To Refine Beer, Ale, Wine, or Cyder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the isinglass
Soak the isinglass shavings in 1 quart of the liquor for several days, whisking daily until dissolved.
Clarify the beer
Draw off ⅓ of the cask and mix it with the dissolved isinglass.
Add ¼ ounce of pearl ash, 1 ounce of salt of tartar, and 1 ounce of powdered burnt alum to the mixture.
Stir well, then return the mixture to the cask and stir with a clean stick.
Seal the cask, and in a few days, the liquor will be clear.
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 shavings
- Dissolved fish-derived protein that binds suspended particles so they can settle out.
- Pearl ash
- Alkaline salt that adjusts the acidity of the liquor so the fining agent works effectively.
- Salt of tartar
- Alkaline potassium carbonate that helps shift the liquor's pH so haze-forming particles clump.
- Burnt alum
- Aluminum salt that helps gather fine suspended particles so they settle out.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture back into the cask evenly. Isinglass and the alkaline and alum additives must be fully dispersed through the liquor to bind the haze particles. Uneven mixing leaves cloudy pockets and uneven settling, so the stirring should be thorough before sealing.
“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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