EBULON
Zebulon who??
Not Zebulon... Ebulon.
Ebulon - a malt beverage made with elderberries. It is described in "The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: An Entertaining History," written by John Bickerdyke in 1890 which was:
Dedicated to the Brewers of the United Kingdom and All Who Value Honest Malt Liquor
In it he states:
Among the various beverages which good house-wives deemed it their duty to brew were Elderberry Beer, or Ebulon, Cowslip Ale,Blackberry Ale, China Ale and Apricot Ale...
...Ebulon, which is said to have been preferred by some people toport, was made thus : In a hogshead of the first and strongest wort was boiled one bushel of ripe elderberries. The wort was then strained and, when cold, worked (i.e., fermented) in a hogshead (not an open tun or tub). Having lain in cask for about a year it was bottled. Some persons added an infusion of hops by way of preservative and relish,and some likewise hung a small bag of bruised spices in the vessel.White Ebulon was made with pale malt and white elderberries.
So this describes a barley-wine style brew that can be stored for long aging and which takes on a port-like character. There are recipes out there suggesting a starting gravity of 1.120 for such. There are also a number of other recipe approaches that produce lighter batches with a lower ABV that may be ready for drinking much soon. Given my passion for elderberry tonic, I am looking to make something that will be ready fast (the Covid Coronavirus is already upon us) and won't clobber me if I have a big glass of it.
To be truthful, I also had been doing some clean-up in the garage, and there was a pile of old malt in the fridge that I had purchased with the intention of making a Vienna Lager style braggot that I never got around to brewing. This old malt has been sitting in there for years (at least 4 or 5), so I don't trust it for making a crisp, clean lager, but since it was dry, still smelled and tasted OK, I figured it might be OK for a bunch of elderberries. I've had a bunch of dried elderberries hiding in there as well, and they are still fine.
I haven't brewed anything in quite some time, so my technique is rusty, and another reason I wanted to do this batch was to practice a little brewing before I make my next Braggot, which I want to do as a Berliner Weisse style sour, but I digress.
Ingredients
Vienna Malt (old) - 5 pounds, crushed
Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (old) - 2 pounds
Bries Light Dry Malt Extract (old) - 2 pounds
Tettnang Hops (German) (old) - 2 oz
Ginger Root (fresh) - 4 oz sliced
Dried Elderberries (old) - 2 pounds
Water - approximately 4 gallons
Yeast - Safebrew T-58 (old) 11.5g
I used about 2 1/2 gallons of water to make wort using the Vienna malt maintaining the temperature between 150-155 (more or less). The pH was 5.9. I continued steeping the grain for about an hour, then sparged it with hot water up to about 4 gallons. I then added in the DME and got the gravity up to about 16 Brix (Est 1.065). I'm hoping to get something that may be in the 6-7% ABV range - something easily drinkable but with enough ABV to minimize spoilage and allow some aging.
I boiled the wort with 1 oz of the Hops and all of the sliced ginger. The hops are old and I don't expect any IBU contribution from this. I mostly added them for antibacterial properties and some aroma/flavor. The ginger I chose to provide some additional aromatic impact, and it may be good for warding off fevers. There are Ebulon recipes out there that call for ginger so I'm not straying too far from tradition.
At flame out, I added the last ounce of Hops for aroma, and the elderberries in a brewing bag. I didn't want to do a prolonged boil as some of the antiviral activity of the elderberry may be lost with high heats. That should quickly rehydrate and rupture all the berries. These dried elderberries should be the equivalent of 5-6 pounds of fresh elderberries.
I was too lazy to hook up the wort chiller, so I just sat the brewpot on the first step of the "cement pond" and that cooled it down reasonable quickly. I racked it into a 10-gallon corny keg which I'm using as a primary fermenter. I also transferred the bag with the elderberries and aroma hops. I asked my youngest daughter how it smells and she said, "it smells INTERESTING..." That does not fill me with a great sense of confidence, but to me the malt and elderberry and ginger smelled pretty good.
I chose the Safebrew T-58 because, A) I had it hiding in the fridge, B) it can ferment well at room temp, C) it produces lots of esters and that may help this batch a lot, and D) it is a good strain for bottle conditioning which I may want to do with this batch (I haven't decided yet). This particular packet represent the record for me so far - it has been in the fridge at least 8 years. I rehydrated it with GoFerm, and then proofed it with 6 fl oz of apple juice. That took off without any delay. I did notice that while mixing them in, they did tend to clump together more than most yeast. Whether that is the characteristic that makes them good for bottle conditioning or just a function of them being old, I cannot say. I pitched the yeast, and hooked up a blow-off tube.
Batch size - 4 gallons
Starting gravity - 16 Brix (1.065)
Fermentation temp - 73-75 F
So virtually everything in this batch is old - old malt, old hops, old elderberries, old yeast, old brewer. We will see how it turns out. I've order some more elderberries to put together another batch that will be sack strength, and likely will include some honey to create a sack-strength port-like barley-wine braggot. Any suggestions for recipes and approaches are welcome. I can imagine that a recipe that produced a lambic-like sour would also make a good Ebulon.
By the way, in the Curiosites of Ale & Beer, I noted that in one of the footnotes Bickerdyke mentioned the origin of the term Sack in wine.
[SUP]1[/SUP] There were several kinds of Sack—Sherris, Malmsey, &c. Theword is derived from saco, the skin in which Spanish wines were imported.
The book also has a recipe for Cock Ale, and is probably worth a full read.
