"brewing" beer?

[PitRow]

Stupid question I guess, but while I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep last night a question popped in my feeble brain. Why is it that we "brew" beer, but simply "make" wine or cider, etc.

Is it the mashing step that turns it into brewing?

I suppose that's probably the case, since brewing coffee or tea involve steeping things in hot water, as does mashing the grains for beer.

 

[Sailingeric]

Interesting question.. I wonder if it "just sounds right" much like a pair of jeans or underwear, when we only wear one jean or underwear.

 

[shoengine]

Well, it fits the definition, unless you are thinking more philosophically.

It is a very old word. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brew

I'm thinking much predates the term in regards to coffee.

 

[tgolanos]

Linguist to the rescue:

the verb "brew" can be traced back to an Proto-Indoeuropean word for "boil/foam".

The more you know!

 

[PitRow]

Linguist to the rescue:

the verb "brew" can be traced back to an Proto-Indoeuropean word for "boil/foam".

The more you know!

perfect! thank you.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I agree, and there are some people that say they "brew" mead, buy they are really making wine. ( unless perhaps it is a brochet? sp? )

 

[pvpeacock]

It's simple, what else would you call making a cold "brew?" I mean voting means to make a vote and toasting means to make toast. You know, chicken and egg.

 

[chickypad]

I thought it has to do with the rinsing/soaking/steeping of something in water - like coffee, tea, the mash. You don't do that with wine, mead, cider.

 

[Homercidal]

Language is fluid and is always changing and evolving.

Lifdgr ne tufiis nff es whwhelkjn! (That means, "The more you know!" in a future language that hasn't evolved yet. Also, it's not an exact translation. The actual translation is WAY more obscene. Future people are very rude.)

 

[GJOCONNELL]

Just to add to this conversation slightly we don't make beer/brew we make wort and the yeast makes the wort beer. We do our part in the process but the yeast makes the magic happen.

I am stealing this quote from Jay G. from the Sour Hour and it stuck with me but he makes a good point. It gave me more respect for the yeast and why we need to make sure we treat the yeast with proper respect.

 

[pvpeacock]

So we don't grow barley; We make holes in dirt and the barley seeds make barley? We don't make steaks; we feed cows hay and cows make steaks? White labs doesn't make yeast; they make vials and yeast makes yeast?

 

[yourlastchance89]

I think the big difference between brewing and making is that in a brewing process compounds are extracted through hot water, coffee, wort, witches potion etc. Wine or mead are devoid of such a process