Historical Bristol recipes?

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KevinS
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Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:38 pm

Historical Bristol recipes?

Post by KevinS »

I recently brewed a beer based on Durden Park's 1850 Whitbread Porter and it got me thinking about historic recipes.

I would love to try and brew a recipe from one of the old Bristol breweries but I am struggling to find where to even start.

Does anyone know of any historical recipes from old Bristol breweries such as Georges (or one of the many breweries it later acquired)? I know that many of the Bristol breweries started out brewing porter and so it would be great to try and find a recipe or recipe notes from the time.

Alternatively, if anyone can point me in the direction of any local beer historians that would be immensely helpful :)
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Historical Bristol recipes?

Post by I_used_to_brew »

KevinS wrote:
Alternatively, if anyone can point me in the direction of any local beer historians that would be immensely helpful :)
Colin would be your man. Doesn't get on the forum much, but he's usually at BCB meetings.
colinp
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Re: Historical Bristol recipes?

Post by colinp »

The only historical Bristol Brewers recipes I have are from the Durden Park book (ISBN 0 9517752 1 9), and they are all Georges.
Recipe 9 - X Ale (1867) - Georges Porter Brewery - Mild Ale.
Recipe 16 - Pale Ale (1889) Georges Brewery Bristol.
Recipe 44 - Strong Ale (1896) Georges Brewery Bristol.
Recipe 121 - Brown Stout (1867) Georges Porter Brewery.

It takes some reading to understand the recipes and a bit of finger in the air for timings and temperatures. Steve and Matt have brewed several recipes from this book and may be able to assist in interpretation.

You could write to "The Brewery History Society" asking if any of thier members have any old recipes from Bristol Breweries, although brewers day books are usually pretty hard to interpret - email journal@breweryhistory.com
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Bimster
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Re: Historical Bristol recipes?

Post by Bimster »

I don't know anything about historical recipies if I'm honest as it doesn't float my boat!

however, I do remember at meetings, a lot of conversations about the malt being different nowadays, compared to historical times. I seem to recall that modern malt is different in terms of diastaticness (if that is even a word) and the malt of old was smoky due to the malting process.

Probably completely wrong and/or irrelvant but thought I'd say something as it maybe relevant when thinking of such recipies.
James

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KevinS
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Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:38 pm

Re: Historical Bristol recipes?

Post by KevinS »

Thanks for the sources Colin, the Durden Park book has been on my wishlist for some time now, so this will be the final push I needed to get a copy! Thanks also for the note about the Brewery History Society, never even crossed my mind to contact them so I will fire them an email.
Bimster wrote:I do remember at meetings, a lot of conversations about the malt being different nowadays, compared to historical times. I seem to recall that modern malt is different in terms of diastaticness (if that is even a word) and the malt of old was smoky due to the malting process.
Thanks for this Bimster. I feel like this is one of the random things I have heard as well, but never found any great resources around it. How would the diastatic nature effect the beer overall, in terms of how sweet/dry it is, or in other ways?
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