SC - keg-brewed ale

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

>Subject: Re: SC - SC fizzy drinks
>
>Charles McCN wrote:
>> 
>> Come to that, is there evidence that beer was particularly fizzy? If you
>> make it in modern bottles with crown seals or champagne corks then it is.
>> But as I recall Dom Perignon (the person) invented the methode
>> champagnoise in C17 or C18. If fizzy drinks were a big thing, why did it
>> take that long to figure out? I have never made and served beer in a
>> barrel (poured by hand, as opposed to using modern keg/gas equipment) so
>> I don't know how much gas it can keep. Does anyone have any useful
>> research on this?
>
Adamantius wrote:
>With a few exceptions, there is much evidence to suggest that it was NOT
>fizzy, for the reasons you state. Keg-conditioned ale (which is what a
>high proportion of period brews would have been, more or less) doesn't
>get especially fizzy, because the keg is slightly porous, and then after
>you open it, any carbonation that may have been present is quickly lost.
>Kegs, after all, not coming in the convenient 12 or 16 ounce size...
>

Not being an expert here, I think I'll butt in anyway. I have not tasted ale
actually brewed in the middle ages (not in this lifetime ;^D). However, I
have had keg-brewed ale, ably brewed up by my brother Tigranes, and it was
fizzy. Not as fizzy as bottle fermented, not as fizzy as force carbonated,
but definately fizzy. We got a modest head. Reminded me of slightly flat ale
(like the second half of the pitcher ordered at the sports bar!) . The
recipe was a honey-amber, and half the wort was keg-brewed, the other half
bottled. The bottled honey-amber was fizzier, no doubt about it. BUT, the
keg-brew, from a keg sealed with brewer's pitch, was indescribably
wonderful. It was not, however, as clear as the bottle brew. Flavor-wise,
Oak Chips do not do justice to a good wort. The keg's the thing. Bubbles or
not, there's no substitute for taste.

Aoife, a recent convert



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