319 Yo Brewing Book - Inherited

[chappo1970]

The language is great. I think I fall firmly into the 'others' category. Very cool book.

+1

When it says "Mufty and Rotten" I thought to myself I resemble that remark! :lol:

Dave when you eventually get around to have all the photography done I would love to see them if I can?

Cheers

Chap Chap

 

[davewaldo]

You're more than welcome to look at the real deal mate.

But I think the photos will be the best way to 'read' it.

I emailed the Head of conservation at the National Library to get some pointers for preserving this treasure and also to see if there would be any interest in the photos I take for their records.

I'll keep everyone informed

I've been putting the age of this book into perspective.... It was published only 25 years after the great plague in England, Only 10 years after Newton published his Laws of Motion and gravity. It was the same time as the Salem witch trials (I'm not a witch), and almost 100 years before the first colonies in Australia!

 

[Doc]

I too wish to add my condolences for your grandfather.
Also a great legacy in passing down the text.
Checking out Rare Books at Beer Books yours pre-dates their oldest texts.
They also have re-released old texts following duplication. Maybe ask them if they have any tips on methods to protect the original but duplicate the content.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Ross]

Dave,

Would love to see the volume & can't wait until you have it in a safer form for a good read.

All the best.

Ross

 

[kenworthy]

I too wish to add my condolences for your grandfather.
Also a great legacy in passing down the text.
Checking out Rare Books at Beer Books yours pre-dates their oldest texts.
They also have re-released old texts following duplication. Maybe ask them if they have any tips on methods to protect the original but duplicate the content.

Beers,
Doc

 

[kenworthy]

Thers a project on the internet called Project Gutenberg where they publish books that are no longer in print .Im not sure how it all works ,but its one way to get it back into circulation

 

[kenworthy]

Thers a project on the internet called Project Gutenberg where they publish books that are no longer in print .Im not sure how it all works ,but its one way to get it back into circulation

They have one book there dated 1736 calle d The London and Country Brewer which is quite intersting ,no recipes but I found it interesting

 

[davewaldo]

Thanks Doc, I'll send beerbooks.com an email and see what they have to say.

Ross, I'll bring it into the shop one day and you guys can have a look.

Thanks Kenworthy, I'll have a look into it.

And thank you everyone for the well wishes.

I've been reading through this book slowly, so far its very interesting but not any recipes yet, but plenty of recommendations on process. I hope to be able to make a small batch from the instructions solely this book.

 

[jyo]

How are you going getting through this book, Dave? Can't wait to see a recipe up on the DB.
Cheers, John.

 

[davewaldo]

Hi John,

I've been enjoying reading the book every so often. It will be some time unfortunately until I have the time to make a photographic copy of it as I'm so busy right now.

But I'm planning a brew from this book. It should be a load of fun as it breaks all the rules! (So I'll just be doing a small batch!)

Essentially its a partigyle method to make two beers from one mash, but thats where common techniques cease. The author is very much against boiling water or wort...

The process is essentially, make some water almost boiling and pour onto the grain to adequately cover the grains. Then leave for 90mins. If you want a strong first beer simply drain, if you want it weaker add some more hot water at this stage. Drain onto "desired quantity of fresh hops" in kettle.

Refill the mashtun again with hot water and allow to sit for less than one hour. Drain onto "desired quantity of fresh hops" in kettle.

Now heat the wort until nearly boiling, then strain into fermenter and ferment. It sounds like the wort might be hot for about 30mins with hops but never boiled. This should be enough to pasturise, but its not going to extract much bitterness.

So with these instructions I plan to put together a simple English styled beer which will be quite sweet, medium colour and hardly bitter at all. I think it could be quite nice

Any recipe suggestions would be great, this book doesn't mention any grain types or hop varieties (probably because there was just "hops").

When I get time I hope to do a bit more research to see what other brewing info was around during that period.

Cheers,

David.

 

[unrealeous]

Wow what a great find - I'm actually trying to brew an old english ale now - can you see if the book recommends using WPL002 or a Wyeast 1275 yeast. Thanks.

