A lot of the winter/holiday/spiced ales you can go buy are done with nutmeg. Plenty of people use it, you just have to be careful as it can quickly blow up a beer if you go overboard.
Thank you for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone for us, Jon! You did awesome with the first person reenacting...not like anyone ever doubted it =D
How timely. I just kegged my first Gruit last night! It has 8 lb malted barley, 1 lb malted wheat, 1 lb malted rye and 1 lb honey. It is spiced with Sweet Gale, Yarrow, lavender and heather.
I shop at a local Homebrew shop in Okc. I've also bought a lot from Austin home brew and northern brewer online. I forget where I got the herbs. I think amazon
Great direction. It is in-character, conversational between the both of you, with minimal consideration of the camera. This direction is becoming more unique / valuable in contrast to so many RU-vidrs barking a bunch of words at a camera. Keep up the good work.
Here in the UK the Wild Beer Co brewery released a gruit as the spring 2017 edition of their Rooting Around series. I've had it a couple of times and it's really nice. Lacking the bitter hop kick common to many beers but with a subtle yeastiness and a delicate, slightly citrusy herbal quality. Only 3% but very pleasant and refreshing on a warm day.
By the way, aniseseed as shown here and star anise come from different (and not closely related) plants. Star anise is the fruits of Illicium verum, which is native to Vietnam and southern China. Anise seed (the more common spice in Western countries) is the seeds of Pimpinella anisum, which is native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean lands. The two have rather similar flavors (licorice-like), but the tastes are not identical, so it makes some sense to use both in a drink recipe. It would be interesting to know if each one has a different effect on fermentation, but I have no information on that.
Interesting! There is also an anise of the _Illicium_ genus that's native to the US, but it's "considered" toxic, without much information about it. The leaves have an anise smell when crushed. I work with the scientific names of plants daily, cook at home, and have a s/o with a bartending license (and thus a lot of contact with anise flavored liquours) but I had no idea anise seed and star anise were two completely different plants,
I love Conner Prairie!!!! Bring your Family, Friends and a big picnic basket and plan spending your whole day!!!!! Interact with the settlers.....It's a great time.
This is one of the coolest videos I've seen on RU-vid! Thank you and Mrs. Zimmerman! I grow and harvest hops (and have a video on how to harvest and store them - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e7G7o5L-RDI.html). It's so helpful to see a quick, informal way to use hops in a beer! And so interesting to hear Mrs. Zimmerman's heritage with brewing. My hops are ready to harvest and you bet I will be making some Swankey and some bread! :D I'm excited to see what Mrs. Armstrong has for you there at Conner Prairie! Jug It, Bung It, Strain It, and Drink It! -- Words to live by! :D
gorillaau, yes indeed! That is the beauty of this episode. My girlfriend is an artisan baker, and I will give her the sediment from my Pennsylvania Swankey brewing!
I love making small beer at home. I've been experimenting with kvass, but the Swankey is right next on my list. The gruit recipe was really interesting too.
Henrique Nakamura It has inspired me to start making some myself next time I have some free time and can gather some supplies. I think the gruit sounds really interesting as well.
its so irrelevant to everything else that i'm subscribed to, but the content is just so well done, always an admirable job at educating while being entertaining. I always know i will enjoy before i even watch. :)
Would it be possible to have the beer recipe (& )others written out at the end of the videos? Thank you! I like the fact that folks back then wasted nothing. To save the yeast from the beer making to then use in making bread proves this point.
I thought Pennsylvania Swanky was when someone from Pittsburgh dressed up in a clip-on tie and ate caviar out of a trough with their pinky-finger in the air.
Cool to see an old school brewing process, but don't stick your fingers in it to check to see if the mash cooled. Great way to infect a perfectly good batch of beer! Good video!
I just love Kim McCann at Conner Prairie....she is a fabulous re-enactor...makes a person want to go there...I live in Canada but if ever I go to Pennsylvania I will make a point of going to see her!
Loved this, I learn so much from your videos. I've made several of the recipes you've shown. Thank you for all you do to bring this information to us in such a creative way!
I just realized it's a lot like LARPing, but for grownups and actually cool - definitely something I could see myself getting addicted to. I love this!
That was so fantastic. I had no idea that Conner Prairie was just south of Noblesville, Indiana where our grandpa was born. How wonderful to learn more about brewing in this period.
When they dry the yeast in the sun, their is a chance of incorporating wild yeast into the original strain which is actually a brewing method in Belgium when they purposely allow the wort to be exposed to natural yeasts of the region. It’s called Lambic Brewing.
Ohhh this is one of my favorite videos...I totally love knowing how the average person lived in the 1700 but this lady made it come alive for me...thank you so much for this video...where everyone played their part ...it was wonderful...and I loved the recipe .
I think i read some time ago when reading on medicinal plants that the French used that plant quite a bit in their brewing. I used to not have any anywhere around but i think i brought some home with some plants from where i worked in a town called New Harmony, IN which was a utopian community from early 1800s, first the Rappites and then the "Owenites"which was strangely began by a industrialist Robert Owen from Scotland and William Maclure and they had a brewery as one of their industries, and they had scientists and researchers came from Europe to study geology and archeology and other things, and i never thought about it before that the Creeping Charlie may have been brought there for use in brewing. That would be funny. It was always in every garden bed eventually in New Harmony,or around the outskirts but most everyone called it Gill Over The Ground. The French name for it was Guiller, as it related to fermenting beer. It has medicinal uses also that are respectable also.
