Name: Mangel-wurzel Beer
Ingredients: 14 gallons water; 60 pounds mangel-wurzel, washed and sliced; 4 ounces hops; 6 ounces good yeast

Mangel-wurzel Beer

Ingredients

14 gallons water
60 pounds mangel-wurzel, washed and sliced
4 ounces hops
6 ounces good yeast

Directions

Prepare the mangel-wurzel

Boil 14 gallons of water and add the sliced mangel-wurzel, weighing it down to keep it submerged.
Boil for 1.5 hours.
Remove the roots and press out the liquid.

Make the wort

Return the liquid and the boiling water to the pot, adding the hops.
Boil for another 1.5 hours.
Cool the liquid to 70°F (21°C) as quickly as possible.
Strain the liquid through a thick cloth over a sieve.
Transfer to a vat.

Ferment and barrel

Stir in the yeast.
Cover and let it stand for 24 hours.
If the yeast has risen, skim it off.
Barrel the beer, leaving behind the sediment.
During fermentation, top up the cask with leftover beer or any available beer.
When fermentation stops in 2-3 days, seal the cask.
The beer can be used after a few more 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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Mangel-wurzel: Provides the fermentable sugars and body that the yeast turns into alcohol.
Hops: Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the liquid.
Yeast: Ferments the sugars in the liquid, producing alcohol and carbonation.

The step that matters

Cool the liquid to 70°F (21°C) as quickly as possible. Yeast added to liquid that is still hot can be killed, stopping fermentation before it starts. Cooling quickly also reduces the time the liquid spends in the range where unwanted bacteria can grow.

“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.