Brewing. Part 8

Description

This section is from the "Encyclopedia Of Practical Receipts And Processes" book, by William B. Dick. Also available from Amazon: Dick's encyclopedia of practical receipts and processes.

Brewing. Part 8

886. To Make Wood's Spruce Beer

886. To Make Wood's Spruce Beer.

Boil 1/2 pint essence of spruce, 5 ounces each of bruised pimento and ginger, and 5 or 6 ounces hops in 3 gallons water for 10 minutes. Then add 3 quarts molasses and 11 gallons warm water. When lukewarm add 1 pint yeast; ferment for 24 hours and bottle, as in last receipt. This will also make a white beer by substituting an equivalent of loaf sugar instead of the molasses.

887. To Make Spruce Beer

887. To Make Spruce Beer. Take

2 ounces each hops and chips of sassafras root, 10 gallons water; boil twenty minutes, strain, and turn on, while hot, 1 gallon good molasses, and add 2 table-spoonfuls each essence of ginger and essence of spruce; 1 table-spoonful pounded allspice. Put into a cask, and when cold enough add 1 quart yeast; let it stand 24 hours; draw it off or bottle it.

888. Essence of Spruce

888. Essence of Spruce. Take of the young branches of black spruce (abies nigra), make a decoction with water (see No. 34 (To Prepare Decoctions)) and evaporate to the consistence of molasses. This is used for fabricating spruce beer - a right pleasant drink when it is fresh.

889. Root Beer

889. Root Beer. Take sarsaparilla (American). 2 pounds; spice wood, 1/2 pound; guaiacum chips, 1 pound; birch bark, 1/4 pound: ginger, 1/2 ounce; sassafras, 4 ounces; prickly-ash bark, 1/2 ounce; hops, 1 ounce. Boil for 12 hours over a moderate fire, with sufficient water, so that the remainder shall measure 5 gallons, to which add tincture of ginger, 8 ounces; oil of wintergreen, 1 ounce; alcohol, 1 quart. This prevents fermentation. To make root beer, take of this decoction 1 quart; molasses, 8 ounces; water, 21/2 gallons; yeast, 4 ounces. This will soon ferment and produce a good drinkable beverage. The root beer should be mixed, in warm weather, the evening before it is used, and can be kept for use either bottled or drawn by a common beer-pump. Most people prefer a small addition of wild cherry bitters or hot drops to the above beer. (See Nos. 821 (Wild Cherry Bitters) and 891.)

890. Puffer's Root Beer

890. Puffer's Root Beer. Prince's pine; 2 ounces; wild cherry, 2 ounces; hem-ock bark, 2 ounces; wintergreen, 4 ounces; sassafras bark, 4 ounces; birch bark, 4 ounces; spice bark, 4 ounces; Jamaica ginger, 2 ounces; white mustard seed, 1 ounce. Put in a percolator and cover with boiling water; let it stand till cold, then strain; add to it enough boiling water to make 4 gallons. Take 1 gallon of this, add 1 gallon of molasses, or the same amount of syrup ; to this add 8 gallons of water and about 1 pint of yeast. 1 pint of alcohol added will much improve its flavor, and it will keep longer.