beer styles

[Earik MacSkellie]

Speaking of hops...

I would like to pose another question based on beer style. I know that a lot of us have started making beer using local resources such as home brew shops. We have been introduced to many delicious beer styles which may or may not be documentable as having existed in period. There is nothing wrong with this, and the process is the same for just about everything we brew. It makes for good practice.

I would like to know if anyone has references for period beer styles? I am working on putting together a comprehensive list of period beer styles and am finally realizing how big this task is. Specifically, I am editing the BJCP style guidelines to reflect only documentable beers. Any help you can send my way would be greatly appreciated.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the BJCP, you can find more information and some great brewing resources at http://www.bjcp.org/index.php. This also includes the new Mead Judge Certification. 

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 9:09 PM, Baden,Doug <ba...@oclc.org> wrote:

Remember, spam is no good in beer.

 

Now, just adding the proper amount of hops is another matter J.

 

Hop wars anyone?

 

How much do you use for a 5 gallon batch?

 

Arundel

 

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When I see the words "And it is obvious that...", I know I have many hours of hard work to "see" the obvious.

--
Ld. Earik MacSkellie, esq.
Ayreton Brewers Guild

"Doo after the good and leve the evyl, and it shal brynge you to good fame and renommee."
- William Caxton's preface to Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur

[Baden,Doug]

Surprisingly I have found that the law is an excellent place to find documentation.  In England in the 15th century it was illegal in London to use hops on the west side of the Thames River.  The change I found was they extended it to the whole city.  Interesting documentation for using hops.  The law around beer verses ale was all about using hops (beer) and using gruits. 

 

BTW the recipes for gruits are still closely held secrets by the guilds.  I have seen a few, but not all that many. 

 

There are some other sources that I have, though it may take me until next week.  There is this coronation this weekend I have to assist the Lady in preparing for.

 

Arundel

 

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When I see the words "And it is obvious that...", I know I have many hours of hard work to "see" the obvious.

 

[Robert Wenzlaff]

On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 14:22 +0400, Earik MacSkellie wrote:
> I would like to know if anyone has references for period beer styles?
> I am working on putting together a comprehensive list of period beer
> styles and am finally realizing how big this task is. Specifically, I
> am editing the BJCP style guidelines to reflect only documentable
> beers. Any help you can send my way would be greatly appreciated.

That's a tough one. Some of the styles in the BJCP may have roots back
to SCA period, but what we consider the modern style can be traced back
to a specific town's commercial brewery, and generally down to one
style-defining innovation. Many of these innovations were driven by the
industrialization of the brewing industry and are thus post-period.
Others grew as a trend out of incremental improvements to the process.

Example: Oatmeal Stout. As a style, Oatmeal was first added to
beer in England in the mid 1800's. It was primarily added for health
reasons (the innovation here is to market beer to the sick and
pregnant women. Yes, this is due to industrialization. If you can make
a lot of it, you need to sell a lot of it so you look for niche'
markets.) It was this that defined our modern Oatmeal-stout as a style.

However the origins of using oats in Beers and ales does go back much
farther. The Domesday Book of the Abey of St. Paul, (1280 IIRC) shows
that up to 40% of the grain tithed to the abbey was malted oats. Since
St. Paul's primary economic activity was brewing, we can assume that
their ale would have had many of the same mouth characteristics as the
modern oatmeal stout. Did it have all of them? We don't know.

My suggestion is to eliminate the obvious (American Ales, etc) and look
for that pinnacle moment that defined each style. If it was a specific
innovation out-of-period eliminate that. The "trend" styles that are
left, identify the key signature of the style and see how that relates
to the trend.

--
**************************************************
As Socrates once said:
"I drank what?????"
**************************************************
Godfrey Thacker of Northumberland
Robert Wenzlaff rwen...@soylent-green.com

[Pete Jensen]

I've used both flaked and malted oats in beer; the former adds body
and head retention; the latter not so much, but there is an earthiness
to the finished product.

Here's one take for a heather ale I tried to make based on an "in
period" recipe:

2 lbs 8.0 oz Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 30.30 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.18 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel Wheat Malt (46.0 SRM) Grain 18.18 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3.03 %
0.40 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
0.60 oz Mugwort (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
0.65 gm Gale, Sweet (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Yarrow Flowers (Dry-Hopped) Misc
2.00 oz Heather Tips (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
6.00 oz Heather Tips (Dry Hopped) Misc
6.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2 lbs 8.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 30.30 %
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

This turned out well, had a decent kick to it, and a "Scotch Whiskey"
taste to it.