Five senses brewing.

[Sadfield]

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.

[basswulf]

It's a fascinating idea but I suspect the results would be pretty variable to begin with. For example, the science says that there is a relatively narrow range at which fermentable sugars can be extracted from the grain. I guess that if you started with cold water and heated fairly slowly, you might get a decent amount of time at the right range especially with a high volume acting as a natural buffer to temperature changes. Over time you'd probably start refining the process with various forms of measurements - ancient brewers didn't have electronic scales but they had a good grasp of things like weights and volumes.

To be fair, I suppose I do something similar with cider. I lightly wash a batch of apples, roughly chop them and discard the mankiest bits. The rest goes in a clean vat covered with water and gets left for a week or so. By now the apple mass is turning brown; I siphon off the liquid and dispose of the mush. The liquid goes in a clean vat with about 100g sugar per litre and is left to ferment for a couple of weeks before bottling. The result is generally drinkable (although last year I discovered I had an ample supply of cider vinegar instead) but it is definitely one from the peasant end of the brewing scale.

Some brewers could probably come up with amazing drinks under a primitive regime but it would be turning the hobby into one for the elite rather than something feasible for anyone with a modicum of care and patience.

Wulf

[Sadfield]

I was thinking as a one off thing, it would be interesting to see what sensory knowledge we all accrue, yet override by automatically relying on equipment to do is job. I think that the visual and tactile clues gained from heating water every time we brew would serve us well in hitting the late 60c mark if we let our senses take over.

Also, it would be interesting to see the relationship between the importance we put on exact details and the actual effect on the quality of the finished product. Homebrewing can be very precise, yet we seldom take the same level of detail into food, and quickly learn a feel for ingredients and process, without getting too hung up on variance in the end result.

[Rick_UK]

I think other than a thermometer you could make perfectly good beer without any other specialist, modern equipment. You quickly learn ratios and good approximation for the mix of malts, hops, water etc. I think as already stated by trial and error you would learn what a good mash temp feels like.

Perhaps they had some measure of temperature even back then?

Rick

[Pinto]

I think they called it the "finger"

Although temperature measurement was discovered in ancient times, what we describe as a thermometer was a relatively modern invention. You can dip a finger into the average cup of tea without scalding pain, which averages around the optimum mash temps in the 60 degree range so I'm sure that's probably what they did. I'd also say that as it was common practice to make beer and "small beer" from one mash, it suggests a low, fermentable mash which probably had surprisingly high efficiency.

As to other ingredients, it would have been down to seasonal availability and budget - our modern sensibility and precision aims for a tasty, balanced brew - they just wanted something they could drink without risk of dysentry....

[BenB]

As long as someone had a cup or such measuring device the rest is just ratios. Even a given temperature can be obtained by usinga certain ratio of boiling water and unheated temperature. I suspect sticking fingers in the wort and counting until it was unbearable might have been employed....

[BenB]

Interestingly they knew early on that either very cold or very hot water resulted in week beer (though clearly they didn't understand why). There is an interesting book from 1760 called "The Compleat Brewer; Or the Art and Mystery of Brewing Explained" by George Watkins (brewer.). In that he describes how the mash should be performed and also how water should be chosen- well water for dark beers, river water for light beers. I suspect that's trial and error!

"Chap XIV

The Practice of Brewing in Small Families.

A copper that holds twelve pails of water, will answer very well for five bushels of malt. Suit the water to the kind of malt, according to the directions in the preceeding chapters; and, having filled the copper with it, make a brisk fire: when the water begins to be hot, sprinkle upon the surface of it half a peck of the malt, without stiring it in. Let it swim upon the top till the water simmers, and just is beginning to boil' then draw, or ladle it out of the copper into the mash-tub, and let it stand to cool a little. A thick steam rises from it at first, and is scalding hot. This by degrees abates in quantity and heat; and when a man can hold his head over it, and look down upon the water, so as to see his face in it, then it will be in a proper condition for the malt."

It's an interesting read especially when you consider they had no idea why the wort turned into beer

[Pinto]

Amazing how accurate just experience can be reading that description brings to mind how for most brews, strike water is around 80 degrees when we dough in - by which point boiling water will have ceased steaming to the extent one could "hold the head above it"

As the OP says - this would make for an interesting experiment.