George Washington’s Homebrew Recipe
I had to post this one for all the homebrewers…the New York Public Library Division of Manuscripts and Archives has posted George Washinton’s Beer Recipe. Here it is from 1757:
Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste—Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gall. into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler. Strain the Beer on it while boiling hot let this stand til it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold cover it over with a Blanket. Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask. Leave the Bung open til it is almost done working—Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed
I’m currently reading Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer so this post really hit home!
Now, if I only had a home brew kit…
Damn, gorgeous George was making one big batch. I’m content with the 48 bottles we squeezed out of a 5 gal. carboy.
“Blood warm”…what a badass
Hey Randy, can I borrow that book when you’re done?
Sure… It’s great so far (half way through) it reads like fiction.
Man, that recipe is great. And, indeed, Devon, that would make a MASSIVE batch of beer. Just the three gallons of molasses is heavy on its own. Working that down to a carboy’s worth of beer would be workable, though, and very interesting. We should make an attempt to do that.
By the way, can I borrow that book after Tony is done with it? Ha ha ha……….