Recipes for Beer

Beer is defined as an alcoholic beverage made from grains. As you will see in this potted history of beer just about every kind of grain imaginable has been fermented at some point or other during human history. The history of brewing may be at least 6000 years old and historians currently speculate that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from grain & water before learning to make bread; in that soaked grains will naturally ferment from the action of wild yeast. The frothy topping on such wild fermentations contains a yeast culture which can then be used to make bread.

This seems likely as beer is found in non-agrarian communities and ancient communities that were not yet agrarian. However, the first recorded recipes from beer come from 4300 BCE, inscribed on Babylonian clay tablets. The Egyptians ales brewed large quantities of beer and may have grown barley specifically for this purpose (as it makes poor bread). Egyptian texts from 1600 BCE contain not only beer recipes but also medical prescriptions employing beer as a curative. Other ancient cultures making beer were the Asssyrians, the Hebrew peoples and the Chinese. Many of these ancient beers where drunk through a reed straw to prevent the consuming of barley hulls left in the beer and a layer of top-fermenting yeast on the surface of the dink.

Though the Romans are most known for their wines, they also brewed a beer, cerevisiae (deriving from the name of Ceres the goddess of agriculture and vis meaning strong. It is from this that we derive the name of brewers' yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae). It was probably the Roman legions who introduced beer to North-western Europe where it eventually became more popular than the traditional drink of Mead.

Between 500CE and 1000CE beer became increasingly popular in Europe where its spread along with the monasteries where the monks began large-scale centralized production (prior to this it had been a woman's task to make beer as it was considered to be a food as well as a drink). Around 1000 CE in Continental Europe hops began to be used as a bittering and flavouring agent in beer (though it was not until at least 1545 that hops were introduced into Britain by Dutch immigrants).

By the early 1200s commercial beer making is firmly established in Germany, Austria and England where the Germans preferred cold temperature lagers (bottom-fermentation) stored in caves (though it was not until 1420 that the modern 'lager' was born) and English brewing relied on top-fermentation mild temperature ales stored in cellars.

Of course, the history of brewing is not confined to Western and Central Europe. Other cultures around the world have been producing beers from a variety of grains:

Africans used milled, maize and cassava

Japan used rice to make sake and China used wheat to make samshu

Other asian cultures used sorghum.

Russians used rye to make kvass.

South- and Meso-Americans used corn to make beer (though it is known that sweet potatoes were used in Brazil)

North Americans used persimmon

Agave was used in Mexico

Though the terms for the subtypes of 'beer' are used variously in different countries the actual definitions are:

Types of Beer

Ales Beers distinguished by use of top fermenting yeast strains such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae The top fermenting yeast perform at warmer temperatures than do yeast stains used to brew lager and their byproducts are more evident in taste and aroma. Traditionally they are low in carbonation and are served warm. Traditional (Medieval) ales contained no hops.

Bitter A bitter is an ale flavoured with hops (which impart bitterness). This was unknown in Britain before 1545 when Dutch immigrants imported the practice of adding hops to beer.

Lager From the German word for storage. This represents a family of beers produced with bottom fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces uvarum (or carlsbergensis) at colder fermentation temperatures than ales. This cooler environment inhibits the natural production of esters and other byproducts, creating a crisper tasting product.

Beer Though not the strict definition I'm using the term 'beer' to refer to alcoholic drinks made from grains other than barley and wheat.

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