tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post2088324050233798191..comments2024-03-28T13:20:29.156-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Small Beer brewed from unmalted barleyRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-78945650409505108772015-10-08T02:53:54.667-07:002015-10-08T02:53:54.667-07:00"Spared the Stalinist terror"? Yeah, but..."Spared the Stalinist terror"? Yeah, but the problem is all the things we haven't been spared.Gene Poolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16252152411024032139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-81844597639553741752011-11-16T01:56:43.570-08:002011-11-16T01:56:43.570-08:00"You should do an entire website of this stuf..."You should do an entire website of this stuff."<br /><br />Well, you know, I'd like to, but then big players in the brewing industry and major publishing houses would keep bombarding me with commissions, and I just haven't got the time - I've got beer to brew.......Rodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-41246841214308749482011-11-15T11:49:48.442-08:002011-11-15T11:49:48.442-08:00I am sure I saw a reference to brewing with unmalt...I am sure I saw a reference to brewing with unmalted grain somewhere. Let me look it up...Rob Sterowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870233673933087794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-28661018081839814982011-11-15T11:48:43.044-08:002011-11-15T11:48:43.044-08:00Brilliant, Rod. You should do an entire website of...Brilliant, Rod. You should do an entire website of this stuff. It would be just as accurate as the German Beer Institute, but much more amusing.Rob Sterowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870233673933087794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-34481943009631707382011-11-14T10:13:51.091-08:002011-11-14T10:13:51.091-08:00This from the Oxford Companion to Beer, by Herr Do...This from the Oxford Companion to Beer, by Herr Doktor Professor Horst Graf von Dornbusch - Scottish domestic ales in the 19th Century.<br />Due the harsh Scottish environment, where nobody had anything but oats to eat, every Scottish home brewed its own beer, since money had not been invented. Most bothies and crofts used the recipe that Robert the Bruce gave Bonny Prince Charlie.<br />Scottish domestic beer, which is usually known in North America as Heavy Wee, was brewed from unmalted barley, which was in plentiful supply, as Scotland, despite its apallingly cold climate is, in fact, the bread basket of the United Kingdom. It was not neccessary to malt the barley in Scotland because the peat in the water, especially in Alloa, the foremost brewing town, created sulphuric acid in the mashing liquor which made malting unneccesary.<br />Using unmalted barley was a huge double whammy for the canny, not to say stingy, Scots - it was cheaper because it hadn't gone through the 4 year malting process, but most importantly to the fiercly independant Scots, as fiery as their red hair, it meant that they didn't have to pay the despised Sassenachs the tax imposed upon malt, which was just as tyrannical in its way as the tax imposed upon the American colonialists' tea, which lead to the American Revolution, the birth of this great nation. By which I mean America, obviously, not Germany. Thank God that America was spared the Stainist terror which means that even today all Czeh breweries grind grain by horse power and run enirely with staem engines, not electricity. God bless this great country of ours - well, yours.... Still I digress -<br />The resultant Scottish home-brewed ale, or Little Wee, was exceptionally pale, due to the use of unmalted barley, and therefore much superior to English Pale Ale in every regard, except the fact that it didn't really taste of anything very much, especially since it was barely shown any hops. These, of course, perish immediately they enter Scottish territorial waters, due to the extreme cold.<br />These Scottish domestic, or "Bothy" ales are the direct forerunner of the unique Scotch Ales, such as Kwak, which are still popular in Belgium today. The Belgian Scotch Ales are stonger, of course, because they used to regularly freeze on the arduous sea journey to Belgium - the greatly inceased ABV prevented this from happening.Rodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-68120320280532011722011-11-14T09:44:34.827-08:002011-11-14T09:44:34.827-08:00Right, here we go - this is my Horst explanation, ...Right, here we go - this is my Horst explanation, which, brilliantly, incorporates the Scottish peatiness myth!<br /><br />ROD<br />AAAAAAAhh - AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!<br />Makes it up as he goes along!<br /><br />The always-accurate Wikipedia says -<br /><br />"Acid sulfate soils are naturally occurring soils, sediments or organic substrates (e.g. peat) that are formed under waterlogged conditions. These soils contain iron sulfide minerals (predominantly as the mineral pyrite) or their oxidation products. In an undisturbed state below the water table, acid sulfate soils are benign. However if the soils are drained, excavated or exposed to air by a lowering of the water table, the sulfides react with oxygen to form sulfuric acid."<br /><br />There we have it! Peat-laden Scottish water is full of naturally-ocurring sulphuric acid, which cleaves the glycosidic bonds (acid hydrolysis of starch) between the starch, release free glucose and avoiding the need for malting!<br />Horrah!<br /><br />That's every bit as good as any of Horst's.......Rodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-671309899137894742011-11-14T07:46:53.943-08:002011-11-14T07:46:53.943-08:00Rod, you're confused. I'm totally lost.Rod, you're confused. I'm totally lost.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-39868700917495873252011-11-14T07:05:15.580-08:002011-11-14T07:05:15.580-08:00I'm still not sure I'm getting this.