 

[jyo]

Wow, with the lack of (I assume) reliable water thermometers at the time of the book's publication, it's a wonder they hit mash temps. I just had a quick search and came up with this: (sorry for the history lesson, guys, I am just very interested in this thread.

1596
Galileo Galilei and the first thermoscope
Galileo Galilei is often claimed to be the inventor of the thermometer. However the instrument he invented could not strictly be called a thermometer: to be a thermometer an instrument must measure temperature differences; Galileo's instrument did not do this, but merely indicated temperature differences. His instrument should rightly be called a thermoscope.

1612
Santorio Santorio - the first thermometer
The Italian, Santorio Santorio (1561-1636) is generally credited with having applied a scale to an air thermoscope at least as early as 1612 and thus is thought to be the inventor of the thermometer as a temperature measuring device. Santorio's instrument was an air thermometer. Its accuracy was poor as the effects of varying air pressure on the thermometer were not understood at that time.
1654
The first sealed liquid-in-glass thermometer
The sealed liquid-in-glass thermometer, more familiar to us today, was first produced in 1654 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II (1610-1670). His thermometer had an alcohol filling. Although this was a significant development his thermometer was inaccurate and there was no standardised scale in use.

1714
The first mercury thermometer
Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was the first person to make a thermometer using mercury. The more predictable expansion of mercury combined with improved glassworking techniques led to a much more accurate thermometer


It will be interesting to give one a go. I guess you need to make a decision on yeast selection also?
Cheers, John.

 

[unrealeous]

on the topic of thermometers - I'd often wondered how they hit their mash temps in days gone by. My chemist friend pointed out you can hold an object in your hand up to around 60 degrees before it becomes too hot. Never actually tried it - maybe someone can give it a go. But if it is true - this might have been a good rule of thumb for reaching their mashing temps...

 

[marksfish]

i saw an eplsode of time team where they brewed like a medievil monk, when the mash water had cooled down from boiling so you could see your reflection in the water it was time to mash in.

 

[yardy]

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd share this little gem. Sadly my Grandfather passed away in England almost exactly 1 year ago. He was a war hero and a great man.

He was also a keen wine maker.

My mother gave me this book tonight which they found in his bedside drawer last month. Its a book called "A new art of brewing beer, ale, and other sorts of liquors".

It was published in 1691! Yep 319 years old. My grandfather had it rebound which will make it basically worthless I'm sure to a collector but that really isn't an issue as I would never sell it. But other than that its in great condition.

Its an amazing book and I'll post more info here once I've had a read.

What I know so far is that in the 17th century only 2 books about brewing were published in English. And this is one of them.

I can't wait to try a few recipes. It has instructions and recipes.

Will post more as I discover it

Cheers,

David.

G'day David,

what an heirloom, coolest thing i've seen, treasure it B)

cheers

Dave

 

[jyo]

when the mash water had cooled down from boiling so you could see your reflection in the water it was time to mash in.

I now remember reading this somewhere on AHB last year, Markfish. Amazing really.

 

[Airgead]

I got an academic mate of mine to grab me a copy of the book off the historical book archive he has access to. Its fantastic. To the author, boiling water drives off all the goodness. He explains sit all using the medical theory of the day (the balance of the various humors in the body).

My mate also found me a copy of another historical book with the snappy title of -

"The New Art of Making Above twenty Sorts of English Wines vis Of Apples, Pears, Peached, Cherries, Plums, Sloes, Damasins, Quinces, Figgs, Goosberries, Mulberries, Currens, Blackberries, Elderberries, Roses, Carnations, Cowslips, Scurvy-grass, Mint and Balm &c. More Pleasant and Agreeable to the English Constitution than those of France. With the Way of making Brandy and other spirits: As likewise how to make Artificial Clarets, Rheinlh etc to which is added The Foundation of the Art of Distilation: Or the true and genuine Way of making Malt into Low-Wines, Proof Spirits and Brandy Wines."

Its an absolute hoot. I'd love to try the fruit wines.. not sure about the true and genuine way of making low-wines, proof spirit and brandy wine though. That might get me into some trouble.

Cheers
Dave

 

[davewaldo]

Just a quick reminder: If anyone wants a copy of the digital transcript just send me a PM with your email address.