The first documented use of okay was in 1837. So difficult to be historically accurate as we are not they. I love this channel. Thanks for all the great posts and recipes. Big fan of mushroom ketchup😋
In our neck of the woods we call "ale hoof", "gill over the ground". It is very pungent smelling and makes a good shady area ground cover. Glad to know I can use it for something culinary.
I learned so much from your channel over the years. It’s wonderful learning history through the foods and drinks people consumed What a way to connect with our past. Thank you for all you guys do
alpha Pennsylvania theres something for everyone here. City life , country life, history, art, even a canyon. I really never lived outside of PA but I wouldn't know how.
Me aswell! Moving to Kentucky in a few months so that will be my first time living outside PA but it really isnt too dissimilar once your out in the mountains
I mentioned it some minutes ago in a comment for your video on ginger beer, but I'm still amazed by the simpliness. I knew there must have been some nice easy beer recipes, but I was not able to find anything like this in german, and now the knowledge seems to come back from the ones who preserved it. Thanks to all, who worked on this episode.
How completely fascinating! This is so wonderful and educational. Using "leftovers" to brew a fresh drink, and using those leftovers to make bread? My goodness, people certainly knew how to make the most of things then, didn't they? Rather makes our excessiveness and rampant waste stand out even worse, doesn't it? I look forward to seeing the rest of the episodes you did there at Conner Prairie and learning more wonderful lessons from our past.
Yeah now with indoor plumbing no more throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Be careful of praising those times as ideal periods, we're the same people then as we are now. Technology enables us to make greater changes for better or worse. The deforestation of the British Isles had been going on since it was settled in the bronze age, but it would be difficult for bronze age man to have been able to replant forests in the US and Britain as quickly as modern man.
yes we worked hard to get here, and we have literally lost so much knowledge along the way. a good and simple example of this is the designation of dandelions as weeds, an edible and tasty plant considered trash
LycaonsMemories we do eat dandelions in mixed salads, you don't want to eat the ones in your lawn because we treat the lawns... The dandelions pickup and store certain toxins and chemicals, you should only eat things which you know where they come from and whats been done to them my friend. It's the reason so many people in Asia prefer to leave the heads on food, it's a certificate of authenticity.
I did not know what was meant by "small beer" until I found your channel, Mr. Townsend. I have seen the term in older novels, always as a complaint. I thought it referred to size of portion. Great information.
I make a lovely country wine from alehoof, dandelion, red clover, and chamomile. I brew it into a tea with sugar syrup and then let it ferment for about a week and a half for about 8 gallons. I use beer yeast. After the first week I spike it with more sugar syrup for a stronger wine. When its naturally finished I'll strain it and keep it in mason jars. It keeps fairly well, I haven't tried aging any yet, but it definitely keeps for at least a few months.
Of the many of your videos I have watched, this one is totally outstanding. Mrs Zimmerman is wonderful, her concise and pertinent words and actions to make this "ale" and her knowledge of the subject are true indeed. The kitchen, too, is so very, very beautiful that I think we will remodel ours to be like this. Oh, and don't forget the fabulous garden and the peek view of the split rail fences and woven hurdle fences in the background. If I ever make it to the USA this place is on my travel plans. Cheers from Australia
As a Pennsylvania native ( now a Florida resident) I am so proud of the many gifts that came from that state. It was once upon a time known as the workshop of the world! The Conestoga wagon, Stetson hat and the Pennsylvania Long Rifle ( aka the Kentucky Rifle) and the Bessemer Converter ( iron to steel), to name a few, all hail from there. Now I can add these beers along with Shop Fly Pie (which I've never had) to the list! Looks like you had fun with this video and I certainly enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
This was GREAT! I still have a 1-gallon jug that I used for my first home brewing and swore I would never make such a small batch again. However, since this is so simple and only takes a few days instead of a month to do, I will probably give this a shot! Thanks again!
Reminds me of Federweißer and Feuerroter! Here in Germany, we like to drink Grape Must after it ferments for just a couple of days, giving it a distinct, sweet flavor!
Thank you both for filming this. The first person perspective was very interesting. I really enjoyed hearing the bit about pre-purity law in Germany. Just another well done video, Sir. Thank you.
I do some homebrewing now and then - however, nothing that any homebrewer website I have seen would suggest, lol. I make my own bread, then use that to make small beer (I believe it is called kvass). Sometimes I add nutmeg (which seems to be being joked about these days, hereabouts), cinnamon, baking cocoa, oatmeal, coffee, mint, ginger, raisins, orange peel, or any variety of other condiments, spices, and herbs I have on hand (yes, even hops, although most of my beers are gruits). I started out making ginger ale and wine - it's all about the same process, save for the boiling of the mash. As shown by this video, it's pretty easy - if you're worried about cleanliness or bugs, I have found that plastic drink bottles work pretty well, with the bottle caps tightened just enough to let CO2 out but no bugs in. I clean the bottles with some vinegar and hot water before using. If you make this stuff, it won't be like modern beer - which is probably why it isn't discussed much on the aforementioned websites. ;)
This is amazing! We were just discussing the original uses of Creeping Charlie the past weekend ... and to tune in to my 'Weekly Townsend News' and have that topic covered ... Simply amazing!! Thank you.
I love me some star anise. That pot of Swankey looked rusted. Nice seeing Martha again. I hope we see more brew recipes in the future, still seeking to expand my repertoire.
another interesting video! Gruits dont contain hops, only herbs. I made one several years ago, and loved it. seeing your video makes me want to make another batch. Cheers!
