The encampment of Continental Army at Valley Forge (12/19/1777 — 6/19/1778) is known as the time of the greatest suffering. By the end of the encampment, almost a forth of the original army had died of disease, exposure, and privation. The food was said to have been both bad and infrequent. Even though food was …
Tag Archives: Colonial Brewer
Basic Colonial Brewing #10 –Making the Brew
Once you have wort, its time to actually “brew” (from the Dutch brouwen: to bubble or effervesce) the beer. I hope by now you realize that a lot more work goes into preparing to brew than actually brewing the beer. When I do demonstrations, someone always remarks that brewing takes a long time but in …
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Beer Recipe: Redcoat IPA
In our modern lives, we rely on the police and the powers of government to protect our property and our most important institutions. When crimes occur, we expect our elected officials to take action and secure the peace. Consider how you would feel if your town were taken over by criminals, thugs, and miscreants? Now …
Beer Recipe: Victory at Yorktown
October 17, 1778, General Charles Cornwallis raised a flag of truce over the fortifications at Yorktown after having suffered not only the combined French and American attack but also disease, lack of supplies, inclement weather, and a failed evacuation. With the French navy in the York River and siege lines advancing on his position, defeat …
Basic Colonial Brewing #9 — Mashing and Decoction
The first major step in brewing beer is to extract the fermentable sugars and starches from the malt kernels. This process is called mashing (from the German maisch: to mix). The basic idea is to harness the enzymes already present in the grain in order to digest the complex inert starches into fermentable simple sugars. …
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Sugar Cones or Loaves and the Making of Rum
During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, sugar was rare and expensive commodity. Beginning in the 15th century, however, sugar cane plantations developed in the West Indies, then South America, particularly in Brazil. Sugar was the top colonial commodity. It was at the root of the ‘triangular trade’, where European shipowners exchanged trinkets for African men, who were then sold as slaves …
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Beer Recipe: “Never Surrender” Welsh Cake Porter
My friend Conner Duffy is actively working to bring another tavern to Fort Mifflin during the upcoming North American Festival of Wales in August of this year. To that end, on May 7, when the Regimental Brewmeister teaches the next 18th Century Brewing Class at Fort Mifflin, we will be brewing a Welsh Cake Porter. …
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“Beer” Recipe: John Adams — Breakfast Cider
Apple juice was fermented because before we had refrigeration, it was hard to stop that from happening — apples would just ferment naturally. When English colonists first arrived in North America, they enthusiastically embraced the wide range of wild fruits they found growing, from grapes to berries and of course, begam to make wines and …
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Beer Recipe: French Alliance “Myrtile” Lambic
“Myrtille” is French for Blueberry. It is popular in some so-called patriotic circles to make snarky comments about France and the French, We call them “Frogs” and complain about rescuing them from their foreign exploits like Vietnam when they hold us to high moral standards on our adventures. The fact, however, is that the United …
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Beer Recipe: Constitutional Debate Stout
Summer in Philadelphia can be hot and muggy. Not a time to be locked in a sealed room with locked doors and windows and 55 other delegates from all over the country trying to fix a system of government that was failing but in the summer of 1787 it had to be done. Something HAD …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 