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Yeast, to Make

A method for making yeast using hops, water, malt, flour, and liquid yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Malt and flour work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 260 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Yeast, to Make

Ingredients

Directions

Make the hop liquid

  1. Put the hops into a boiler and add the water. Cover and boil for about an hour until the hops sink to the bottom.

  2. Strain the liquid into a clean wooden bucket, squeezing out the hops and discarding them.

  3. Let the liquid stand for 5 to 10 minutes until it is clear, then stir in the malt and cover.

  4. Allow it to cool to lukewarm (about 70°F).

Ferment and bottle

  1. Add 1 pint of yeast and ½ lb. of flour, stirring well with your hand.

  2. Cover with a cloth and let it sit undisturbed in a warm place for at least 8 hours.

  3. After 8 hours, stir well, strain out the grains, and squeeze them dry.

  4. Pour the liquid into bottles, stir again, tie with string, and store in a cool cellar.

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. Malt + flourtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  3. Hops + malttop 49% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1 recipe

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Ferments the sugars from the malt, producing carbonation and the drink's alcohol and flavour.
Malt
Supplies the fermentable sugars that the yeast converts during fermentation.
Hops
Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the malt.
Flour
Provides extra starch and nutrients that help the yeast stay active.

The step that matters

Cooling to lukewarm before adding yeast. Yeast is killed by high heat, so the liquid must be cooled to lukewarm, around 70°F, before adding it. Adding yeast to hot liquid can stop fermentation before it starts.

“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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