FOOD HISTORY:  BEER (Part 2; To the Present)

Malting

 The process of malting created a great leap forward in beer making. Malting is a process in which grain is made by soaking in water until it starts to germinate, then halted from further germination by heating. This provides the larger amount of sugar and activates the necessary enzymes to react with the fermenting yeasts. The malting process is buried in antiquity but there is a legend that the Egyptians developed a method for malting which included putting grain in a basket in a well to wet it, raised it above the water line to dry and raised or lowered the basket to adjust the temperature. The earliest archaeological evidence for malted grains dates back 1300 years to Raqfit Cave in Israel. Once the Roman Empire fell, Europe, in what was called the Dark Ages followed, had regions of the Empire breaking into smaller states. Because of this, beer making innovations went out of favor, only to be relearned centuries later in the Middle Ages. In the beginning of the Middle Ages, beers were brewed only in homes or in monasteries for profit. These beers would be flavored by using “gruits”, - mixtures of herbs - to give flavor and bitterness to the beer. Gruits were replaced in 19th century France using the herb, Hops.  (More about this later.) These beers would be like those brewed in earlier times using early malting methods.  It was in the Middle Ages, however, that improved malting methods became the source of beers that we are familiar with today. Initially, the making and selling of malts was often controlled. In Nuremberg, only barley was allowed to be malted while in Augsburg only oats were used for malting between 1433 – 1550, In England, malting carried a tax until 1880. European settlers North America even tried to make beer from maize. By the17th century beers brewed from barley malt predominated Europe. Further improvements in malting methods and development of large breweries lead to the industrialization of malting. With this and the expansion of world trade, beer made from barley malt spread across the globe.

Hops

Around the 9^th century, Northern Europe began to cultivate hops. In the 1500’s, when gruit was most popular, a set of regulations. “Reinheitgebot”, meaning, “purity order “was adopted in Germany and Bavaria. It decreed that beer may only be made using water, barley, and hops. Yeast was added when it was later discovered This restriction was made because beers using gruits caused narcotic, aphrodisiac, and psychotic effects. Hops were used to replace “gruits”. Hops added flavor and aroma to beer without the side effects and, in addition, served as a preservative. While some modifications and changes have been made to these laws, they are still in effect today. With hops making a more stable beer, longer lasting for both local and export, “hopped” breweries spread across Europe to Poland, Latvia, Scandinavia, the Low countries, and England.

Lagering: Bottom Fermentation

The term beer at that time were all Ales. Bavarian brewers found that in cold Alpine caves a new kind of yeast started to occur, which fermented beer more slowly, then sank to the bottom of the barrel. It was further found that storing these cold-resistant yeast brewed beers created a crisper beer. This form of beer maturation is called,” lagering” from the German word, “lagern” - to store. Hence the name for these beers is Lager as opposed to Ale. Over the first half of the 19^th century, brewers continued to expand and perfect the lagering process as it spread across Europe. In 1838, the town of Plzen (Pilsen) in Bohemia (now called The Czech Republic), brewers poured barrels of beer, which had spoiled from the warm weather, into the streets to get rid of it. They hired a German brewer, Josef Groff to teach them the Bavarian lagering method using a supply of lager yeasts smuggled out of Germany by a Monk. Plzen had soft water wells, a supply of excellent hops and cold sandstone caverns. All conditions ready for making lager beer. Further, they used only light barley, only partially smoked as opposed to the roasted and fully smoked barley used by the German. Combining all these elements, the Plzen brewers made a new lager different from all the ales they were used to drinking. The news of this new beer from Bohemia spread rapidly, and Plzen or Pilsen beer was born. Pilsen beer has become one of the most copied beers in history. Ales and lagers continued to be modified and are being improved even today. Now, many varieties of both ales and lagers are available around the world. Therefore, in most anywhere you are and whichever is your choice, raise your glass say; Sante, Prost, Skal, Skol, Salud, Salute, Kampai, Ganbei, Cheers, or whatever else you choose, and drink your beer!

 

 

 

 

 

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