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Cheap Small Beer

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Carbon 6

Cannon
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All the talk about pretzels in a recent thread made me thirsty, and I stumbled upon this recipe from 1861.

Cheap Small Beer
{1861}​
To twelve quarts of cold water add a pint and a half of strong hop tea, and a pint and a half of molasses. Mix it well together and bottle it immediately. It will be fit for use the next day if the weather is warm.


Any thoughts, anyone brave enough to try it ?
 
Seems to me that with only hops and molasses in it, all you would get is bitter molasses.
Real beer needs to have some grain and yeast in it to add the alcohol and carbonation needs. The fermenting process takes a lot longer than a day. Even though "Small Beer" is weaker than real beer, it still contains alcohol and this recipe wouldn't have any.

I think I'll pass on offering to make some of this "Cheap Small Beer".
 
The one day fermentation has me thinking the recipe is not complete. But things were different back then. I have made alcoholic yeast fermented ginger beer containing only brown sugar and molasses as a fermentable, it was very palatable.
I also made an elderflower wine from a period recipe that was divine, like champagne but I did use commercial yeast.
I'm generally not a fan of wild fermentation The one exception was grape wine.


I've scaled down the recipe for testing.

To make one quart
28 ounces of water
2 ounces of hop tea
2 ounces molasses.

Original gravity, 1.018 that's bout the same sweetness as a stout or strong porter. which you are going to probably want if it lacks any malt .
If it fermented out completely it would only be 2.3 % ABV and I doubt that would happen with a wild fermentation. a short fermentation would maintain sweetness to contrast the bitterness of the hop tea, add some carbonation and reduce off flavors.
Probably make a good table beer or small beer.

The question now is how to go about making the hop tea.
 
The recipe came from Godey's Lady's Book, alternatively known as Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, it was an American women's magazine that was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1878. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War. Its circulation rose from 70,000 in the 1840s to 150,000 in 1860.
 
I Gave it a whirl, just like the recipe said (with one caveat), had to have a control for the experiment. The result was flat molasses water. The flavor was not bad, it could have used more hop bitterness and flavor and less molasses flavor, and it definitely needs carbonation.
19th century home sanitation was not what we are accustom to today, and I could not help but sanitize everything. I didn't expect any fermentation to happen in 24 hours. It is also still winter, and there isn't a lot of yeast floating around in the air in my neck of the woods like there would be in the summer.
Thinking to myself, I wondered if this was originally made like ginger beer or kombucha relying on a natural starter bug. Or was is mixed in a wooden vessel that contained the the yeast, or was barm added.

I see so many recipes similar to this one published in old cookbooks.

I'm going to adjust the recipe slightly, and try again.

I had thought about force carbonating but that wouldn't be very 1861.
 
"tea" reminds me a bit of of doing "brew in a bag" where the grain bill is lowered into the water in a cloth sack, and after steeping it at high temperatures, the bag is removed and sparged with the addition of some water over the bag. The resultant wort is then put back on to boil and the hops might be added in another linen bag while it cools before the molasses (sugar) and/or yeast is added.

Some beer may well have been consumed flat or with very, very limited carbonation.

A Russian rye-bread kvass recipe--a soft drink routinely given to children even though it can be about 2% or so alcohol when made at home from rye bread husks and raisins. You might usefully compare the kvass recipes with this small beer and some of the "soft drinks" brewed in Scandinavia or the Nordic countries, particularly Finland. I'm thinking Sima recipes especially might bear comparison.
 
"tea" reminds me a bit of of doing "brew in a bag"
I used a tea ball and stuffed it with leaf hops., but I only boiled it for about 5 minutes, so not a lot of utilization or bitterness. I used Cascade hops.

A Russian rye-bread kvass recipe
Thanks, I forgot about Kvass. Some strains of Nordic yeast are very fast fermenters, completing regular beer in 48 hours.

Some beer may well have been consumed flat or with very, very limited carbonation.
I have considered that possibility. But I much prefer a carbonated beverage.
 
George liked this one.

George Washington. "To Make Small Beer."
From his 1757 notebook.

Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste -- Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gall. into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler. Strain the Beer on it while boiling hot let this stand til it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold cover it over with a Blanket. Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask. leave the Bung open til it is almost done working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.

