lucasszy
Well-Known Member
All, I came across a random article about kirin, of Japan, brewing an ancient egyptian beer recipe based on some hieroglyphic writings found in tombs. This made me want to recreate some crazy long gone ancient beer recipe.
here is what I found to date:
EGYPTIAN BEER EXPERIMENT
Steve Gustafson
.Fac Quodlibet Vis/
This is a description of a very experimental beer that I brewed about
six months ago, in an a-historical attempt to recreate a beer using
ingredients that were (except for one very obvious exception) available
to the ancient Egyptians. The only archaeological authority I consulted
was the Roman author Diodorus Siculus, who described Egyptian beer.
1 lb barley flour
1 lb millet flour
2 cups corn sugar
Water to make dough
Baker's yeast.
-----------------------------------
Step the first:
Mix a cup of corn sugar each with the barley flour and millet flour.
Mix in water enough to make a fairly thin, pourable dough with each, and
add the baker's yeast and knead or stir as best you can. This will not
rise far. After about 6-8 hours, pour the risen dough for each onto
greased cookie sheets and bake it until brown.
Then, take the barley and millet "bread", and cut it into
white-bread-slice sized squares, and toast each of them in a toaster.
-----------------------------------
Step the second:
2 gallons of water
One small bottle of "Beano", an anti-flatulence enzyme available from
most vegetarian grocery stores. For better or worse, Beano was
unavailable to the ancient Egyptians, who according to other ancient
authors suffered frequently from intestinal gas.
Boil 2 gallons of water from the Nile. When boiling, crumble all of the
squares of barley and millet bread toast into each of them.
Let the bread and water mixture set until it becomes just above room
temperature. Add the entire bottle of Beano to the mixture and allow it
to set overnight.
-----------------------------------
Step the third:
3 1/2 gallons of water
One 6" liquorice root
1/2 oz. anise seed
1/2 oz. herb rue (very optional - if bitterness desired)
4 pounds light barley malt extract
3 pounds honey
Four cups sorghum molasses syrup
Wine Yeast (I used Montrachet; Champagne might have been better.)
Strain the bits of bread out of the bread, water and Beano mixture you
made yesterday and bring the whole mess to a boil again. Give the bits
of bread to the birds.
Grate the liquorice root and reduce it into little pencil shaving sized
bits.
Put everything except the yeast and extra water into the water/bread
mixture. I let it boil for 45 minutes.
Pour the wort into the 3 1/2 gallons water. If you are using Nile water
boil all of the water first.
Pitch, ferment, prime, and bottle as you would a regular ale. This will
have a long fermentation.
-----------------------------------
NOTES:
The beer was cloudy. I suspect this was a natural consequence of
brewing with bread and Beano. Grain brewers may have more success if
they tried to mash the bread, or mash whole grains. Whole millet may be
available from feed stores as a bird seed. Just what you want to tell
your friends about what you put in this beer.
Diodorus Siculus's "Historical Library," book IV, chap. 2, and book V,
chap. 26, contains a description of the product of Egyptian breweries.
He relates that it was "nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour."
The product of this recipe may not reach quite that stature, but it
comes close.
Hops, of course, were unknown to the peoples around the Mediterranean in
antiquity. Rue was a bitter herb that was available to them. I have
heard from another experimenter that tarragon also makes an interesting
addition to ancient beer styles.
Some models of daily life included in Egyptian tombs provide images of
brewers, usually combined with bakers. Apparently in Egypt, as in much
of the ancient world, brewing and baking were considered two aspects of
the same trade.
-----------------------------------
Any ideas or recommendations on a better "Ancient Egyptian" beer recipe would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Lucas
here is what I found to date:
EGYPTIAN BEER EXPERIMENT
Steve Gustafson
.Fac Quodlibet Vis/
This is a description of a very experimental beer that I brewed about
six months ago, in an a-historical attempt to recreate a beer using
ingredients that were (except for one very obvious exception) available
to the ancient Egyptians. The only archaeological authority I consulted
was the Roman author Diodorus Siculus, who described Egyptian beer.
1 lb barley flour
1 lb millet flour
2 cups corn sugar
Water to make dough
Baker's yeast.
-----------------------------------
Step the first:
Mix a cup of corn sugar each with the barley flour and millet flour.
Mix in water enough to make a fairly thin, pourable dough with each, and
add the baker's yeast and knead or stir as best you can. This will not
rise far. After about 6-8 hours, pour the risen dough for each onto
greased cookie sheets and bake it until brown.
Then, take the barley and millet "bread", and cut it into
white-bread-slice sized squares, and toast each of them in a toaster.
-----------------------------------
Step the second:
2 gallons of water
One small bottle of "Beano", an anti-flatulence enzyme available from
most vegetarian grocery stores. For better or worse, Beano was
unavailable to the ancient Egyptians, who according to other ancient
authors suffered frequently from intestinal gas.
Boil 2 gallons of water from the Nile. When boiling, crumble all of the
squares of barley and millet bread toast into each of them.
Let the bread and water mixture set until it becomes just above room
temperature. Add the entire bottle of Beano to the mixture and allow it
to set overnight.
-----------------------------------
Step the third:
3 1/2 gallons of water
One 6" liquorice root
1/2 oz. anise seed
1/2 oz. herb rue (very optional - if bitterness desired)
4 pounds light barley malt extract
3 pounds honey
Four cups sorghum molasses syrup
Wine Yeast (I used Montrachet; Champagne might have been better.)
Strain the bits of bread out of the bread, water and Beano mixture you
made yesterday and bring the whole mess to a boil again. Give the bits
of bread to the birds.
Grate the liquorice root and reduce it into little pencil shaving sized
bits.
Put everything except the yeast and extra water into the water/bread
mixture. I let it boil for 45 minutes.
Pour the wort into the 3 1/2 gallons water. If you are using Nile water
boil all of the water first.
Pitch, ferment, prime, and bottle as you would a regular ale. This will
have a long fermentation.
-----------------------------------
NOTES:
The beer was cloudy. I suspect this was a natural consequence of
brewing with bread and Beano. Grain brewers may have more success if
they tried to mash the bread, or mash whole grains. Whole millet may be
available from feed stores as a bird seed. Just what you want to tell
your friends about what you put in this beer.
Diodorus Siculus's "Historical Library," book IV, chap. 2, and book V,
chap. 26, contains a description of the product of Egyptian breweries.
He relates that it was "nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour."
The product of this recipe may not reach quite that stature, but it
comes close.
Hops, of course, were unknown to the peoples around the Mediterranean in
antiquity. Rue was a bitter herb that was available to them. I have
heard from another experimenter that tarragon also makes an interesting
addition to ancient beer styles.
Some models of daily life included in Egyptian tombs provide images of
brewers, usually combined with bakers. Apparently in Egypt, as in much
of the ancient world, brewing and baking were considered two aspects of
the same trade.
-----------------------------------
Any ideas or recommendations on a better "Ancient Egyptian" beer recipe would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Lucas
