Wednesday, 12 October 2016

History: Brewing a 'Scotch Ale' in 1837 - More Questions Than Answers?


I came across this today in the library and felt it was postworthy...


'SCOTCH ALE - I would also say a few words on the method of brewing beer, lately introduced from Scotland, which English farmers may find it convenient to adopt. The wort is made and also boiled with the hops, in the usual manner, adding three fourths of an ounce of ising-glass to every hogshead of wort; but instead of cooling it, and adding the yeast to produce fermentation, the hot liquor is put immediately into the cask, and in some days it cools, and then ferments in a peculiar manner, without the addition of any ferment, and in the usual time is found to be converted into an excellent liquor, quite fine and mellow. I am told it generally turns out to be superior to beer brewed in the usual way, at the same time there is a saving of one-fourth part of the malt, three bushels producing as good a cask of beer as four by the old method. - Correspondent of the Buck's Gazette'

 [Carlow Sentinel – 1837 via Carlow Library Local Studies Room]
Notwithstanding the fact that I am a not-very-successful homebrewer with a poor understanding of fermentation, I have a few issues with this piece...


Would the near-boiling heat of the wort not kill off any yeast - or other fermentation bacteria - in the barrel and therefore produce a sterile environment? Could yeast re-enter the barrell somehow?

Would this be a Brett, Pedio or Lacto strain?

How would this method actually reduce the quantity of malt required?


Allowing that this is a repost, of a repost, of possible hearsay, from 1837 perhaps something got lost along the way. I'm also aware that this is not the 'normal' definition of a Scotch Ale and I assume here it just means an ale from Scotland ...

I'd be interested in any comments anyone might have on the process and how it could work.

Liam
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7 comments:

  1. The Beer Nut12 October 2016 at 15:28

    Certainly looks a bit like lambic-style spontaneous fermentation to me.

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  2. Ron Pattinson12 October 2016 at 17:57

    What sort of brewery is he talking about? The 1840's William Yonger's records show the addition of yeast.

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  3. The Beer Nut12 October 2016 at 18:16

    It's directed at "farmers" and published in a newspaper so I assume it's home brewing.

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  4. Liam12 October 2016 at 18:17

    Thanks for the replys.

    There's no mention of a brewery, it was just a small article in a local paper. It could be all hearsay but I just wondered if wild yeast would survive the process of putting near-boiling wort in a barrel, and if they would ferment out to make a 'fine and mellow', 'superior' beer with less malt.

    Or if anyone had come across this method before?

    I can appreciate there are many 'ifs' and 'buts'...

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  5. Liam12 October 2016 at 18:50

    I found the original article I think ... with some interesting comments on cider production too - Page 98 and 99

    https://books.google.ie/books?id=qixOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false


    The Beer Nut, I think you're right about the homebrewing, I've seen adverts for hops for sale in local shops around this period too, so presumably it was common enough here.

    I still find it interesting though.

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  6. Ron Pattinson12 October 2016 at 19:11

    Intersting. I didn't think there was much domestic brewing in Ireland. But I've only got patchy - and possibly unreliable - data.

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  7. Liam12 October 2016 at 19:28

    That hop advert is from 1831 and mentions 'Kentish and Sussex hops' for sale, and Carlow was a major supplier of malt. It's from a general grocery and farming store in the town and not a wholesaler, but I could be making a huge assumption based on little information.

    Unfortunately I've nothing definitive apart from that...

    Finding info on what the local breweries of that time were brewing, who owned them and where precisely the were is hard enough!

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