A Recipe "to Make Excellent Ink", By Sir Isaac Newton

[Vignette]

 

I made the Jane Austen ink recipe with commercial beer (Molson Golden Beer, with 6.04% alcohol, the strongest one I could find) and it turned out fine, albeit musky skunky smelling! lol It would be fun to find a home brewer to make it a little more authentic, though.

 

Find a person who wants to brew a historically accurate Regency-era beer. Use his beer for your ink, and in return, give him handwritten beer bottle labels with historically accurate Regency-era ink and writing style.

 

Historical win-win!

[Uncle Red]

I love that idea.

The issue is that traditionally the beer would have had an active yeast culture and most modern beer has the yeast filtered out.

[josiah]

I'm heartened to see someone of such scientific acclaim having such mediocre penmanship.

 

That's pretty darned good handwriting, and more modern than I would have expected. I may have to start going back to those backwards-3 e's for my cursive

[brewerjeff]

Anyone trying this will need to make the beer first, a modern strong ale recipe should work. Modern beer is processed differently and generally does not have active yeast in it, his beer did.

 

I don't think that would be necessary. There wouldn't be much yeast left as fining would cause most to settle out. In a bottled beer residual yeast would sediment. The only contribution yeast might give would be to scavenge oxygen picked up while mixing. BUT if yeast you must have simply dissolve a teaspoon of dry baking yeast in some beer and mix it back into the beer you are using.

 

As for what beer to use, I have two publications form the Durden Park Beer Circle authored by Dr, John Harrison. The Beer Circle is a group of dedicated homebrewers in the UK who have spent years researching old brewery recipes and reconstructing the beers. "Old British Beers and How To Make Them" lists a number of Regency period beers including a London Ale from Courage (1820), a Windsor Ale (1796)William Black's Aberdeen X Ale (1835)and a few others. I think any strong American IPA or Imperial IPA should work just fine. The beta acids in hops have a strong anti-bacterial action which could help preserve the ink. Make sure to purchase a six pack. That way there will be enough for the ink and the ink maker.

[inkstainedruth]

Anyone trying this will need to make the beer first, a modern strong ale recipe should work. Modern beer is processed differently and generally does not have active yeast in it, his beer did.

 

Would that beer have been made with ale barm?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[fiberdrunk]

I've begun the process of making this ink. I used Molson Golden Beer (with 6.04% alcohol) for the "strong beer"-- it was the strongest I could find. It will ferment a month. Will post when the ink is finished.

 

Below is the crushed aleppo galls, gum arabic and beer so far (the saran wrap is to keep the metal lid from rusting). It's amazing to think this gross looking "soup" will eventually make ink!

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8450/7958501886_5735ec3cc6_b.jpg

Edited September 8, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[N2theBreach]

Can you imagine, writing with the same ink as Isaac Newton used?

 

I hope it goes well.

[Pelikan_FP]

I've begun the process of making this ink. I used Molson Golden Beer (with 6.04% alcohol) for the "strong beer"-- it was the strongest I could find. It will ferment a month. Will post when the ink is finished.

 

Below is the crushed aleppo galls, gum arabic and beer so far (the saran wrap is to keep the metal lid from rusting). It's amazing to think this gross looking "soup" will eventually make ink!

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8450/7958501886_5735ec3cc6_b.jpg

 

Keep us updated with photographs and all. This will be a very interesting experiment. Best of luck!

[todayilearned]

Why is beer used for making ink? Is there some property that makes it a good base for ink or just a unique idea?

[Paddler]

Why is beer used for making ink? Is there some property that makes it a good base for ink or just a unique idea?

It is very likely the antibacterial properties of the hops and alcohol.

[jbb]

I think I cooked this last night - perhaps with a little more garam masala and cumin.

 

Actually using anatto seeds will yield a deep red dye, suitable to make a writing ink :roflmho: .

Thank you pharmacist!!!!!! I've been wondering about other dyes.

[Vignette]

I've begun the process of making this ink.

 

No. Way. You actually took the challenge! :clap1:

 

Was it hard to do all the conversions of Apothecarie's Ounces and such?

 

This is one of the most admirable endeavors ever.

[myn]

Okay I've got a couple of question about this.

 

Near the end of the recipe Newton states: " Water makes it apt to mold. Wine does not."

 

1) Where did he use the wine in this recipe or was it only beer - back then was beer more like wine?

 

2) Could a person substitute wine for the beer/ale or would that be a problem because of the tannins already present in the wine.

[jbb]

I just started my first batch of iron gall ink a few days ago so I'm still not clear on what is and isn't supposed to happen. My batch has oak galls from "Live Oaks," steel wool, vinegar and water.

[fiberdrunk]

Why is beer used for making ink? Is there some property that makes it a good base for ink or just a unique idea?

 

 

Back in those days, water wasn't always very pure, so I think the thinking was that beer was cleaner.

[fiberdrunk]

Okay I've got a couple of question about this.

 

Near the end of the recipe Newton states: " Water makes it apt to mold. Wine does not."

 

1) Where did he use the wine in this recipe or was it only beer - back then was beer more like wine?