Thanks everyone for the comments. It does seem like thermometers are out the window as is any knowledge of yeast (approx 200 years before brewers knew about yeast). I plan to use an english strain but under pitch and let it take its time as I feel this would be more accurate. They would have had house strains living in their vessels but I assume they would have cleaned in between usage (hence the low pitch rate).

Also I assume strike water would need to be a bit hotter than we are used to if they were working in much cooler temps with large metal or wood mashtuns. I like the "see your reflection" technique, I'll give that a go, but I won't be boiling the water....

What do you guys think of this?

Recipe: 1691 English Ale for the Humors
Style: 11C-English Brown Ale-Northern English Brown Ale

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 11.00 l
Wort Volume After Boil: 10.00 l
Volume Transferred: 10.00 l
Water Added: 0.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 10.00 l
Final Batch Volume: 10.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.046 SG
Expected OG: 1.050 SG
Expected FG: 1.015 SG
Expected ABV: 4.7 %
Expected ABW: 3.7 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 11.2
Expected Color: 36.1 EBC
Apparent Attenuation: 70.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Duration: 5.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 20 degC

Fermentables
Ale - Maris Otter - TF Floor Malted 2.120 kg (90.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Crystal Malt Dark - Bairds 0.200 kg (8.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
Roasted Barley Unmalted - Bairds 0.012 kg (0.5 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
UK Target (9.4 % alpha) 15 g Loose Pellet Hops used 5 Min From End
UK Golding (4.8 % alpha) 15 g Loose Pellet Hops used 5 Min From End

Other Ingredients

Yeast: Wyeast 1099-Whitbread Ale

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Old School 70degree - 90 mins
Step: Rest at 70 degC for 90 mins

--------------------

I have the 1099 yeast to use so I thought that might be as good as any. I used a 5min boil for the recipe which calculates 10 IBU, I have no idea how this will translate to a slow, almost boil for 10-20mins. I chose the grains as they are simple middle of the road grains which I'm guessing would have been around. Did they have crystal malt back then?

This book also talks about malting grains so I could go the whole hog and do that too.... maybe another day....

 

[davewaldo]

I got an academic mate of mine to grab me a copy of the book off the historical book archive he has access to. Its fantastic. To the author, boiling water drives off all the goodness. He explains sit all using the medical theory of the day (the balance of the various humors in the body).

My mate also found me a copy of another historical book with the snappy title of -

"The New Art of Making Above twenty Sorts of English Wines vis Of Apples, Pears, Peached, Cherries, Plums, Sloes, Damasins, Quinces, Figgs, Goosberries, Mulberries, Currens, Blackberries, Elderberries, Roses, Carnations, Cowslips, Scurvy-grass, Mint and Balm &c. More Pleasant and Agreeable to the English Constitution than those of France. With the Way of making Brandy and other spirits: As likewise how to make Artificial Clarets, Rheinlh etc to which is added The Foundation of the Art of Distilation: Or the true and genuine Way of making Malt into Low-Wines, Proof Spirits and Brandy Wines."

Its an absolute hoot. I'd love to try the fruit wines.. not sure about the true and genuine way of making low-wines, proof spirit and brandy wine though. That might get me into some trouble.

Cheers
Dave

Sounds great Dave, what age is that book? I agree it's a hoot reading these old books! The language is very different!

 

[Airgead]

Sounds great Dave, what age is that book? I agree it's a hoot reading these old books! The language is very different!

Its dated 1694.

On the subject of yeast, if you read Digby (from aroud the same period) there are actual references to yeast... "put to it some yeast of beer..."

In fact there are references to different types of yeast.. yeast of beer, wine and ale and certain recipies called for one but not the other. Mind you a lot of the recipes called for spontaneous fermentation or were p[ut into vessels that had previously held an active fermentation and would have had yeast in them.

They also had some ingenious methods of determining the characteristics of their brew (temp, OG etc) without the aid of modern equipment. Digby often makes mention of adding honey "until the liquid shall bear up an egg the width of a groat". They are floating an egg in the liquid and using it as a crude hydrometer.

When you dig into this stuff they weren't nearly as ignorant and primitive as we think they were. Some of them anyway.

Cheers
Dave