Spence
 
I used a tea ball and stuffed it with leaf hops., but I only boiled it for about 5 minutes, so not a lot of utilization or bitterness.
I made hops tea using whole hops (Nugget) steeped in quart jars outside for a day as for "sun tea." Very, very good and curiously refreshing.
 
Cheap Small Beer
{1861}
To twelve quarts of cold water add a pint and a half of strong hop tea, and a pint and a half of molasses. Mix it well together and bottle it immediately. It will be fit for use the next day if the weather is warm.

The one day fermentation has me thinking the recipe is not complete.

Indeed since the recipe does not call for yeast, one would not expect any fermentation to have begun. It likely expected something to happen by adding the molasses, but one would also be culturing any bacteria in the molasses. Bottling it immediately since the swing top beer bottle was invented in 1847...would likely cause some problems containing the gas even if the ABV was going to be 2.3%

I've scaled down the recipe for testing.

To make one quart
28 ounces of water
2 ounces of hop tea
2 ounces molasses.

Original gravity, 1.018 that's bout the same sweetness as a stout or strong porter. which you are going to probably want if it lacks any malt .

Um that is the near the ending measurement of stout or porter due to non-fermentable solids such as starch and protein left in suspension in the beverage. Not necessarily any measure what so ever of the "sweetness". If any fermentable sugars are in the liquid, it will continue to ferment until the ABV reaches near 8%...at that point it might continue further if sugar was available, providing it was a yeast cultivated for higher ABV.

If it fermented out completely it would only be 2.3 % ABV and I doubt that would happen with a wild fermentation.

No reason to expect a "wild" fermentation to halt below 6% and often it will go as high as 8% IF enough sugar is present.

a short fermentation would maintain sweetness to contrast the bitterness of the hop tea, add some carbonation and reduce off flavors.
Probably make a good table beer or small beer.

The only reason the fermentation would be "short" and leave sugar would be if you artificially halted it by pasteurizing the beverage. Another method is to use lactose which is too large a sugar molecule for yeast to digest.

I Gave it a whirl, just like the recipe said (with one caveat), had to have a control for the experiment. The result was flat molasses water. The flavor was not bad, it could have used more hop bitterness and flavor and less molasses flavor, and it definitely needs carbonation. 19th century home sanitation was not what we are accustom to today, and I could not help but sanitize everything. I didn't expect any fermentation to happen in 24 hours. It is also still winter, and there isn't a lot of yeast floating around in the air in my neck of the woods like there would be in the summer. Thinking to myself, I wondered if this was originally made like ginger beer or kombucha relying on a natural starter bug. Or was is mixed in a wooden vessel that contained the yeast, or was barm added.

I see so many recipes similar to this one published in old cookbooks.

I'm going to adjust the recipe slightly, and try again.

I had thought about force carbonating but that wouldn't be very 1861.

It didn't mention boiling, but to keep it from becoming stagnant, flat molasses water, the recipe should call for a boil. Then call for the addition of a yeast cake.

No reason why there couldn't be carbonation as the swing top bottle was invented by that time.

I have made a molasses based small beer in the past. Used Fuggles hops, and a couple of pints of King brand Po-T-Rick molasses syrup, in three gallons of water. It tasted very similar to beer after a week ferment and a week aging, with a molasses aftertaste. The problem one has is that modern molasses, unsulfured, is not the same as it was in the 18th and early 19th century. Today they extract pretty much all of the fermentables and then add back some simple syrup to provide sweetness. I'd suggest Turkey brand Refiner's Syrup be used, and hops, with a proper hour long simmer. Followed by the addition of a basic ale yeast when the wort has cooled.

LD
 
Um that is the near the ending measurement of stout or porter due to non-fermentable solids such as starch and protein left in suspension in the beverage. Not necessarily any measure what so ever of the "sweetness".
Yes a lot of stouts or porters I have made have finished between 1.014 and 1.021
Residual sweetness is a combination of unfermenatable sugars, dextrins and yeast attenuation.
it will continue to ferment until the ABV reaches near 8%...at that point it might continue further if sugar was available, providing it was a yeast cultivated for higher ABV.

Where are you coming up with 8% ? My test batch only has 2 ounces of fermentables. That's max gravity of 1.018 and a max abv of 2.3%

The only reason the fermentation would be "short" and leave sugar would be if you artificially halted it by pasteurizing the beverage. Another method is to use lactose which is too large a sugar molecule for yeast to digest.

