1930's Texas Hill Country Beer Recipe

Hello, I am new to this forum, and have a very specific request. My grandmother made her own beer for my grandfather back in the 1930's, and I would like to know what that recipe might have looked like. The family was very poor, so they would not have ordered ingredients or spent a lot of money on them. This was in Central Texas (Hill Country) so she may not have had access to any hops. The grain bill would probably be one grain and something available at the local feed store. My grandfather died in 1933 of stomach cancer, and the beer was said to be to lessen his pain. According to family stories he had a lot of family visit before he passed, and some believed it was more for the beer than to say their goodbyes. Any thoughts or ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

I little more information. My grandmother did a lot of canning both fruit and vegetables to sell, so she had access to the equipment needed to brew and spices. I am guessing she would have bottled in mason jars. My grandmother did not drink liquor. I can remember her saying "lips that touch liquor will never touch mine". My grandfather's family was English, came over from Cornwall England in 1837. First settled in Wisconsin, then moved to Mississippi before ending up in Texas. My grandmother's family came to Texas from Tennessee in the early 1800's.

In the prohibition era, many breweries continued to make hopped malt extract for use in "baking." This was a food and some of the cans came with warnings that were basically brewing instructions. Something like, "Do not over mix with water and yeast because an alcoholic beverage may result."

I'm sure that hopped malt extract made bread just as well as it does, today. 

A typical home recipe looked pretty much as they do, today.

1 can of Hopped Malt Extract
2 1/2 lbs of sugar
Dry yeast
5 gallons of water

Often the method was to ferment it in a stone crock until the main activity was done (4 to 5 days), then bottle it and keep it in the root cellar.

Homespun variations would cook corn grits and cracked wheat in a cooling oven overnight, then if extract was on hand, it'd be added along with fresh water and sugar, then the liquid was fermented.

There were a lot of patent medicines available that had bittering qualities to add to the fermentation, some even used hops but it seems that some were still made with opium and alcohol despite relatively recent restrictions on their use in the early 1900s.

So, it's very possible that your Grandmother started with something known and changed it over time to suit the needs of her family. If you have any written recipes from her, you might see some trends in locally available or homegrown ingredients she liked to use.

At any rate, I'm sure that a modern well made pre-prohibition lager would certainly be a fitting tribute to her resourcefulness.

Thanks, this is very helpful. So even back then they would do 5 gallon batches? Do you know how available the Hopped Malt Extract would be in the 1930's? Would it be at the corner market or a special order item? How likely is it that she may have used honey or malaises? I don't have any of her recipes, and have more questions than answers.

andywebb said:

So even back then they would do 5 gallon batches?

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Apparently. Even staple items that were pickled, salted and stored for winter were done in 5 gallon increments.

Do you know how available the Hopped Malt Extract would be in the 1930's? Would it be at the corner market or a special order item?

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Molasses wasn't used for fermentation too often. Tastes terrible, except as Rum. I don't have very many references to honey fermentation in my library (actually, none I could find), but it's been fermented for so long, I can't imagine it went away.

Hopped and unhopped extract was highly advertised in newspapers and catalog magazines of the time, so it follows that it'd be widely available. It gained some favor as a dough conditioner for bakeries in larger cities, too. It also seemed to be relatively cheap, as was sugar. Remember, a lot of the rural US relied on bartering because there simply wasn't any cash around, so cost wasn't an absolute barrier.

speaking of the hopped malt that was used back then. One brand was Premier malt of which i still have an empty can (with label) from when I first started brewin back in the early nineties. My father in law gave me his ten gallon batch recipe, actually what ya could fit in a ten gallon crock.I made many a batch like that but didnt like it much so I switched to real brewin ways and still brew today. The thing most people did then was add a LOT of sugar to get the most abv possible. they would age this brew for a year to 18 months. It is really tart and has hardly any beer taste but will knock yer socks off. I have brewed lots of 12% beers this way then cut them in half with spring water to make it drinkable. Can you imagine what it was like to brew my first real pale ale?  I understand that on the can was an adress that you sent off n got the recipe from the malt co. and it came in a brown unmarked envelope.
                                                                                                happy brewin

andywebb said:

Thanks, this is very helpful. So even back then they would do 5 gallon batches? Do you know how available the Hopped Malt Extract would be in the 1930's? Would it be at the corner market or a special order item? How likely is it that she may have used honey or malaises? I don't have any of her recipes, and have more questions than answers.

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I still have an empty can of premier malt I bought in the 1980’s when I started making homebrew. The recipe I started with was the same they used in prohibition days. The can of malt had a message with it that told you to send for the recipe in the mail!