Small beer?

[stephenfranks]

Has anyone seen a recipe for an old fashioned "Small Beer", drunk by children in days of old due to poor water quality? I am of the impression that the abv is 1% - 2.5%...

I believe it was made from second runnings?

I thought it may make a nice lunchtime drink..weekends of course only..

[thomas.cena09]

Small bear is a very good option when you drink a full beer and you are not satisfied but you can't drink the same bottle, that time you can go for small bear.

[stephenfranks]

Quite.

[WishboneBrewery]

I think the Smallest 'Small beer' is still OG1040 in the Durden park book.

[stephenfranks]

Gosh, thats terrible if children were roaring drunk!

[6470zzy]

This is not of much use as a recipe, however it is of some marginal interest at least from a historical viewpoint.


George Washington's Recipe for Beer

George Washington was a devout beer lover. In particular, he was fond of the dark, English-style brew known as porter, and always demanded that an ample supply of it be kept on hand at Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate. However, it was not porter, but rather "small beer," for which Washington once recorded an early recipe. Preserved in the manuscript collections of the New York Public Library is a notebook kept by Washington, which includes the following hand-written recipe.

"To Make Small Beer

Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. -- Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask -- leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."
*************************************
All I have to do now is find where I put my 3 gallons of molasses.......................... cheers

[TC2642]

Gosh, thats terrible if children were roaring drunk!

But better than dying of dystentry. From what I remember small beer was the stuff that you got from the the third mash of a strong beer. So if you want to recreate it make a Barley wine with a high OG, run off. Do a secondary mash, run off and then do a third and ferment all separately.

I also don't think the George Washington recipe for beer isn't really beer IMO more of a wash.

[yashicamat]

Smallest beer I can think of that'd work would be a mild, plenty of crystal in it and made up with mild ale malt, mash high (about 69 degrees) and use a low attenuating yeast like windsor. You should be able to get away with a beer of an OG of 1026 or so and an FG of 1011, would give you about 2% abv.

You want to gear everything up to leaving as much body as possible, otherwise you'll end up with coloured water . . .

[stephenfranks]

That sounds like a good recipe. I have a Mild fermenting at the moment - Festival Mild. depending on how it turns out I can tweak the recipe for the lower OG.

I'm at the stage where I am either fermenting or conditioning, but not drinking anything. The beer closest to drinking is far to bitter at the moment !!!!!!

BTW tap works very well, pours perfectly (slowly). Maybe my force carbonating did work as it dispensed quite a fizzy pint. Before when I used my party tap, I was waiting for the froth to turn to beer, by which time it was flat...

[yashicamat]

That sounds like a good recipe. I have a Mild fermenting at the moment - Festival Mild. depending on how it turns out I can tweak the recipe for the lower OG.

I'm at the stage where I am either fermenting or conditioning, but not drinking anything. The beer closest to drinking is far to bitter at the moment !!!!!!

BTW tap works very well, pours perfectly (slowly). Maybe my force carbonating did work as it dispensed quite a fizzy pint. Before when I used my party tap, I was waiting for the froth to turn to beer, by which time it was flat...

Yeah, the Dalex isn't rapid at dispensing, but as long as you're getting the pint you're after, that's the main thing. Did you trim the piping at all, or leave it at the length I included?

[stephenfranks]

Left it same length. I will try it for a while as is..

[yashicamat]

The flow control is behind the handle (if I remember correctly) and is a ring with protrusions on it. You can turn this around to alter the flow if needs be. From memory, I think I had it set to quite a high flow rate as I was dispensing virtually uncarbonated beer.

[stephenfranks]

Thanks for that...I am going to make up a mounting plate for my corny, at the moment I am hand dispensing which isnt ideal.... Once ive done this I will tweak the flow!