Billy and Dec's Bronze-Age Beer

[JeniferHayley]

Our Archaeology lecturer showed us today, for the laugh. He said it's completely inaccurate but great to watch--even if it's just for the music. Personally, I'm convinced he's Billy. Bless.

[mooregroupgalway]

@JeniferHayley Well, that's not very open minded of him, is it!

[JeniferHayley]

@mooregroupgalway Ah, he loves it though, in fairness to him. xD

[hasturhastur]

picked that boar clean! I would have loved to have been there. boar and beer, paradise.

[The4LA2Baker0]

i thought this was a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode at 1st cuz of the music.

Home brew beer is the shit!

It's very simple and delicious. ive done it many times(not this method). even the stuff that comes out not so good still gets you drunk and tastes better than any macro-brew.

[maninablackhat]

From Wiki

"Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, Lambic beer is instead produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste."

[mooregroupgalway]

We see our fulacht beer as a lambic sahti style ale....

[theplainsman6]

"Give us the flaw"

What? Flaw? Beer and meat cooked on a stick? Flaw? What?

Sounds like a fucking barbque to me.

[jstema]

mmmmmmmbeer

[mooregroupgalway]

@juamei - Again, have a read of the blog for more info on the process - Yeast exists in the air - it's entirely plausible that natural air-borne yeast can infect your wort. The first brew we did, we left the remains of the wort in the pit overnight and by the following day air-borne yeast was already acting on it. Yeast is everywhere, the secret of a good beer is finding the right one and ensuring consistency over time - google Belgian Lambic beer for a modern example.

[gargoylesama]

It is also known that they would use risen bread dough as a starter of sorts. Ale yeast and bread yeast are of the same genus and species, so it is not a far stretch

[2206411411]

@gargoylesama There is considerable evidence that bread was used to preserve beer yeasts (and vice versa) - IIRC, there are Sumerian and Egyptian writings to this effect. I would argue, then, that risen bread dough would certainly have been a starter and that once a good yeast was obtained, they'd have perpetuated it rather than use wild yeast.

[juamei]

Beer done easy!

Where would the Bronze Age folk get the natural yeast from?

[jahfish42]

Nice idea! But from all the excavated troughs, have we ever had grain in any quantity? Surely it would be spilt everywhere?

[mooregroupgalway]

Have a look at our blog at wordpress - google moore groups blog - We've been asked this question before - click on the beer category - and you'll find loads of info on it - anecdotally we've heard that even on sites where you would expect a great deal of grain residue there's none.

[jahfish42]

now mead or something similar - now you're talking - this mght leave no obvious residue. But then why the need for the trough.....

[fjorukrain04]

it you used a trough buried in the ground it would keep the temperature more stable, it would also be at a better height for working. plus it you made legs for the hrough there is a chance of it tipping over, and in my mind there are very few things worse then spilling that much good beer

[2206411411]

@jahfish42 Meaderies going back 5,500 have been identified and the recent 500 BC Celtic Beer find used a trench rather than a trough, so I'd say residue will likely be findable if you know where to look, and that troughs weren't obligatory. They may well have been limited to only certain peoples.

[gargoylesama]

The spent grain could have easily been fed to livestock. The local craft brewery here has a farmer that comes by and picks up the spent grain for his cows. Waste not want not was more than an idea in earlier periods. Sometimes it was a matter of survival.

[oxman0313]

I would say that you are dead on. I think the irish made beer before anything. Go Beer.

[AllanCav]

Ha ha legends! I love the slurry arkeeollologicalal essplanashun at the end.

[grofaz1939]

F---in' Magic and dead right on!

[chilcox]

Amazing video. Brewing beer can be a bit intimidating with all the "specific gravity" and "infusion mashing" talk. Jeez Louise, just make beer for Pete's sake. It doesn't have to be all that complicated. I like the fact that you weren't at all concerned about "pH levels" or the "final gravity" or any of that esoteric nonsense. It tastes different every time...and you're okay with that. Anyway, I really enjoyed it....same goes for the Moore Group website, lots of good info. Thanks for posting.

[Headwave]

Lads that's only magic and 99% right! I reserve the other 1% for all the other uses they have; Wool & Linen dying, Leather Production, and tentatively, Bathing, Sauna, Sweat lodge, evaporation of herbs for Medicinal cures and washing the dog. Great film and thank the ancestors for experimental archaeology and people with the Ale gene.

[moorearchaeology]

We added the yeast after cooling the wort in a bath for 3/4 hours and then, three days later, when the yeast had taken, we added the herbal ingredients by suspending the ground herbs in a muslin bag in the fermenting vessel - after three - four days it was all ready. You can read more on th emoore group blog!

[MadLuplin]

When did you add the bog myrtle and other herbs?

[BeeRich33]

Measure your starting gravity and terminal gravity, you can find out what ABV you achieved.

[elpoulpo]

Awesome video ! My brewmate and I constantly argue about technical details for the best pico-brewing design and then THIS ! The beauty of the simplicity. Thanks a million !