Crappyfish
Landlord.
Bit like a zoo for beers
Declining bitter.
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The first record of hopped beer in Blighty was circa 1362 imported from Amsterdam into Great Yarmouth. The earliest mention of beer being brewed in England (from imported hops) was 1412, made by a German alewife in Colchester. Cultivation of hops started around 1520 when humulus lupulus was planted in Kent.
Did that German alewife use a 30-minute 60 minute or 90 minutes boil ??
Cwrw666
Landlord.
Well if it was a 30 minute boil she'd have never heard the end of it.The first record of hopped beer in Blighty was circa 1362 imported from Amsterdam into Great Yarmouth. The earliest mention of beer being brewed in England (from imported hops) was 1412, made by a German alewife in Colchester. Cultivation of hops started around 1520 when humulus lupulus was planted in Kent.
Did that German alewife use a 30-minute 60 minute or 90 minutes boil ??
Could have easily been no-boil, as documented here
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From what I have read about the introduction of hops into the UK is the Romans brought them over as they did eat them as a herb. Not the hops but the young shoots, a bit like asparagus but more woody. Also the Graveny boat had hop pollen underneath it and that was in the 10th century.The first record of hopped beer in Blighty was circa 1362 imported from Amsterdam into Great Yarmouth. The earliest mention of beer being brewed in England (from imported hops) was 1412, made by a German alewife in Colchester. Cultivation of hops started around 1520 when humulus lupulus was planted in Kent.
Did that German alewife use a 30-minute 60 minute or 90 minutes boil ??
Do sun dials have alarm clocks for timing a medieval wort boil?
Erik The Anglophile
Regular.
Sadfield
Landlord.
Is it likely wort would have been boiled in medieval times? Few outside of the church would have been wealthy enough for the large vessel needed.
Cheshire Cat
Landlord.
Beer was boiled and that’s how it became sterile and the drink of the poor. Well water or river water was likely to be contaminated so beer and cider were the safe drinks.
Sadfield
Landlord.
Except that farming wasn't industrialised and able to supply enough grain for that hypothesis.
Cider isn't boiled.
People drank beer because they liked it.
https://zythophile.co.uk/2022/07/12...actually-drink-much-much-less-than-you-think/
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Cheshire Cat
Landlord.
The population after the Black Death was as low as 3 million.
Erik The Anglophile
Regular.
Contrary to popular belief, people drank water back in the day.
Have you read that Zythophile post where he referenced some science researcher who had done a paper on the subject?
They came to the conclusion that if people drank small beer for everyday consumtion and stronger occasionally, about 80% of the yearly grain harvest would have had to be destined for malting...
In fact, people likely drank less beer than we do now back then.
Have you read that Zythophile post where he referenced some science researcher who had done a paper on the subject?
They came to the conclusion that if people drank small beer for everyday consumtion and stronger occasionally, about 80% of the yearly grain harvest would have had to be destined for malting...
In fact, people likely drank less beer than we do now back then.
Did somebody say cider was boiled ?
Sadfield
Landlord.
No.
I was highlighting that cider isn't boiled to make it safe to drink, in response to the statement that beer requires boiling to reach the same end point.
Beer and cider are quite different,
Are you implying that if you make beer from a contaminated water supply that it wouldn't require boiling to make it safe ?
Sadfield
Landlord.
Yes. You get pasteurisation at mash temperature. After that the same fermentation benefits as cider come into play, making an acidic and alcoholic environment that pathogens can't tolerate. Particularly acidity, which is the principle used in fermenting food.
Let's hope that German alewife that was mentioned earlier had an accurate thermometer for the mash then
Cwrw666
Landlord.
Well if you can heat water for a mash you can do a boil as well. And if you've only got a wooden vessel there's the hot stones method - heating stones to red hot and dropping them in the wort. (From 'historical brewing techniques' Garshol.)
Sadfield
Landlord.
Maintaining a boil with hot stones would be a challenging, requiring a big fire and lots of stones. Commonsense would lead to one large, most likely wooden, vat being topped up with boiling water from a smaller iron pot. Especially as brewers that preceded them, from before the iron age, wouldn't have boiled. Reading Garshol, you'd know that many Norwegian brewers today, don't boil at all.
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