SC - fizzy drinks

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Master Cariadoc said:
> > On the other hand, Digby is also a good example of the hazards of
> > doing so. I've seen it asserted--how good the evidence is I don't
> > know--that the use of bottles designed to hold fermented drinks under
> > pressure was a new idea at the time, possibly due to Digby himself.
> > If that is right, then the fizzy small mead (Digby's "weak honey
> > drink") that we make probably didn't exist in period, at least in
> > anything very close to the form we make it.
> 
> I think this is probably right on the bottles, although can't you store
> a fizzy drink reasonably well in a barrel or cask? Or is the barrel
> too permiable? I've heard this mentioned in regards to champagne before.
> But doesn't champagne develop higher presures than a bubbly mead? I'm
> thinking perhaps the better bottles were needed to keep the champagne
> but it was the development of cork stoppers that first allowed the
> use of bubbly beverages and was slightly earlier than the invention
> of champagne.
> 
> Anyone have more definite info?

Sorry, I missed this the first time around. Yes, you can carbonate to
some extent in a keg, but the period approach to fermented beverages
seems largely to have been, once the keg is opened, you want to drink
the stuff pretty quickly, and sticking the bung back in isn't really an
option. Kegs, being porous, won't really hold much gas pressure, so
you'll get a bubbly drink, but not something with a lot of that
carbonated bite.

As for Digby being the first mention of the bottling technique, unless
I'm mistaken Hugh Plat gives a recipe for bottled ale (which may or may
not actually include the bottling instructions, but I think it does) 60
years before Digby. Those wacky Carolingians!

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com