[Sca-cooks] Beer from unsafe water?

[Craig Jones.]

>Question: I've heard many times that people in Europe drank small
>beer because the water was unfit to drink. But beer is made from
>water. Were they boiling the water as part of the brewing
>process? Surely there wasn't enough alcohol in small beer to kill
>the pathogens!

Yes, the hydromel (small mead) and small beer/ale recipes I've seen (mainly
from Digby granted) involve boiling for a minimum of 30 mins, enough to kill
most pathogens.  In the case of small beer, the water/malt mix was held at 60
ish deg C for 30mins-1hr (called mashing), sparged (gently rinsing the malt
sugars from the husks), and then boiled for 30 mins.  The resulting liquid
would be sterile of yeast, molds, and bacteria at this stage.

To sterilized brewing containers, I've heard of 2 ways (that would have a good
chance of working).  One was burning sulphur in the cask and the other was
rinsing the casks in boiling water containing some wormwood.

I can give examples of recipes tonight if anyone is interested.

Cheers,

Drakey (cook, brewer and bottlewasher...)

>
>Irmele, just wondering...
>
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