Spruce Beer
- Thread starter Trench
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
YES, YES I DO...,
Mix a 1/2 cup of regular Listerine, with 1/2 cup of diet Pepsi, and taste that..., and if you like it then go ahead a brew the spruce beer. It was a medicinal beverage, and the mixture is the closest I have come to the actual product in taste... :barf:
OK all humor aside, are you doing a proper molasses based brew? If you are and you follow an authentic recipe, you will need to age it a good long time for it to become an actual "beverage". I'm talking 6 months to a year. The actual Colonial recipes called for them to begin drinking it right after it had been finished brewing, and the fermentation was natural and they didn't wait for it to finish, and was a by product. Spruce beer is meant to be an anti-scorbutic... keeps the scurvy away, and they didn't age it on purpose, as far as I can tell from original sources..., at least not on this side of the Atlantic. They also didn't waste good malt, when molasses worked just fine.
LD
Mix a 1/2 cup of regular Listerine, with 1/2 cup of diet Pepsi, and taste that..., and if you like it then go ahead a brew the spruce beer. It was a medicinal beverage, and the mixture is the closest I have come to the actual product in taste... :barf:
OK all humor aside, are you doing a proper molasses based brew? If you are and you follow an authentic recipe, you will need to age it a good long time for it to become an actual "beverage". I'm talking 6 months to a year. The actual Colonial recipes called for them to begin drinking it right after it had been finished brewing, and the fermentation was natural and they didn't wait for it to finish, and was a by product. Spruce beer is meant to be an anti-scorbutic... keeps the scurvy away, and they didn't age it on purpose, as far as I can tell from original sources..., at least not on this side of the Atlantic. They also didn't waste good malt, when molasses worked just fine.
LD
Thanks! From what I've read from local primary sources, most everyone made spruce beer in early Indiana. I'm going to stick with the traditional molasses and spruce ingredients. I'm mulling over adding some bruised ginger root. I probably won't let it sit for more than a couple of weeks.
Okay, well I let it forment for 5 days and drank a pint. It was drinkable to me, but not to my wife. I didn't want any more after the first pint. I've made three "historical" drinks, this being the third. It ranks 3rd behind Cherry Bounce and 4-Water Grog in drinkability.
It's deffinitely an "in-a-pinch" drink when you just HAVE to have something that is beer-like and no real beer can be found for hundreds of miles. :wink:
It's deffinitely an "in-a-pinch" drink when you just HAVE to have something that is beer-like and no real beer can be found for hundreds of miles. :wink:
Fred_Dwyer
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2011
- Messages
- 245
- Reaction score
- 0
5 days old? It needs some time in the bottle to mellow.
With the young pale spruce buds you should end up with a background flavor like Chinook hops. Too old of buds and you end up with more like "Pine-Sol" beer(ale).
With the young pale spruce buds you should end up with a background flavor like Chinook hops. Too old of buds and you end up with more like "Pine-Sol" beer(ale).
Yes, well I have made it from five different recipes, one even included the branches from the spruce tree..., very Pine-Sol indeed.
You may want to check on the brand of molasses that you use. What my research has shown is that our molasses today, because of modern extraction methods, has white sugar put back in to be used for baking. Original 18th and 19th century molasses had cane juice remaining.
So you might consider dissolving some turbinado sugar in water and adding it to the next batch. You might also consider King [syrup] brand "Po-T-Rick" instead of molasses.
Lastly, you can make a rather good beer, with King Po-T-Rick and hops. No need for the spruce. Remember it was a Winter and early Spring drink to keep off the scurvy. If they had molasses and hops they could just use that.
LD
You may want to check on the brand of molasses that you use. What my research has shown is that our molasses today, because of modern extraction methods, has white sugar put back in to be used for baking. Original 18th and 19th century molasses had cane juice remaining.
So you might consider dissolving some turbinado sugar in water and adding it to the next batch. You might also consider King [syrup] brand "Po-T-Rick" instead of molasses.
Lastly, you can make a rather good beer, with King Po-T-Rick and hops. No need for the spruce. Remember it was a Winter and early Spring drink to keep off the scurvy. If they had molasses and hops they could just use that.
LD
One of my rel;atives used to make beer from potatoes. I recall he would bring it to the family reunion. I never tried it however I was too young to drink beer. I do not know about the historical value of this. I had talked to him and he informed me that wild hops grow along the roadside in Indiana. I've found some really nice hops vines loaded with really big hops just down my contry road. The vines are pretty common. Seems a good spot is at the corner of a bridge over a stream beside a road but they can be found just about anywhere, even in town. There was an old recipe I recall looking at that used the hops flowers not fully grown hops for a beverage also.
I found it, here it is. I is a sort of ginger beer. The hops "nettles" is what I meant.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hops--32.html#rec
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hops--32.html#rec
Last edited by a moderator:
The problem one has with any starch (like potatoes), is that starch will not ferment. For want of a longer, technical explanation, starch molecules are too big for yeast to swallow. The starch must be broken down by an enzyme into a sugar, smaller than Lactose. (Lactose is also too big for yeast to swallow) Maltose, dextrose, sucrose, fructose, and glucose, however, are small enough and yeast find them tasty. So if you are going to use a starch for beer or for vodka, you need to have a small amount of amylase or diastase, from a bit of crushed, malted grain, and you need to "mash" the starch to allow the enzyme to do it's work over time.
How did the Medieval friars get so fat? They drank large quantities of "beer" made with residual starch. It is referred to by some historians as "liquid bread".
LD
How did the Medieval friars get so fat? They drank large quantities of "beer" made with residual starch. It is referred to by some historians as "liquid bread".
LD
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Messages
- 15,602
- Reaction score
- 22
Dave, seen anything with using Honey in place of the molasses? Thought I might try a batch and I have a lot of honey here. :hmm:
Well it wouldn't bee spruce beer then. It would be a methaglin. A medicinal or herbal mead. The word "medicine" comes from this root wood.
LD
LD
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Messages
- 15,602
- Reaction score
- 22
Ok, figured honey was available, it might have been used. I'll use molasses then.
You really (imho) should try a proper ale yeast from a brewing supply house if you want a taste that is closer to the original. Baking yeast is a human altered, low flavor (don't know what you are baking so don't want to influence it much) product, selected to give off more CO2 than alcohol, for the objective is a quick rise, not booze. Bootleggers liked baking yeast as it's fast, for to them time = money, and reduced chance of discovery and apprehension + destruction of product.
LD
LD
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2011
- Messages
- 231
- Reaction score
- 8
OK guys you are making my mouth water, but I think I will stick with Miller Lite in a PC pewter mug.
Miller Lite :barf:
Sorry, couldn't resist. I regard most American commercially made mass produced beer as swill. :haha:
Yes no doubt any yeast will give you alcohol, but if you want the better flavor, try a brewer's yeast. The same can be said when making bread, but it takes a bit of work to learn how to make bread from brewer's yeast.
LD
Sorry, couldn't resist. I regard most American commercially made mass produced beer as swill. :haha:
Yes no doubt any yeast will give you alcohol, but if you want the better flavor, try a brewer's yeast. The same can be said when making bread, but it takes a bit of work to learn how to make bread from brewer's yeast.
LD
