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To Brew Very Fine Welch Ale

A traditional Welsh ale brewed from malt, hops, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Malt and beer work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 55 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

To Brew Very Fine Welch Ale

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the wort

  1. Pour hot water over the malt and let it stand covered for 3 hours.

  2. Infuse hops in a little hot water, then add this water and hops to the tub.

  3. Boil the mixture together for 3 hours.

  4. Strain out the hops and reserve the liquid for small beer.

  5. Let the wort cool in a high tub until it's ready for yeast.

Ferment and cask

  1. Mix in the yeast thoroughly and often.

  2. When the yeast sinks after 2-3 days, remove it and turn the ale gradually.

  3. Pour in a quart at a time gently to avoid excessive fermentation.

  4. Cover the bung hole with paper for 2-3 days before sealing.

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 + beertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Hops + beertop 42% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together0 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Malt + hopstop 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

Malt
Provides the fermentable sugars that the yeast turns into alcohol and gives the ale its body and flavour.
Hops
Add bitterness and aroma that balance the malt's sweetness and help preserve the ale.
Ale yeast or small beer yeast
Ferments the sugars in the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide, producing the ale.

The step that matters

Pouring in the yeast and turning the ale gradually. Adding yeast in measured amounts, rather than all at once, keeps fermentation from becoming too vigorous. Vigorous fermentation can push foam and liquid out and leave the ale tasting harsh.

“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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