Bad beer brewing

[jacob]

It is my understanding that a few centuries ago, people used to drink ~1 gallon of beer a day. This is not to say that they were perpetually drunk but rather that that beer was much weaker; the prime purpose being not drinking "fresh" water and risking death by diarrhea.

My questions are:
1) what is the English word for this beer type (in Danish it's "skidt oel" (direct trans. bad beer) compared to "godt oel" (trans. good beer) which corresponds more to the beer we drink today.
2) how do you brew this stuff?

[jennypenny]

what is the English word for this beer type (in Danish it's "skidt oel" (direct trans. bad beer)...?

Budweiser

[jacob]

Oh shit, I hope not ...

[workathome]

This looks interesting

"The ale was first served when still young (i.e. not done fermenting). Surprisingly, and counter to the conjectures of some historians, this ale was not sweet. Much of this lack of sweetness could be explained by the ale being (deliberately) weak.

It tasted somewhat like "liquid bread" -- much more so than more modern beer. It also had a fair amount of tannic taste; much more than could be explain by the addition of oak. I suspect this was mostly due to the final addition of boiling water just before straining out the liquor. This would tend to have the effect of extracting tannins from the hulls of the barley.

It was presented on a fairly hot day; several people commented on how refreshing such a drink could be in such conditions. It also seemed to have a fairly low alcohol content, though since I did not do a specific gravity measurement on it, I could not say what the true strength of the ale was."

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pwp/tofi/medieva ... h_ale.html

Too bad I'm gluten intolerant :'(

[Felix]

Budweiser

To be helpful: Gruit ale ?

http://www.gruitale.com/recipes_en.htm

also, this:

http://www.regia.org/brewing.htm

[Felix]

just found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwas

In Germany you also find Malzbier, which is pretty well-known. It's beer whose fermentation was stopped before significant levels of alcohol were produced. You can get it in any shop here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_%28soft_drink%29

[vivacious]

what is the English word for this beer type (in Danish it's "skidt oel" (direct trans. bad beer)...?

Budweiser

Hilarious! Hehehe.

[Chad]

Very funny Jenny.

[tzxn3]

In answer to question 1, the English term for this type of beer is "small beer".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_beer

[workathome]

The 1716 edition of The Whole Art of Husbandry offers two recipes for making small beer, the first of which is the most traditional one:

“For the Brewing of Small-Beer, or common Ale, take something above the quantity of a Barrel of Water scalding hot, which put into your Mashing-tub alone; let it cool ’till you can see your Face in it, and put to it four Bushels of Malt, pouring of it in by degrees, and stirring of it well: Let it stand on the Malt two Hours…then draw it off, and let it boil an Hour and an half in Summer, or an Hour in Winter; and when it is boiled enough, it will look curdled. Of this first Wort you may make a Barrel of Ale: After this is boiled, scald about a Barrel of Water more, and put it upon your Malt, letting it stand an Hour and an half: This draw off, and put the same quantity of hot Water on again, observing the same Rules, as before directed, of this you may make an Hogshead [about 64 US gallons] of Small-Beer. When you put it together to Work [ferment], take care that it is not too hot, and when you put Yeast to it, put it to a small quantity at first, and add more and more to it by degrees, and when it hath work’d twenty-four Hours in the Tub, Tun it up. But if you brew Small-Beer alone, two Bushels of Malt and a Pound and a half of Hops will make a Hogshead of good Small-Beer; or eight Bushels of Malt will make a Barrel of Ale, and three Hogsheads of Small-Beer. These Proportions of Brewing are for a small Family, which I chuse to Instance in, because others may easily proportion it to larger Quantities as they please.”

- See more at: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/much- ... BIhd1.dpuf

[Riggerjack]

I thought the English translation was "Guinness".

When making beer, barley malt adds sugar/alcohol and body. If you want to add alcohol but keep a light body, use corn or rice sugars. If you then dillute your sort, you will have a light beer.
Bud, and other American style pilsners use extensive rice and corn.
If you want to still have any real flavor to your watered down beer, add more hops.
Google light beer recipes for something more specific.