 

2) Could a person substitute wine for the beer/ale or would that be a problem because of the tannins already present in the wine.

 

You'd be correct with #2. I think Newton was just giving his commentary about using either wine or beer as preferable to water. I've seen iron gall ink recipes that used wine, others water, and others beer. I've never made it with wine before so can't vouch for the quality of the ink it produces. My best recipe (so far) is the Dr. Stark recipe (a chemist from the 1800's who tested iron gall ink recipes for 20 years). His used water, but I put a lot of whole cloves in it as a preservative. The batch I made is a year and a half old now and I haven't seen any signs of mold or separation and it's still good and black. I've also made the Jane Austen recipe, which used beer (very musky and stinky smelling). I don't consider it as stable an ink as the Stark recipe, if her manuscripts are any judge (they all turned brown). Just look at the Newton writing sample which is still jet black after all these years. I don't think this instability in color has anything to do with using the beer, but the proportions of the gallic-tannic acid to the copperas.

 

Anyway, it's fun to experiment. Try each kind, do your own tests, and see which works best for you.

 

Jane Austen sample (from Persuasion):

 

http://www.janeausten.ac.uk/images/full/homepage.jpg

 

Newton sample:

 

http://www.open-ink.com/_/rsrc/1345592302985/inks/old-recipies/iron-gall/newton-s-excellent-ink/Newton_IGI.jpg

Edited September 10, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[inkstainedruth]

Why is beer used for making ink? Is there some property that makes it a good base for ink or just a unique idea?

 

 

Back in those days, water wasn't always very pure, so I think the thinking was that beer was cleaner.

 

I'm not sure about vintning so much, but in the case of brewing that's true (my husband used to to a lot of homebrewing).

Water was very often polluted. Besides the addition of the hops, the very act of boiling the water helped remove impurities.

The advantage of making your own beer (assuming that you follow the directions) over making wine is that it is really easy to tell in brewing when you've messed up without running the risk of actually doing serious damage to yourself with the results. Steve used to be really good at diagnosing peoples' mistakes in their homebrewing. A lot of people would say to him "But I started with a clean kitchen..." only to have him say, "No, you need to start with a *sterile* kitchen!" And then walk them through their steps (very often they'd have forgotten to sterilize the spoon they were stirring the wort with, or the syphon hose or something).

But now you've got me curious as to why beer rather than wine. Because, IIRC, beer generally doesn't have tannins in it....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[fiberdrunk]

I've begun the process of making this ink.

 

No. Way. You actually took the challenge! :clap1:

 

Was it hard to do all the conversions of Apothecarie's Ounces and such?

 

This is one of the most admirable endeavors ever.

 

This is the handy dandy chart I came up with, so you can make it in whatever quantity you want. Just use these proportions and follow Newton's instructions:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7967648326_99b7dd85d5_c.jpg

 

eta: Newton probably used blue (aleppo) galls from the middle east. If you're using any other kind, you'll want to increase the amount of galls used. Aleppo galls contain something like 50-70% gallotannic acid, whereas oak apples found in other countries only contain about 15-20%, so adjust the gall amount accordingly (i.e. use 3 1/2 to 4 times more). Other galls will produce a more inferior ink (not as permanent/stable or as black... the color will have a brownish or even greenish dark gray hue and most likely brown on the page and possibly eat it over time) but will be no less enjoyable for the experience and you'll still have a very serviceable waterproof and long-lasting ink that will behave like any iron gall ink (i.e. with the phenomenon of darkening on papers as you write, especially bleached ones).

 

You'll want a small digital scale to weigh out the dry ingredients. I have a AWS AMW-550 digital pocket scale that shows both ounces and grams. It cost $10 on eBay several years ago. It's similar to this model on Amazon.

Edited September 10, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

Why is beer used for making ink? Is there some property that makes it a good base for ink or just a unique idea?

 

 

Back in those days, water wasn't always very pure, so I think the thinking was that beer was cleaner.

 

I'm not sure about vintning so much, but in the case of brewing that's true (my husband used to to a lot of homebrewing).

Water was very often polluted. Besides the addition of the hops, the very act of boiling the water helped remove impurities.

The advantage of making your own beer (assuming that you follow the directions) over making wine is that it is really easy to tell in brewing when you've messed up without running the risk of actually doing serious damage to yourself with the results. Steve used to be really good at diagnosing peoples' mistakes in their homebrewing. A lot of people would say to him "But I started with a clean kitchen..." only to have him say, "No, you need to start with a *sterile* kitchen!" And then walk them through their steps (very often they'd have forgotten to sterilize the spoon they were stirring the wort with, or the syphon hose or something).

But now you've got me curious as to why beer rather than wine. Because, IIRC, beer generally doesn't have tannins in it....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

The galls provide the tannins. It's not really necessary to get it from wine. I suspect the wine gives an acidity that helps with the chemical reaction. It might not be a bad idea to use wine with non-aleppo galls, just to get more tannin in there, however.

Edited September 10, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[WOBentley]

Ok...this is very cool! Cool enough that I want to try it...a direct connection to Sir Issac Newton makes this even more fun. Where do you get Aleppo galls?