Zebulon who??
Not Zebulon... Ebulon.
Ebulon - a malt beverage made with elderberries. It is described in "The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: An Entertaining History," written by John Bickerdyke in 1890 which was:
Dedicated to the Brewers of the United Kingdom and All Who Value Honest Malt Liquor
In it he states:
Among the various beverages which good house-wives deemed it their duty to brew were Elderberry Beer, or Ebulon, Cowslip Ale,Blackberry Ale, China Ale and Apricot Ale...
...Ebulon, which is said to have been preferred by some people toport, was made thus : In a hogshead of the first and strongest wort was boiled one bushel of ripe elderberries. The wort was then strained and, when cold, worked (i.e., fermented) in a hogshead (not an open tun or tub). Having lain in cask for about a year it was bottled. Some persons added an infusion of hops by way of preservative and relish,and some likewise hung a small bag of bruised spices in the vessel.White Ebulon was made with pale malt and white elderberries.
So this describes a barley-wine style brew that can be stored for long aging and which takes on a port-like character. There are recipes out there suggesting a starting gravity of 1.120 for such. There are also a number of other recipe approaches that produce lighter batches with a lower ABV that may be ready for drinking much soon. Given my passion for elderberry tonic, I am looking to make something that will be ready fast (the Covid Coronavirus is already upon us) and won't clobber me if I have a big glass of it.
To be truthful, I also had been doing some clean-up in the garage, and there was a pile of old malt in the fridge that I had purchased with the intention of making a Vienna Lager style braggot that I never got around to brewing. This old malt has been sitting in there for years (at least 4 or 5), so I don't trust it for making a crisp, clean lager, but since it was dry, still smelled and tasted OK, I figured it might be OK for a bunch of elderberries. I've had a bunch of dried elderberries hiding in there as well, and they are still fine.
I haven't brewed anything in quite some time, so my technique is rusty, and another reason I wanted to do this batch was to practice a little brewing before I make my next Braggot, which I want to do as a Berliner Weisse style sour, but I digress.
Ingredients
Vienna Malt (old) - 5 pounds, crushed
Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (old) - 2 pounds
Bries Light Dry Malt Extract (old) - 2 pounds
Tettnang Hops (German) (old) - 2 oz
Ginger Root (fresh) - 4 oz sliced
Dried Elderberries (old) - 2 pounds
Water - approximately 4 gallons
Yeast - Safebrew T-58 (old) 11.5g
I used about 2 1/2 gallons of water to make wort using the Vienna malt maintaining the temperature between 150-155 (more or less). The pH was 5.9. I continued steeping the grain for about an hour, then sparged it with hot water up to about 4 gallons. I then added in the DME and got the gravity up to about 16 Brix (Est 1.065). I'm hoping to get something that may be in the 6-7% ABV range - something easily drinkable but with enough ABV to minimize spoilage and allow some aging.
I boiled the wort with 1 oz of the Hops and all of the sliced ginger. The hops are old and I don't expect any IBU contribution from this. I mostly added them for antibacterial properties and some aroma/flavor. The ginger I chose to provide some additional aromatic impact, and it may be good for warding off fevers. There are Ebulon recipes out there that call for ginger so I'm not straying too far from tradition.
At flame out, I added the last ounce of Hops for aroma, and the elderberries in a brewing bag. I didn't want to do a prolonged boil as some of the antiviral activity of the elderberry may be lost with high heats. That should quickly rehydrate and rupture all the berries. These dried elderberries should be the equivalent of 5-6 pounds of fresh elderberries.
I was too lazy to hook up the wort chiller, so I just sat the brewpot on the first step of the "cement pond" and that cooled it down reasonable quickly. I racked it into a 10-gallon corny keg which I'm using as a primary fermenter. I also transferred the bag with the elderberries and aroma hops. I asked my youngest daughter how it smells and she said, "it smells INTERESTING..." That does not fill me with a great sense of confidence, but to me the malt and elderberry and ginger smelled pretty good.
I chose the Safebrew T-58 because, A) I had it hiding in the fridge, B) it can ferment well at room temp, C) it produces lots of esters and that may help this batch a lot, and D) it is a good strain for bottle conditioning which I may want to do with this batch (I haven't decided yet). This particular packet represent the record for me so far - it has been in the fridge at least 8 years. I rehydrated it with GoFerm, and then proofed it with 6 fl oz of apple juice. That took off without any delay. I did notice that while mixing them in, they did tend to clump together more than most yeast. Whether that is the characteristic that makes them good for bottle conditioning or just a function of them being old, I cannot say. I pitched the yeast, and hooked up a blow-off tube.
Batch size - 4 gallons
Starting gravity - 16 Brix (1.065)
Fermentation temp - 73-75 F
So virtually everything in this batch is old - old malt, old hops, old elderberries, old yeast, old brewer. We will see how it turns out. I've order some more elderberries to put together another batch that will be sack strength, and likely will include some honey to create a sack-strength port-like barley-wine braggot. Any suggestions for recipes and approaches are welcome. I can imagine that a recipe that produced a lambic-like sour would also make a good Ebulon.
By the way, in the Curiosites of Ale & Beer, I noted that in one of the footnotes Bickerdyke mentioned the origin of the term Sack in wine.
[SUP]1[/SUP] There were several kinds of Sack—Sherris, Malmsey, &c. Theword is derived from saco, the skin in which Spanish wines were imported.
The book also has a recipe for Cock Ale, and is probably worth a full read.
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