Are we overanalyzing?

[david_42]

I could add that the use of sugars in beer was also a costly proposition until very recently. English brewers used sugar in their IPAs, not because it was cheaper, but because of the flavors. During WW2 rationing, 10-15% sugar could easily double the price of a pint.

Brewers in the way back probably made good beer and certainly obsessed about the process. Consider the level of experience needed to hit your mash temperatures, when you didn't have a thermometer. One recipe I've read talks about how the surface of the water would shimmer when it was the correct temperature.

More to the point: It's a hobby. If brewing, as a hobby, couldn't support a continuum of interest, analysis, effort and equipment, it wouldn't remain a hobby. There's room for the can-kitters and the people who raise and malt their barley.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Check out Orfy's method of brewing these days... He doesn't really measure anything, doesn't time anything etc. I've done those brew days a few times, brewing with leftover ingredients or just throwing together 'beer' for friends. It's fun.

 

[Hound_Dog]

I always seem to get my knickers in a twist over statements like this, because I geek out on brewing history; it is a historiographical blunder of the highest degree to that ancient peoples were somehow ignorant blithering idiots who didn't know what the hell they were doing. It's just poor methodology.

Jason

I didn't say that they were idiots who didn't know what they were doing. Even you must admit that brewing practices and technology today, however necessary or unnecessary, allows you to make more consistent beer that can be made to a more specific desired flavor profile. Yet again, I'm not saying that ancient beer wasn't able to be brewed to a better flavor profile, but the variety of grain or knowledge of malting practices were not known 3000 years ago, nor were as many options available. My statement of this age having better beer is based on a simple question, would you rather drink the beer of today's age or exclusively that of the egyptians.

Then you probably haven't tried Midas TOuch or any of the historic recreation brews based on the evidence left behind..they were pretty damn good.

This idea that somehow the beer of ancient times was somehow worse than ours is today always rankles me...it's like the ethnocentric bias, or cultural relativism that led to the native people of this world being sent away to schools to have the culture ripped from them. That somehow their religion, their ideas, their language, their beliefs were somehow "sub par."

Well IMHO Midas Touch is awful. I didn't say that their practices were sub par, that's just putting words in my mouth. As for your statement about undesired foods not being made anymore, consider how large of a market there is for ancient beers today. If the basis for how good it was is by how it lasted through time than ancient beer styles dissappeared for a long time until curiosity brought them back, not a longing for the taste. Even with that Midas Touch or other ancients aren't really comparible to the true ancient beers, because they too are brewed with the knowledge and technology of today. The egyptians and others may have known what they were doing, but I think it's a fair assesment to say that we know more today. At least this is my perception about this.

The challenge is to treat brewing practices and recipes from yesteryear on their own terms as examples of that particular time's knowledge and practices. I've really only begun my research into medieval and colonial brewing over the past year, but I can tell you that medieval brewers were held in high regard and brewing was protected knowledge, often by the Church.

Medieval and colonial brewing were still more advanced than that of early civilizations, and I think that in all ages more was known about brewing practices than anyone realizes today. I think your statement about comparing the end product to the practices and technology of the time is precisely what I meant by saying that better beer is made these days.

I'm not saying that they are not worthy of replication, study and so forth. I think that's a worthwhile endeavor. I think the odds of getting a non-phenolic sourish beer are more left to chance than today and would be a rarity.

This is what I imagine about truly ancient beer.

 

[jkarp]

Check out Orfy's method of brewing these days... He doesn't really measure anything, doesn't time anything etc. I've done those brew days a few times, brewing with leftover ingredients or just throwing together 'beer' for friends. It's fun.

The scary part of brewing this way is IF you brew a truly wonderful, slap your mamma it's so good beer, you've got zero chance of reproducing it.

 

[boredatwork]

"Overanalyzing beer and brewing" equals "something to do at work when I am bored". It is very worthwhile and I would not do without it.

 

[Revvy]

"Overanalyzing beer and brewing" equals "something to do at work when I am bored". It is very worthwhile and I would not do without it.

Yeah, I have noticed your nickname....why the heck do you think I have such a high postcount? My highest amount of posting are between the hours of 8:30am to 5pm.....

 

[MMW]

Yeah, I have noticed your nickname....why the heck do you think I have such a high postcount? My highest amount of posting are between the hours of 8:30am to 5pm.....

Only time I log on during nights and weekends is when SWMBO is out of town...