Posted on 04/08/2016 2:04:46 PM PDT by taxcontrol
Back in the day - we're talking WAY back in the day - beer was brewed with malt, and bread, and honey and wine . . . and just about anything that could be fermented. How the ancients brewed - and how you can too!
Archaeology and beer seem to go together, and its not just because a cold brew helps wash the dust from your teeth after a long day on the digs. Im an archaeologist by profession and a homebrewer by avocation. Lots of archaeologists brew their own, and those who dont often have a passion for more exotic commercial brews.
(Excerpt) Read more at byo.com ...
I thought that taking a look back in time for some really old recipes might be of interest.
Brewers / Vintner’s ping list
This is a fun book. I am not a home brewer, but the history in here is fun.
Thanks taxcontrol.
Beer probably predated flour and bread. The easiest way to eat grain would be to boil it. Imagine someone making a watery grain soup and letting it sit around for a couple days, then drinking it when the grain settled to the bottom. Wow! Beer!
Very interesting article, thanks. I’ve brewed between two and three hundred five gallon batches over the past few years. I like a good meaty dark ale, I’m a big fan of British beers. The variety of beers on the store shelves now has curtailed my efforts. (Get well, I hope it’s not your beer drinking shoulder)
Yes, very interesting article. When we started making wine I was astounded at the number of things you could ferment. I have recipes for wine using oak leaves (one for old leaves, one for new leaves). The most unusual wine we tried was banana wine. All the way through I was sure we’d have to throw it away, as it smelled like sour milk. But the smell gradually went away & the finished product was a non-descript (no strong banana flavor) white wine. More fun for talking about than drinking & we made a cute label for it.
Did you see that yesterday was National Beer Day? Hopefully it’s not too late to celebrate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Beer_Day_%28United_States%29
Dogfish Head has been making beers based on ancient recipes. I recall reading about one when they finished it. If I a remember right, they are pretty expensive.
http://www.dogfish.com/ancientales
I just watched that from your link, and it was a fun, enlightening show.
A beer will help your shoulder. Seriously, chronic pain is hard to handle and my best wishes for your surgery.
The alcohol, applied to internally, helps numb it but its the hops that brings down inflammation.
“Beer probably predated flour and bread. The easiest way to eat grain would be to boil it. Imagine someone making a watery grain soup and letting it sit around for a couple days, then drinking it when the grain settled to the bottom. Wow! Beer!”
Sounds like a “Lambic”, also known in Belgium as “Farmhouse Ale.”
“I have recipes for wine using oak leaves (one for old leaves, one for new leaves). “
Years ago I was at a winemakers symposium and the speaker complained of all the things other than grapes that people are using to make wine. An old Italian in the back of the room stood up and said, “I make excellent garlic wine.”
I’ve never had any, but I’m game for a taste.
Understanding enzyme activity and how it impacts flavor and fermentation. This chart is very valuable:
Garlic wine would be very...uh...interesting!
The way things are going over in Belgium nowadays I don’t see a future for any kind of Beer being brewed there. That being said I just dug out a box of ingredients I had forgotten about, Three 3.3 lb bags of DME. three cans of Amber Malt, two 10 lb.bags of Two row malt and a bag of corn sugar. Now if I can find my recipe book I might try a Batch this week. Any suggestions would be welcome.
A good beer is the one you like.
That’s what I love about Belgian beer. There are so many different beers. From the Blanc de Bruggs clean wit to the Le Cantillon sour lambic. What a variety!!!!
I used to brew often, but now there are so many excellent beers available locally I don’t find the time to brew my own. I do plan on returning to the kettle when the pace of life slows down a bit.
I plan to try this one again. I’m going to use some rice hulls this time so that I hopefully don’t get a stuck sparge. This is an expensive beer to brew but it’s really good.
MZ base clone
13.5 # Maris Otter
5.5 # Munich II
3# Flaked Barley
2# Chocolate 350L
2# Muntons Roasted Black Barley, unmalted 470-560 lovibond
1# Dingemans de-bittered black malt 500-600 lovibond
1# special B 140-150L
1# Crystal malt 60L
Boil 90-120 min add 3 oz. Magnum @ 75 min
I was gonna do Hunaphu and add this to secondary
1 stick cinnamon
1 Vanilla bean
4 oz. cocoa nibs
1 oz ancho chili
.5 oz Pasillia chili
.5 oz Guajillo
I decided to add this instead
4 oz of coarse ground coffee
4 oz cocoa nibs
4 oz Rip Van Winkle
2 Vanilla beans
steeped this for two weeks before adding the juice to the keg. I also put the cocoa nibs and coffee grinds in a hop bag and added this to the keg and left them in.
Mashed in at 155. I wanted to only use first running’s but that went to hell too.
You will need around 10 gallons of water to get 5.5 in the carboy.
THIS IS A METRIC SHIT TON OF GRAIN!!!!
OG was only 1.094, was shooting for 1.12. I had a stuck sparge.
Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
Wort cooler was cracked and added water to the wort so I had to boil it off again.
Its going to turn out good I think but will never be able to make the same beer as this one.
I pitched a quart of yeast from work, hoping to get fg down to 1.03 or a little less..Be sure to use some rice hulls to avoid stuck mash.
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