On a slightly different note, when I first started brewing, I was taught that the yeasts were feeding on the sugars in the wort, and died off when the alcohol levels got too high. I've recently found out that this isn't accurate. The yeasts feed on the nutrients in the packet, breathe oxygen when it is available, and multiply like mad. When they've used the available oxygen, they breathe the sugars, exhaling alcohol, so to speak. Not terribly important to most brewers, but as you recycle yeast into later batches, adding yeast nutrients can avoid the slower fermentation to can lead to infection.

[mds]

I had something like this in Vietnam call Bia Hoi. It was absolutely delicious. It's brewed fresh every day in plastic jugs and is about 3%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia_h%C6%A1i

I tried to find recipes for it, but couldn't find anything simple, besides this:

http://tnhvietnam.xemzi.com/en/grouplog ... sion/11698

[chenda]

..

[Riggerjack]

I haven't figured out how to edit posts, so here's my corrected post from above:

I thought the English translation was "Guinness".

When making beer, barley malt adds sugar/alcohol and body. If you want to add alcohol but keep a light body, use corn or rice sugars. If you then dillute your wort, you will have a light beer.
Bud, and other American style pilsners use extensive rice and corn.
If you want to still have any real flavor to your watered down beer, add more hops.
Google light beer recipes for something more specific.

On a slightly different note, when I first started brewing, I was taught that the yeasts were feeding on the sugars in the wort, and died off when the alcohol levels got too high. I've recently found out that this isn't accurate. The yeasts feed on the nutrients in the packet, breathe oxygen when it is available, and multiply like mad. When they've used the available oxygen, they breathe the sugars, exhaling alcohol, so to speak. Not terribly important to most brewers, but as you recycle yeast into later batches, adding yeast nutrients can avoid the slower fermentation that can lead to infection. This is also important when brewing strong beers like barley wines. Splashing your wort when racking can also increase initial oxygen content, kick starting your yeast population.

[BecaS]

Riggerjack, my husband brews beer. I have a passing familiarity; he is the knowledgeable one about this. I am curious though, about something you mentioned: recycling yeast. Do you generate your own yeast?

We use one dose of store bought beer yeast per batch.

I make rustic fruit wines occasionally (haven't in a few years) and I use some of the higher attenuation yeasts in some of my wines. Again, one dose per batch.

Barley wine? Do tell.

The Husband favors IPAs but he will brew a summer wheat beer for me when I request it. (Hmmm, apricot wheat...) He will brew a Scottish ale or a winter warmer for the holidays... which reminds me, it's about time to start our Christmas brew.

We have a few Cascadia hops vines in our garden. We have dehydrated hops in our freezer but I'm not sure that Husband has used them in our own beer yet. He has used pelletized hops in previous beers.

Sorry to hijack the thread, Jacob. Riggerjack said some things that interest me!

[skintstudent]

I don't personally re-use yeast, but know that many breweries do. I believe it came from a tradition where some of the previous brew was sacrificied, in order to bless the new brew and enhance it's chance of success. We now know that this worked due to the transfer of brewing yeasts into the new brew.

[Felix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdwYjFnFoJU#at=19

[workathome]

Woo hoo! I just got my first "gluten free" brew kit. If successful, would cut per beer cost by 50%+, plus learn an interesting skill.

[workathome]

Wort is in fermenter and has already started bubbling

[JV]

Congrats! I've got a braggot going (roughly half malt and half honey/adjunct sugars) using a mead yeast that should get this puppy up to a whopping 14.6% ABV.

As for reusing yeast, it has to be done pretty precisely. I've heard you should wait about 2-3 days after the yeast starts flocculation, let some of the yeast that has dropped to the bottom pour out, then collect yeast from the middle of the flocculation. Then, keep the yeast in cold storage and use it within a week of collecting it.

Just reusing any old yeast will likely end up turning your beer into vinegar. I've had some pretty tart sour beers, but nothing quite like that. I suppose you could do a gallon with reused yeast, a 3+ gallon batch with a fresh yeast pack, then blend them after fermentation for some tartness.

I've thought about trying that at some point (I've got some yeast saved from Fort George Brewery in Astoria, OR), but I currently only have one open fermentor right now. Guess I could get another since they're only $15 and are very reusable. Don't want to splurge too much, though - kinda defeats the purpose of working towards FI.

Yes I've been drinking, how can you tell?