Old brewing recipes
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- Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
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Re: Old brewing recipes
I love old recipes, I haven't brewed anything for over a years now as I still have over 200 bottles of various bizarre plonk I made 2-3 years ago, if it didn't move quick enough, I fermented it!
Love the idea of the witches brew being a Lancashire lass myself, how is it 3 months on?
Love the idea of the witches brew being a Lancashire lass myself, how is it 3 months on?
- frozenthunderbolt
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Treacle stout is voted my no# 1 beer consistantly. Is the nettle ale sopporiffic due to a chemical in the nettles, or the alcohol? As a rampant insomniac i would love to know!Stonehead wrote:I've made some interesting old brews over the years, albeit not the medicinal ones. Nettle ale has quite soporific qualities, as anyone who's come to one of our barbecues will know. Mangel ale is fairly good according to the OH, who's my resident expert on ale. Treacle ale is an acquired taste. Elderberry wine is very good—like a well aged port. Spiced potato wine verges on lethal. Parsnip wine leaves people cross-eyed. Liquorice vodka blackens the tongue and anything more than a couple of small shots has rather dire laxative effects…
But I always find myself going back to scrumpy. Oo-arr.
Jeremy Daniel Meadows. (Jed).
Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength
Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength
- Carltonian Man
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Re: Old brewing recipes
I'm sure there's something in the nettles. Nettle beer on it's own, fairly high alcohol but no ill effects. Glass of NB before dinner (less than half a pint) followed by a couple of glasses of red wine with dinner and result, massive hangover. I almost never get a hangover, even after a use it all up mix of drinks.frozenthunderbolt wrote:Is the nettle ale sopporiffic due to a chemical in the nettles, or the alcohol? As a rampant insomniac i would love to know!
Mrs CM and also son of CM too have experienced the same effect on different occasions. One to be wary of, the nettle brew I made used only natural ingredients.
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Treacle Ale was the first home brew I ever did aged 14. The strangest old recipe I came across was Cock Ale which was 17th century and was ale brewed with the usual bitter ale inredients plus the addition of a cooked cockerel. Never tried it.
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.
- gregorach
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Let me guess, that'll be C J J Berry then... It occasionally crops up on one or other of the brewing fora. People have made it, but nobody likes it. Mind you, the beer was probably all pretty nasty (at least to the modern palate) back in those days.bill1953 wrote:Treacle Ale was the first home brew I ever did aged 14. The strangest old recipe I came across was Cock Ale which was 17th century and was ale brewed with the usual bitter ale inredients plus the addition of a cooked cockerel. Never tried it.
Cheers
Dunc
Dunc
Re: Old brewing recipes
As far as I've ever been able to see, that cockerel - being protein-based - acted as a fining agent. I hope they took it out pretty quickly. There are similar apocryphal tales about rats in the beer.
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Mike
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Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
I can't remember how long exactly, but I know it was certainly left for days.MKG wrote:As far as I've ever been able to see, that cockerel - being protein-based - acted as a fining agent. I hope they took it out pretty quickly. There are similar apocryphal tales about rats in the beer.
YEEEEECCCCCCHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Mike
Double Yeeeccccchhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.
Re: Old brewing recipes
Theres a recipe here for the Cock ale
http://home.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/ ... craft.html
http://home.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/ ... craft.html
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Could well have been. I remember it was an old book and Cock Ale was in it two. A lot of the recipies were for brewing huge quantities up to a hogshead of 54 gallons (enough for the weekend). They also talked about how much duty you would have to pay as it was well before the tax English home brew beer laws being repealed in 1968 or 1969.gregorach wrote:Let me guess, that'll be C J J Berry then... It occasionally crops up on one or other of the brewing fora. People have made it, but nobody likes it. Mind you, the beer was probably all pretty nasty (at least to the modern palate) back in those days.bill1953 wrote:Treacle Ale was the first home brew I ever did aged 14. The strangest old recipe I came across was Cock Ale which was 17th century and was ale brewed with the usual bitter ale inredients plus the addition of a cooked cockerel. Never tried it.
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.
- gregorach
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Re: Old brewing recipes
Ah - that won't be Berry then, but there's a good chance that it's the source he took it from.bill1953 wrote:Could well have been. I remember it was an old book and Cock Ale was in it two. A lot of the recipies were for brewing huge quantities up to a hogshead of 54 gallons (enough for the weekend). They also talked about how much duty you would have to pay as it was well before the tax English home brew beer laws being repealed in 1968 or 1969.
I don't understand this fascination with brewing beer out of weeds, mulch and old bedsteads myself... In my book, beer is made from malt, hops, water, and yeast. The most unconventional I've ever gone was to brew an unhopped ale bittered with Rowan berries. Interesting as an experiment, but not one I'd be in a massive hurry to repeat. The result was entirely drinkable, even quite pleasant - but that was a couple of years ago and I've still got some bottles left. Usually a good beer gets wiped out in a couple of months.
Cheers
Dunc
Dunc
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
I tried treacle ale because as a 14 yr old I could not buy proper homebrew ingredients from the shops. It was just treacle, more brown sugar and the 'yeast' was provided by floating bread in it as I remember.gregorach wrote:Ah - that won't be Berry then, but there's a good chance that it's the source he took it from.bill1953 wrote:Could well have been. I remember it was an old book and Cock Ale was in it two. A lot of the recipies were for brewing huge quantities up to a hogshead of 54 gallons (enough for the weekend). They also talked about how much duty you would have to pay as it was well before the tax English home brew beer laws being repealed in 1968 or 1969.
I don't understand this fascination with brewing beer out of weeds, mulch and old bedsteads myself... In my book, beer is made from malt, hops, water, and yeast. The most unconventional I've ever gone was to brew an unhopped ale bittered with Rowan berries. Interesting as an experiment, but not one I'd be in a massive hurry to repeat. The result was entirely drinkable, even quite pleasant - but that was a couple of years ago and I've still got some bottles left. Usually a good beer gets wiped out in a couple of months.
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.
- frozenthunderbolt
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Re: Old brewing recipes
When i use it, i am using a hopped malt extract of reasonable quality and then replacing a part of the sugar that would be added to the kit with the correct amount of treacle (you need to calculate the sugar per weight of treacle). It is very nice after 6 months to mature.bill1953 wrote: I tried treacle ale because as a 14 yr old I could not buy proper homebrew ingredients from the shops. It was just treacle, more brown sugar and the 'yeast' was provided by floating bread in it as I remember.
Jeremy Daniel Meadows. (Jed).
Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength
Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength
- bill1953
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Re: Old brewing recipes
You're very patientfrozenthunderbolt wrote:It is very nice after 6 months to mature.bill1953 wrote: I tried treacle ale because as a 14 yr old I could not buy proper homebrew ingredients from the shops. It was just treacle, more brown sugar and the 'yeast' was provided by floating bread in it as I remember.
Just because you see two eyes shining in the jungle at night, do not think that the worse thing that could happen is that you are about to be attacked by a tiger. It could be two one-eyed tigers.