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Drink

Fine Beer

A beer made by adding isinglass to ale and fermenting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Fine Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Draw out 1 gallon of ale.

  2. Add 2 oz. of beaten isinglass and stir.

Fine the beer

  1. Whip the mixture with a whisk to dissolve the isinglass.

  2. Strain.

  3. Pour it back into the cask.

  4. Stir well for a few minutes.

  5. Lightly put the bung in.

Ferment and rest

  1. After fermentation, stop it tightly.

  2. Loosen the vent peg.

  3. Once fermentation is complete, tighten the vent peg.

  4. Let it sit for two weeks.

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Fining agent that gathers yeast and haze particles so they settle out.
Ale
The base liquid whose yeast and haze are removed and whose flavour carries the finished drink.

The step that matters

Tighten the vent peg only once fermentation is complete. Loosening the vent lets carbon dioxide escape while fermentation is still active. Sealing it too early can trap pressure in the cask while the beer is still working.

“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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