When did beer become carbonated?

[Eckythump]

Considering the pressure in a regular beer bottle caused by the carbonation, I presume beer back in the day wasn't carbonated? I doubt a barrel could hold enough pressure to keep the beer carbonated.

 

[Homercidal]

Beer wasn't carbonated until the early 1900's when a young Albert Einstein discovered a method of splitting a beer atom. This event was chronicled in the documentary, Young Einstein.

 

[Eckythump]

It was an explosive hit.

 

[NickTheGreat]

That's funny.

All I know is my uncarb beer doesn't taste all that good.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I would say since day 1 since CO2 is a byproduct of fermentation.

 

[thetragichero]

my guess it was a happy accident, much like champagne being carbonated

 

[mb82]

Carbonated the way we are used to today? Probably about the time the glass bottle and cap were developed.

 

[Revvy]

Actually we've already covered this AND homercidal told the same silly joke, here.

Where I posted this info as well.

Carbonation dates back to Ancient Egyptian times, using it from springs
where it naturally occurs.In technology circles, it wasn't 'invented' until
1772 by Joseph Priestley by 'impregnating liquids with fixed air (carbon
dioxide today)'. However, the egyptians used the carbonated water from the
spring (already carbonated), whereas Joseph created the process of
carbonating.

Joseph Priestley was born in Yorkshire, England on March 13, 1733. He was originally a preacher and a teacher, but he became interested in scientific experimentation and did important work in chemistry and electricity. In the mid-1760s, he lived near a brewery in Leeds and out of curiosity he began to study the clouds of gas produced by the fermenting process.

Priestley soon discovered that the gas produced by fermentation was the selfsame gas that other scientists called "fixed air." (We call it carbon dioxide today.) While experimenting with the gas, he found that it could be dissolved in water, resulting in a bubbly beverage. Priestley's precise invention was what we now know as seltzer or soda water.

Here's how Priestley's memoirs describe the reaction to his invention:

"My first publication on the subject of air was in 1772. It was a small pamphlet on the method of impregnating water with fixed air, which being immediately translated into French, excited a great degree of attention to the subject, and this was much increased by the publication of my first paper of experiments in a large article of the Philosophical Transactions [the official publication of the Royal Society, a scientific organization] the year following, for which I received the gold medal of the society."

As so often happens when a new substance is discovered, some people thought it might have miraculous medical properties. Priestley continues:

"My method of impregnating water with fixed air was considered at a meeting of the College of Physicians, before whom I made the experiments, and by them it was recommended to the Lords of the Admiralty (by whom they had been summoned for the purpose) as likely to be of use in [fighting] the sea scurvy."

Of course, his drink did nothing to help sailors suffering from scurvy, a condition brought on by bad diet. Still, the process that Priestley invented gave rise to all the carbonated drinks popular today.

He's also credited as being the co-discoverer of oxygen. http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventors/a/JosephPriestley.htm

Not bad for a preacher. (Same joke there too.)

More info here.

Not to be outdone by champagne (or “sparkling wine,” if you want to be proper), beer also became carbonated at around the same time. Traditionally, the tasty barley sodas had been fermented in large vats, allowing all the precious bubbles to escape. However, brewmasters of the 17th century discovered their ales would have a pleasant effervescence if they put them into sealed containers. It took a while for the bubbly, bottled beer to catch on, but once it did it quickly dominated the market. "

 

[Eckythump]

Not bad for a preacher. (Same joke there too.)

Those preachers are so clever!

 

[Homercidal]

Actually we've already covered this AND homercidal told the same silly joke, here.

I don't mind repeating a GOOD joke.

Like, "What's invisible and smells like carrots??"

 

[djfriesen]

invisible carrots?

 

[mb82]

I don't mind repeating a GOOD joke.

Like, "What's invisible and smells like carrots??"

Rabbit farts.

 

[Homercidal]

Rabbit farts.

Ba-dum TISCH! :cross:

 

[ao125]

God, whatever happened to Yahoo Serious?

 

[paulster2626]

I'm sure if you searched on Google the answer would bubble to the surface.

 

[ao125]

I'm sure if you searched on Google the answer would bubble to the surface.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000635/

He hasn't done anything since 2000.