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Epps' Beer

A historical beer brewed with water, hops, bran, roasted corn, molasses, yeast, and optional allspice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and allspice work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 200 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Epps' Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wort

  1. Boil water, hops, bran, and roasted corn for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Add molasses and let it cool.

Ferment and store

  1. Once cool, stir in the yeast.

  2. Leave in an open crock until fermentation begins.

  3. Bottle or transfer to a small keg.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Corn + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together200 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,508 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Corn + molassestop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together644 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Hops + corntop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Hops + molassestop 41% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hops
Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the molasses.
Molasses
Provides sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol and gives the beer its dark color and flavor.
Yeast
Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Bran
Contributes starches and body to the liquid, adding grainy flavor and mouthfeel.
Roasted corn
Adds toasted, roasted flavor and color to the brew.

The step that matters

Cool before adding the yeast. Yeast is killed by hot liquid, so the wort must cool to a warm but safe temperature before the yeast is stirred in. Adding it too early can stop fermentation before it starts.

Swap the allspice

The recipe marks allspice as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, corn, molasses):

  1. Gingerfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hops, corn, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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