The recipe said it would be fit for drinking the next day, I assumed it was served very green.

The problem one has is that modern molasses, unsulfured, is not the same as it was in the 18th and early 19th century.
Yes I agree. that is my one "caveat" I mixed Grandma's brand molasses with dark brown sugar. Not having 18th century molasses is a real frustration.

I'd suggest Turkey brand Refiner's Syrup be used, and hops, with a proper hour long simmer. Followed by the addition of a basic ale yeast when the wort has cooled.
Thanks, I'll look into that brand, I considered an hour long boil for the hops for proper utilization and bitterness, but the recipe said "tea" so i started with a literal translation, and made tea.
the first batch was a test following the recipe verbatim, to see how it would turn out. The next batch will be different. I'll keep you posted, hoping to make some more this weekend.
 
I'd suggest Turkey brand Refiner's Syrup be used, and hops, with a proper hour long simmer. Followed by the addition of a basic ale yeast

I'm actually considering champagne yeast. I'm out of ale yeast. What do you think ?
 
I think a yeast that normally likes to work with grape juice might have problems raisin to the occasion if it had to chomp on some type of grain. :D:D:cool:
 
I think a yeast that normally likes to work with grape juice might have problems raisin to the occasion if it had to chomp on some type of grain. :D:D:cool:

Actually it's better suited for the recipe I posted. Grapes contain glucose and fructose. Molasses and sugar contain sucrose, which is a combination of glucose and fructose. The bond is broken by heat, acid or enzyme.

Malt contains glucose, maltose, and maltotriose . Ale yeasts loves maltose.

Since the recipe contains no actual malt, champagne yeast is well suited, the only other factor is yeast derived taste. Champagne yeast is very neutral. Champagne yest also tends to create a firm sediment, this is ideal for bottle carbonating/fermenting.

A naturally carbonated Rootbeer would use a champagne yeast for carbonation.
Since this is a "small" or "table" beer with no malt, I think it's a good choice.
 
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"... raisin to the occasion ...". Get it? "raisin", like in grape?

Oh well. It wasn't a very good pun anyway.

Fortunetly, I'm not within striking distance or ole' Carbon 6 might take a Punjab at me. :p
 
All the talk about pretzels in a recent thread made me thirsty, and I stumbled upon this recipe from 1861.

Cheap Small Beer
{1861}​
To twelve quarts of cold water add a pint and a half of strong hop tea, and a pint and a half of molasses. Mix it well together and bottle it immediately. It will be fit for use the next day if the weather is warm.


Any thoughts, anyone brave enough to try it ?

The beginning of Coors Light
 
"... raisin to the occasion ...". Get it? "raisin", like in grape?

Oh well. It wasn't a very good pun anyway.

Fortunetly, I'm not within striking distance or ole' Carbon 6 might take a Punjab at me. :p

I got it he first time, it was a good one, the medication is working. :thumb::D
 
Where are you coming up with 8% ? My test batch only has 2 ounces of fermentables. That's max gravity of 1.018 and a max abv of 2.3%
My mistake I thought your ending reading was 1.018 :oops:

The yeast doesn't "stop" and give you additional sugar, unless you hit an alcohol level of 6-8% ABV for wild, or commonly used brewing yeast. So if you're reading a starting point of 1.018 yes, you should get a little more than 2% ABV, but no sugars will remain in the beverage, unless you artificially halt the fermentation process, or it gets "stuck" because the yeast ran out of oxygen.

It's not uncommon that they would drink it "green". Although they lose the advantage of the small beer by not boiling it, but maybe that was what we call today a "given" ???

I have seen reports where in Canada, British troops started drinking the spruce beer immediately after it went into the barrel, and it started top fermentation as they were drawing it by tap from the bottom over the following week. That was molasses based too.

OH and don't bother trying spruce beer, military fashion...it's tasty when it's aged a year, but military fashion it tastes like a 50/50 mix of Diet Pepsi and original flavor Listerine mouthwash. It did keep away scurvy in winter though....

LD
 
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I'm actually considering champagne yeast. I'm out of ale yeast. What do you think ?
IF you're warm enough for the champagne yeast, it will work fine. Kind of an expensive experiment, but nothing would've stopped them from using raisins as the source for the yeast, and sometimes those carry what we call champagne yeast on them.

LD
 
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