Carbonation history....

[Mismost]

Back in yee olde days before bottles and pressurized kegs, how did they achieve carbonation? I figure in the history of beer carbonation is fairly new. Which also makes me wonder why carbonation in the first place.

In fact, back in the early 70's I was in Germany. I remember the beer being slightly carbonated and of course much warmer....very little to no head....and it was really good beer.

Which got me to thinking....thinking always causes me problems! And I have friend who had the gastric band surgery, loves beer, and now he can not drink beer because of the carbonation. But, good beer with no carbonation might work. besides, foamy heads get all over my whiskers!

 

[Ski12568]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/history-beer-carbonation-224489/

It seems like anything a search brings up is all speculation. The answer I read that I liked said that having a head on the beer helps with aroma so I'm guessing a side by side would have a carbonated beer tasting better than the flat one

 

[WayFrae]

After fermentation beer is still carbonated just not much. I think it is something like 1.3 volumes of CO2.

 

[unionrdr]

Good question! I googled it out of curiosity, & it's all speculation basically. I tend to think cask beers with their usual light carbonation was a s close as they got in olden days to a carbonated beer. Until the cask started getting increased head space & the Co2 started off-gassing out of solution. I guess when bottles started getting more common, then carbonation became more common? There was a brief mention of a brewer in the 1700's capturing the effervescence in bottles toward the end of fermentation. But it was slow to catch on they claimed. They didn't want to be outdone by sparkling wines.

 

[Mismost]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/history-beer-carbonation-224489/

It seems like anything a search brings up is all speculation. The answer I read that I liked said that having a head on the beer helps with aroma so I'm guessing a side by side would have a carbonated beer tasting better than the flat one

Interesting read, thanks!

Times and tastes change, all of us are used to carbonation and heads on beer. Folks used to boil a lot of meat, now blackened is common.

Any ideas on what could be done to improve "flat beer"? Maybe thicker, more mouthfeel?

And thanks for helping continue my beer/brewing education!