tuesday october the 15th 1974!

[kay-jay]

hi everyone,

i now have a few ag brews experience (most documented on here) so now the time has come for me to try one of my granddads recipes from 1974, brew no 80 according to his brewing diary.
apparently he was something of a homebrewing pioneer and brewed from 1970 or thereabouts despite having his own pub at the time. the drey man (then still horse pulled) from the brewery (thwaites) used to bring him malted barley while making deliveries to the pub.

anyway my next brew is the first one i have tried from his brew journals, i have held off till now because i wanted a bit of experience first so i could really do it justice.

what follows is a verbatim copy of his recipe and method from his journal.

brew 80
tues oct 15th 1974
gross 5 3/4 gal
net bottled 5 1/2 gall


ingredients

6lb pale malt = 75% 180 deg
1/2 lb crystal = 12.5% 15 deg
1/4 lb flaked maize = 6.25% 7.5 deg
1/4 lb flaked barley = 6.25% 7.5 deg
1lb sugar(fructose) = 12.5%

for 5 3/4 gall = 247 degrees of gravity
for 1 gall =42.8

actual attained = 38 degrees
efficiency 90% approx

1 heaped teaspoon gypsum
2 1/2 ozs goldings hops
dutch yeast
i gram irish moss boiled with hops
mixed up dry beer finings
gordons heading powder.


method to follow............


KJ

[floydmeddler]

Looks good! Be nice to revive and sup an ale he created and used to enjoy.

[micmacmoc]

How did this go Kay Jay?
(it was the day before my 9th birthday)
Great story too.

[Dennis King]

Just read this for the 1st time, intresting, Dutch yeast.

[staplefordbill]

Just read this for the first time too. I think there's something special about brewing between the generations. I have a Boots brewing book my Granddad used to own, as well as an old demijohn of his. I'll be a proud dad indeed if either of my daughters become brewers when they're older.

How did the beer turn out kay-jay?

[RichardG]

...and what exactly is 'Dutch yeast'?

[Invalid Stout]

...and what exactly is 'Dutch yeast'?

Not sure but it might be an obsolete term for what we nowadays call fresh yeast or compressed yeast, those beige-grey cubes that you can buy in some supermarkets. Or perhaps he was just using dried yeast from a Dutch manufacturer.

You'd think if the brewery was delivering his malt to him they'd let him have some yeast too!

[GARYSMIFF]

...and what exactly is 'Dutch yeast'?

those beige-grey cubes that you can buy in some supermarkets.

Or dark ones from Coffee Shops in Amsterdam

[kay-jay]

...and what exactly is 'Dutch yeast'?

Not sure but it might be an obsolete term for what we nowadays call fresh yeast or compressed yeast, those beige-grey cubes that you can buy in some supermarkets. Or perhaps he was just using dried yeast from a Dutch manufacturer.

You'd think if the brewery was delivering his malt to him they'd let him have some yeast too!

All i know is it was in his notes as a brewing yeast so was unlikely to have been fresh yeast. It is likely that it did come via the dray man along with the malt but its impossible to say for certain. I can tell you that the pub he ran was a thwaitses house, perhaps one of our members may know something of the yeast they used around that time???

I would like to again thank those who have expressed an interest in my grandads pioneering home brew.

KJ.

[jimp2003]

How did the brew turn out kay-jay? Have you discovered any more gems from the archives?

Jim

[haz66]

Wow this is pretty neat, i would have been 8 when your Grandad brewed this, do you know which pub he ran and if its still open today.
Also that book must be full of recipes i bet theres some gems in there.

[kay-jay]

Wow this is pretty neat, i would have been 8 when your Grandad brewed this, do you know which pub he ran and if its still open today.
Also that book must be full of recipes i bet theres some gems in there.

Yes the pub is still there. Done a bit of supping there over the years. Its struggling at the moment. The book is largely variations on a theme. It seems he knew what he liked and set about trying to perfect it. It is very interesting reading.

[Dennis King]

Wow this is pretty neat, i would have been 8 when your Grandad brewed this, do you know which pub he ran and if its still open today.
Also that book must be full of recipes i bet theres some gems in there.

Yes the pub is still there. Done a bit of supping there over the years. Its struggling at the moment. The book is largely variations on a theme. It seems he knew what he liked and set about trying to perfect it. It is very interesting reading.

As a brewer from that era it is probably a case of being limited to what ingredients he could get. Pale, crystal malt and roast barley were about the only ones you could get hold of regular, with the occasional flaked maize or flaked barley. Fuggles or goldings again occasionally northern brewer the only hops.

[Spud395]

Interesting, I like links with the past, especially when it involves family.

My father worked in a now defunct maltings in the 1940's, now if I could only get some of that malt