Comments on: Brewing mangel ale

By: Aaaaaah! « Musings from a Stonehead

Aaaaaah! « Musings from a Stonehead — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:46:28 +0000

[...] 10 02 2008 Our resident beer and ale expert samples my latest home-brew offering — mangel ale. We had theorised that mangel ale had fallen out of favour since the 1700s due to the flavour not [...]

By: cogidubnus

cogidubnus — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:48:38 +0000

The beer I mean…

By: cogidubnus

cogidubnus — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:52:32 +0000

Home Brewing again? (clearly the OH is a hardened drinker!)…a good cheery end to, I suspect, a difficult year…Hope you all have a Happy New Year Stonie, and I hope 2008 is a good one for you…(psst…let us know how it turns out)

By: Stonehead

Stonehead — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:52:08 +0000

Mike, it might be worth boiling up half a dozen randomly selected mangels as described, allowing the wort to cool and then checking the gravity before deciding on your hops. I probably should have done that first, but as I wanted to use an older Kent hop of some sort I simply went for Golding.

Different varieties of mangels have different levels of sugar content, with the higher sugar content varieties being the ones that sugar beet were developed from.

Mine were a mixture of yellow Eckendorf, yellow intermediate and orange-red unknowns. I suspect fodder beet (mammoth long red and the like) will have different sugar content, particularly to the Eckendors, which were quite sweet.

Good luck!

By: Mike (planbe)

Mike (planbe) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:00:35 +0000

Thanks for a very cool idea… Now, since I have Mangels that want pulling, homebrew kit all over the place, and even some Kent Goldings (in pellet form, unfortunately) lying about, I must give it a try. Given the high gravity, I might go for a more bitter (higher alpha-acid) hop. It was actually quite difficult to get my hands on Mangel seeds; they’re almost unknown here, and I was only planning on using them as a fodder crop. Now you’ve given me another great use. Thanks!

By: Stonehead

Stonehead — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:21:27 +0000

I’m using Golding for that reason. As for growing my own, up here the Scots once used heather instead of hops when brewing so that may be something to try in the future.

As for the sugar content of mangels, it’s very high. Don’t forget, they’re a close relative of the sugar beet. If you extracted and cleaned up the glucose and fructose from the beets to produce a sugar syrup, then it would power elderflower wine.

“My” brewing process is not dissimilar to diffusing sugar beet. The modern process involves slicing the beets thinly, then passing them through a long screw while hot water flows the other way, extracting the sugar. The beet pulp is then pressed to extract more sugars.

The big difference is with the following steps in the sugar making process - carbonation (to remove the impurities) and evaporation (to produce sugar syrup). I don’t intend trying to replicate those, but you’re welcome to try if you want to produce your own sugar syrup that could be used in brewing.

Richters Seeds have an information sheet on home extraction of sugar from sugar beets if you want to give it a go.

By: hedgewizard

hedgewizard — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:09:06 +0000

Most interesting! I’ve been wondering about how to do brewing without sugar or grape juice. Do you think mangel extract would provide enough sugar to power, say, elderflower wine - or do you think the mangel taste is too strong?

By: Woodenhead

Woodenhead — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:08:02 +0000

Hi Stonehead,

Kent hops?

At one time there was a hops industry in the valley below us. Kent Golding was the main variety grown. I transplanted a slip from a from a feral survivor I found, and every year we have more hops than a person could use. A friend has one in a region where temperatures drop to around minus 30c, and it grows like a weed.

I’d wager a guess that you could easily grow your own if you so desired.