Found the recipe in an old book I acquired in a second hand bookshop. Not sure if I'm brave enough to try it yet tho! Couldnt read it without wincing...
Recipe is actually originally from a book near 150 years ago.
The original:
Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken. Then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun, stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together into a vessel. In a week or nine days bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.
The verdict was:
Rather amusedly, and entirely by way of experiment, it was decided to try this, on a one gallon quantity. Astonishingly, it made an excellent ale, nourishing and strong-flavoured, of the 'barley wine' type; well worth trying.
The slightly more modern suggestion (tho still near 50 years ago) was
some pieces of cooked chicken and some chicken bones, crushed and minced, half a pound of raisins, a little mace, one or two cloves and soak for 24 hours in your strongest white country wine. Then make a gallon of beer with 1lb malt extract, 1 oz hops, 1/2lb demerara sugar, gallon of water, yeast and nutrient.
Then (and this is a direct quote :rofl: ) "Add the whole of your cock mixture to the fermenting must, to the fermenting wort at the end of the second day"
Fermentaion will last 6 or seven days longer than usual and should be matured at least a month in bottle.
Anyone fancy trying it and reporting back? Its probably not the best one for a complete starter without an ag under his belt yet!
Recipe is actually originally from a book near 150 years ago.
The original:
Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken. Then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun, stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together into a vessel. In a week or nine days bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.
The verdict was:
Rather amusedly, and entirely by way of experiment, it was decided to try this, on a one gallon quantity. Astonishingly, it made an excellent ale, nourishing and strong-flavoured, of the 'barley wine' type; well worth trying.
The slightly more modern suggestion (tho still near 50 years ago) was
some pieces of cooked chicken and some chicken bones, crushed and minced, half a pound of raisins, a little mace, one or two cloves and soak for 24 hours in your strongest white country wine. Then make a gallon of beer with 1lb malt extract, 1 oz hops, 1/2lb demerara sugar, gallon of water, yeast and nutrient.
Then (and this is a direct quote :rofl: ) "Add the whole of your cock mixture to the fermenting must, to the fermenting wort at the end of the second day"
Fermentaion will last 6 or seven days longer than usual and should be matured at least a month in bottle.
Anyone fancy trying it and reporting back? Its probably not the best one for a complete starter without an ag under his belt yet!
