering about a couple of different things here. First, and this is of course assuming that I'd use a carboy, an airlock and copious amounts of star-san, what do you guys imagine this stuff would taste like if made exactly according to the directions? I don't know about you, but 5 pounds of sugar seems like an awful lot to me.

My other question is this: Using the recipe as a starting point, what do you think I would get if I switched to something more specific, say black patent malt and some wyeast 1084 or a similar combination, lowered the original amount of sugar (my question is how much should I really use) and used some priming sugar toward the end?

Overall, I realize that it just makes sense to use tried and true recipes (via promash, a kit, or just plain common sense, etc.) but this is kind of intriguing.

What say you?

that there is old school prohibition beer, like my Great Granddad made in the 30's.

answer to how it'll taste is dry and with very little bitterness and the bread yeast will pruduce some odd phenolics.

I did one of these with 1 3 lbs can of Extra pale Blue ribbon malt and 3 lbs of sugar, boiled with 2 gallons of water and yeast nutrient, put into a carboy with 3 gallons cold water and cooled to 70F

I used s-04 yeast at the time. i did a simple 1 week primary 2 week secondary then bottled as normal.

Ice cold it wasn't awful, but dry and nearly hopless, very aple, like Coors Light, with less flavor.

[Seagis]

like Coors Light, with less flavor.

Do what now?

[djinkc]

Umm, not a tried and true. Just a tried. This sounds like something from the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show Wayback Machine.Stuff like this, besides having 3 kids in in 3 years is why I hung up brewing for 20 years. Thank God things improved.Recipes from the early 80's sounded just like this. The yeast (dried) was a crap shoot - you simply didn't know what was in it. Limited canned syrup extract to choose from, and across the board crap hops.It sounds like a nice visit to the past but from one that was around then, don't bother. When we hit a winner back then it was a happy accident. Fortunately, I had a few of those, that's one of the reasons I started brewing again. That and a push from my son.I think that's a chapter that should be revisited from time to time, but not something to strive for now.OTOH, it's probably the only reason I got a blue in the national comp back then.

[MyaCullen]

I've got a handwritten homebrew recipe from the 1960's my grandma got from one of her son's father's in law, it is almost identical to the one in your book with the excewption of it calls for honey instead of sugar.

[Seagis]

Umm, not a tried and true. Just a tried. This sounds like something from the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show Wayback Machine.

Stuff like this, besides having 3 kids in in 3 years is why I hung up brewing for 20 years. Thank God things improved.

Recipes from the early 80's sounded just like this. The yeast (dried) was a crap shoot - you simply didn't know what was in it. Limited canned syrup extract to choose from, and across the board crap hops.

It sounds like a nice visit to the past but from one that was around then, don't bother. When we hit a winner back then it was a happy accident. Fortunately, I had a few of those, that's one of the reasons I started brewing again. That and a push from my son.

I think that's a chapter that should be revisited from time to time, but not something to strive for now.

OTOH, it's probably the only reason I got a blue in the national comp back then.

Well, to be fair, the book was published in 1990.

However, your "happy accident" comment is partially why I'm asking question number two. I sorta figured that following the recipe to the letter would result in something like Mike described. If, however, I use modern ingredients that I know are going to be better quality, observe proper sanitation techniques, et cetera, it is likely that I would arrive at a beer-like substance, no?

I'm not looking for anything spectacular out of this. I'm thinking I'm going to try this with some specialty malt and brewer's yeast of some sort just because I can. I don't care if I throw the batch down the drain after the first bottle. I'm just curious.

[Jeff]

That is exactly how beer was made before the 90's when it became more popular and stores showed up selling better ingredients! Actually, I know a few people still making it like that in the early 90's! It was not great, but it was cheap and easy. The Blue Ribbon Malt was a legal substance when it was still illegal to make beer at home in many states even after Jimmy Carter made it federally legal. That is why it is called out in the recipe. They claimed it was just a sweeter, not a beer ingredient. Why it was lightly hopped was never quite explained! ;-)As for 5 lbs of sugar, this is a 10 gallon batch! That is not too much. It is just right. Maybe 4% alcohol when you are done.

[MyaCullen]

That is exactly how beer was made before the 90's when it became more popular and stores showed up selling better ingredients! Actually, I know a few people still making it like that in the early 90's! It was not great, but it was cheap and easy. The Blue Ribbon Malt was a legal substance when it was still illegal to make beer at home in many states even after Jimmy Carter made it federally legal. That is why it is called out in the recipe. They claimed it was just a sweeter, not a beer ingredient. Why it was lightly hopped was never quite explained! ;-)As for 5 lbs of sugar, this is a 10 gallon batch! That is not too much. It is just right. Maybe 4% alcohol when you are done.

Yokes Grocery Stores still sell the malt here.

[Seagis]

OK. That settles it.IT. IS. ON.I'm going to make some of this stuff just to say that I did. We'll see what I come up with.

[ColdAssHonky]

OK. That settles it.IT. IS. ON.I'm going to make some of this stuff just to say that I did. We'll see what I come up with.

I say bottle a couple and enter it into a comp just to see what feedback you get... as long as it doesn't kill someone.