[Sca-cooks] Re: Small beer, was period beverages

[John Kemker]

My message on the SCA_Brew list:

*From:*  "John" <john at k... 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sca_brew/post?protectID=045233214185146182184154159077172208078143038>> 

*Date:*  Mon Oct 7, 2002  6:43 pm
*Subject:*  "Small Beer"



This last weekend, The Barony Of The South Downs
(http://www.baronyofthesouthdowns.org) held their 30th Red
Tower Tournament, an event older than the Kingdom of Meridies in
which it is held. It was my privilege to contribute to both the
Dayboard (lunch buffet) as well as the Feast. The Dayboard was not
notable as far as SCA_Brew is concerned, but for the Feast, I
prepared a "small beer" for the enjoyment of our guests. I am happy
to say that it was well received.

This was NOT a period "small beer." The Cuisiner, Mistress
Christianna McGrain, approached me to help her provide a non-
alcoholic beer-like beverage for the feast, since we had a problem
with both the Society's injunction against SCA funds being used to
provide alcohol and the site being as dry as the Mojave at high
noon. (It's a church camp in the Deep South.)

I learned a few lessons from the experience that I thought I might
share with the list:

1) Keep the specific gravity low. (Thanks, Nathi!) This beer came
out close to 1.015, which would be what we would expect a fermented
beer to finish at.

2) Lightly hop.

3) If you can, filter the beer before kegging, otherwise you lose
about a gallon to "mud" runoff.

4) Force carbonate like a soda.

5) Watch for clogs in the dip tube if you don't filter. About
halfway through the feast, the beverage captain called for me, as the
beer had stopped flowing. We had been pumping at 5lbs. pressure to
push the beer out and had to raise it to 15lbs. to get past the clog.

My recipe was pretty simple:

2.5 lbs. 2-Row Muntons&Fisons Pale Ale malt
0.25 lbs. Carafoam
0.25 lbs. Special B

3 quarts water, mash for 90 minutes at 155F
Mash-out for 10 minutes at 176F
Sparge at 176F to get 5 quarts total

Boil for 90 minutes with 1/4t Irish moss and two handsful of Cascades
(Use your favorite hops. I used what I had.) in a hopsock. Chill by
pouring hot wort directly into keg filled with ice, add cold water to
bring up to 5 gallons. Start forced carbonation immediately, pushing
all oxygen out by venting once CO2 is applied. This is where I would
probably transfer to another keg under pressure through a filter to
clear the final product.

KEEP COLD AND SERVE WITHIN TWO DAYS! There is NO alcohol and very
little hops to prevent an infection.

Comments ranged from "Eww! It tastes like beer!" (non-beer drinkers)
to "Not bad, for a non-alcoholic beer." to "Tastes better than
American beer!" to "Very refreshing. Doesn't have the heavy malt
taste that a lot of 'small beers' tend to have."