Deep Past Sanitation???

[rleeq]

As I was preparing my mead must, I began to wonder how sanitation issues were handled by mead makers in the dark past. Considering that sanitation was considered bad form overall, how did they keep their mead, beers and wines, from becoming adulterated by unwanted bacterias.

 

[Kershner_Ale]

My guess is they didn't really practice any sanitation and I'd wager the results varied greatly from batch to batch. One thing honey has going for it is its low pH nature. Compared to wort for beer, mead must is not so bacteria friendly given the low pH.

 

[MedsenFey]

Meadmakers of yore often boiled their musts initially. Later on, when stored in a keg, the fact that honey musts have very little nutrient to start with, and end with even less probably served to slow down spoilage. That may have been one reason mead was prized - it probably wasn't as quickly damaged as other fermented beverages in a barrel that had been opened.

If you go back further, the Romans knew how to burn sulfur in a barrel.

If you go back to the dawn of the wine trade, a few thousand years before Christ, the amphora that were used for storing wine are typically found to have evidence of resin from the terebinth tree. That may have been used as a preservative as well as a sealant for the lids.