hist-brewing: Spruce Ale

[Spencer W. Thomas]

A friend here makes a "colonial" spruce ale.  He mashes and lauters in a half a
wooden barrel, with straw and spruce branches acting as the filter bed.  Water is
heated and the wort is boiled in a copper cauldron over a wood fire.

The perhaps unexpected result of putting the spruce *in the mash* is the subtle,
pleasant spruce flavor that results.  He does not need to wait for spring to get
the new tips. He fills a large "grocery bag" (sorry for those of you not in the
US for this unit of measure -- I think these are about 1/6 bushel or 6 liters)
with needle-covered branches.  This much spruce in the boil would result in a
totally undrinkable beverage, but by putting it in the mash, he produces a very
drinkable result.

Give it a try, and I think you'll agree.

=Spencer



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo at pbm.com containing
the words "unsubscribe hist-brewing" (or unsubscribe hist-brewing-digest, if
you get the digest.) To contact a human about problems, send mail to
owner-hist-brewing at pbm.com