&quo...I'm still not sure I'm getting this.<br /><br />"For it is during the mashing that the starch of the barley is converted into a saccharine matter. This change seems to be owing merely to the chemical combination of a portion of water with the starch of the barley"<br /><br />I don't read this as him saying that they are adding acid to the mash, but that there is some chemical (presumably an acid?)found in the water which is causing saccrification. <br />Similar to -<br /><br />"when common starch is converted into sugar, by boiling it with very dilute sulphuric acid, or any other acid"<br /><br />Or am I completely confused here?Rodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-66991007287384485252011-11-14T00:02:07.198-08:002011-11-14T00:02:07.198-08:00"even if you mashed for a longer time? How mu..."even if you mashed for a longer time? How much diastase does raw grain contain, compared to malted barley, do you know?"<br /><br />very little to none, the germination/malting process will allow expression of α/β amylase and other enzymes.<br /><br />The authors talks of "This change seems to be owing merely to the chemical combination of a portion of water with the starch of the barley; just as happens when common starch is converted into sugar, by boiling it with very dilute sulphuric acid, or any other acid."<br /><br />What there are doing is using acid to cleave the glycosidic bonds (acid hydrolysis of starch) between the starch, release free glucose and avoiding the need for maltingOblivioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04184794716327407609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-89762912131980802652011-11-13T05:01:57.902-08:002011-11-13T05:01:57.902-08:00You can be sure that if it was possible to evade m...You can be sure that if it was possible to evade malt tax some people would do it! There are plenty of cases in our local history of people being fined for not paying the tax.Which of course shows that the law was being enforced with some vigour.Parts of Scotland were perhaps remote enough to make the risk worth while.<br />However, the malt tax is only part of it.If you're going to spend some hours brewing with its attendant hard work it's false economy to end up with a tasteless brew which is what would be the result.And you've only got to chew raw barley to realise just how bland it is relative to malt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-91241566274593909422011-11-13T01:48:25.982-08:002011-11-13T01:48:25.982-08:00Rod, I know it's possible. And it's no sur...Rod, I know it's possible. And it's no surprise that Scots brewers might be tempted to use raw grain. Whisky distillers often used a combination of malt and raw grain in their wash. And there were Scottish breweries that also owned distilleries.<br /><br />I'd have thought flavour might have been a problem. Barley doesn't have the same flavour as malted barley.<br /><br />I've only been able to track a very small number of references to the Scottish raw grain Table Beer. I'd love to know more.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-80058368441688477992011-11-13T01:04:57.903-08:002011-11-13T01:04:57.903-08:00This is just something I've never thought of. ...This is just something I've never thought of. Raw grain would be cheaper, but what would the yield be like? Surely nothing like as good, even if you mashed for a longer time? How much diastase does raw grain contain, compared to malted barley, do you know?<br /><br />You can see how raw grain would have given a paler beer though - in those days any kilned malt would presumably have taken a bit of colour.<br /><br />I can sort of see domestic brewing with raw grain, but the assertion that it was done on a commercial scale is very interesting. As is the idea that some Belgian Wit was brewed with raw grain - some Belgian brewers use raw wheat even today.Rodnoreply@blogger.com