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To Make Spruce Beer

A fermented beverage made with water, treacle or molasses, spruce essence, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Make Spruce Beer

To Make Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil half of the water.

  2. Pour the boiled water into a barrel with the reserved cold water.

  3. Add the treacle or molasses and essence of spruce, stirring well.

Ferment and bottle

  1. Add the yeast and keep in a warm place with the bunghole open for 2 days until fermentation slows.

  2. Close it up or bottle it, and it will be ready to drink in a few days.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Treacle or molasses
Provides sugar that the yeast ferments, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide, and adds sweetness and depth.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars, producing carbonation and alcohol that give the beer its body and fizz.

The step that matters

Keeping the barrel open during the first fermentation. Active fermentation releases carbon dioxide, and yeast needs warmth to work steadily. Leaving the bunghole open lets gas escape so pressure does not build, and fermentation is allowed to slow before the barrel is sealed.

“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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