Ale & Small Beer

[bobsbeer]

I have been reading a couple of interesting books published by the Guttenberg Project about brewing. Admittedly they are old. 1736,
('The London and Country Brewer', author unknown), and ('A Treatise on the Brewing of Beer' by E. Hughes), 1796. They are in e book format downloadable for free. Google the title and they will show up.

Anyway of interest was the practice of brewing 2 or even 3 beers from one mash. A quote from The London and Country Brewer, "...Out of five Bushels of Malt, I generally make a Hogshead of Ale with the two first Coppers of wort, and a Hogshead of small Beer with the other two..." Has anyone tried this?

 

[Vossy1]

Has anyone tried this?

Yes, also known as Parti Gyle brewing., plenty of info here
The Durden Park book is also a really good read/recipe base for such styles of brewing.
Have a look at this thread :thumb:

 

[Devonhomebrew]

mate a hogshead is 52 gallons lol he was making it for his pub sounds like also the first 2 drains were very strong the 3rd was weeker thus making the soda pop of the day + safe to drink it aswell

 

[bobsbeer]

Thanks Vossy. A good read by the look of it. Especially Phils explanation whichtakes a bit of getting your head round. So further rereading is in order.

he was making it for his pub

I don't believe he was, I think it was for personal consumption. I suspect the author, unfortunatly unknown, was a wealthy gent who by the sound, of it travelled the land sampling beer. And by the sound of it a would be founder member of CAMRA if such a society had existed in 1736.

 

[calumscott]

he was making it for his pub

I don't believe he was, I think it was for personal consumption. I suspect the author, unfortunatly unknown, was a wealthy gent who by the sound, of it travelled the land sampling beer. And by the sound of it a would be founder member of CAMRA if such a society had existed in 1736.

Didn't "public house" take a different meaning back then? Small beer was indeed the drink of the masses, low enough in alcohol to not get you bladdered in the working day but alcoholic enough to be safer to drink than water...

The public house was a small business who would offer Ales and Small Beer and nothing else. Fife, I'm led to believe, had the town (well, village actually - Celardyke) with the highest density of public houses with 1 pub for less than every 3 people!