Replicating a bygone ale

[Outback]

I have bought heaps of barley over the years for stockfeed which was grown to be malting barley. Sometimes the protein ends up too high knocking it out of that market.

 

[enikoy]

If only I could channel my ancestors knowledge! Recently informed by my Dad (who's doing the family tree hunt) that brewing must be in my genes. Based on occupations on birth & death certificates, my great grandfather on Mum's side was a brewer at The Swan Brewery, Perth in 1916 and on Dad's side is a Great, great... grandfather who was an English "malster" around 1780.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Reading a book about the history of brewing, certainly changed my mind on how good the beer probably was. The maltster's must have been doing a decent enough job using only experience and 4 of the senses, smell, sight, taste and feel. 300 years ago there were 780 common brewers and 47,500 publican brewers in the UK. Going from that it must have been a prosperous business to be in