Five senses brewing.

[cafelinhchi]

I have been flicking through a number of beer and brewing books recently, and there is always the obligatory chapter on the origins of brewing. The emphasis is always on ingredient and style differences, seldom on the practicality of brewing. In the days before yeast had been discovered, and people were brewing beer as a food source and also to ensure something safe to drink, they wouldn't have had the luxuries of hydrometers, thermometers, weighing scales even. This leads me to the question, how good a beer could you brew if you relied solely on your senses?

I think this may possibly make an interesting group experiment, if we had to rely on our senses to judge quantities, volumes, temperature. Imagine trying to hit strike temp by dipping a finger in.

 

[Yob]

Erm.. Why springs to mind. There is no evidence to suggest that ye beers of olde were a decent drop as we know them today.


You might struggle, you might nail it, could be a fun experiment but I think I'll stay digital for now

Isn't there a quote from Abraham Lincoln talking about the vast improvement coming from the invention of the thermometer on beer?

Ed: could also have been Benjamin Franklin.

Ed. Ed. Could also have been Thomas Jefferson, (much more likely)

 

[Chris7]

While I agree it would be a pretty fun experiment to do, I would encourage only doing it if kegging. The potential for bottle bombs would be much higher and the fun-to-danger scale would probably weigh a bit more on the danger side.

 

[Tahoose]

Read a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to his neighbour asking politely for his brewing book to be returned.

Other notes suggested that he made a semi decent drop and that it was always well received by his guests. (Maybe they were arse kissers)

 

[Mardoo]

I read a short text by John Adams extolling the uses of the marvelous new technology for brewing. It was the thermometer. Pretty cool how excited he was.

 

[contrarian]

I have done a few brews without scales but none without a thermometer. It would probably be possible to get reasonably close to mash temp or mash in cold and slowly raise the temperature over 90 minutes or so until it was around mash out temp. I'm sure if you did it a few times you could get relatively repeatable beer. It wouldn't really be the same though because all of your assumptions would be based on previous knowledge gained from using accurate measurement devices rather than a best guess.

 

[drtomc]

Most beer had some level of wild yeast/bacterial infection and wasn't stored the way we do (well, some of us drink it faster than others, I guess). The variability (and you can just imagine some inns or households having persistent nasty infections, with no chemicals or understandings to help deal with it) leads to various references in history and literature. For example in the Lord of the Rings, there is a reference to the Green Dragon having the "best beer in the Southfarthing".