ANSC 1979 Beer Quiz #1

Define Brewing

The combined processes producing beverages from the conversion of starch to sugar and the fermentation by yeast of the resulting sugary solution to ethanol/alcohol and CO2

Whats the result of brewing?

-ethanol/alcohol

-carbon dioxide

Define Beer

fermented drink made from malted cereals, water and yeast

what else did beer include in it's recipe?

-roots and other starchy plant materials (historically)

-hops (now)

define wine

essentially fermented fruit

What is the drunken money hypothesis?

The attraction to odors of ripe/fermenting fruits would help primates find scarce calories in rain forests. May potentially underlie modern human tendencies for alcohol use/abuse.

Whats the debated origin story of beer?

1. stored ripe grain

2. grind raw or wet grain

3. mix with water to make a thin gruel (or thick dough)

4. wetted grain would germinate (become soft & sweet again)

5. wet grain dried in sun

6. "malted" grain was mixed with water into gruel or dough

7. sugar was spontaneously fermented by yeasts

8. result is leavened bread and beer

Whats the debated origin story with bread and beer?

cultivation of wheat and barley for beer influenced the transition from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to more sedentary farming in communities

Whats the drunk hypothesis for civilization?

Alcohol promotes social bonding, cooperation, and human creativity, alliances, and mobilizied labor which may have facilitated the evolution of human societies

Where and when was the earilest archaeological evidence of grain fermentation/beer?

-13,000 years old (10-11k bce)

-in the raqefet cave in Israel

-ritual feasting

How was the beer in early modern-day turkey?

-10k bce

-site of worship, feast, and drink for hunter-gatherers

-barrel/troughs w/ calcium oxalate

how does beer contribute to the rise of civilization?

cohension of social groups and in organizing collective work

How was the beer in early modern-day china?

-7000 bce

-made from rice, honey, and fruit

-narrow neck vessel keeps CO2 in and air out

-found buried w/ the dead

How was the beer in early modern-day mesopotamia?

-3500-3100 bce

-trsces in fragmented jar (iran)

-tablets from 2050 bce provide evidence that the sumerians had recipes, were brewing lots of beer, and beer was used in trade

How was the beer in early modern-day mesopotamia in relation to religion?

-beer is a gift from the gods

-rituals and offerings

-bridged gap between humans and divine realms

-possessed healing properties and used as a tonic

-Ninkasi/Mistress of beer

how were recipes handed down in mesopotamia?

-tablets with writing

-through hymns (most were illiterate)

-> malted barley bread was mixed with honey & dates, then soaked in water, then heated to cook and distribute ingredients, and then cooled and allowed to ferment

what did the mesopotamians invent for beer?

straws (drinking was a group event from a massive brewing vessel/jar)

What benefits did early beer serve?

-staple in daily diet

-paid to laborers

-nutrients (liquid bread)

-safer to drink than water

How was the beer in early modern-day babylon/mesopotamia?

-1750 bce

-the code of hammurabi required standard measures for serving beer (cant be watered down or overcharged)

How was the beer in early modern-day egypt?

-builders of pyramids were paid in beer (kash)

-bousa, origin of word booze

How was the beer in early modern-day celtic europe?

-wheat, barley, and millet

-flavored with a mix of plants called gruit (yarrow, carrot seeds, mugwort, and henbane)

-cerevisisa

what was better than beer when there was no wine?

mead, honey was scarce

How was the beer in the middle ages?

-alcohol content low

-made at home by women

-larger breweries such as communes and monasteries started to take hold

how was beer in the middle ages regarding religion?

-catholic's liquid bread, drank during lent

-monastic breweries became centers of innovation (recipes)

what did german monks start using that changed the game (8-9th century)?

hops

define the gruit tax

government/church supplied or granted rights to supply gruit to ensure beer in the region was of equal quality

what did the gruit tax cause?

increase in hop cultivation and use

why did hops start becoming the norm?

-increased beer demand (pop. growth)

-inc. roads and railways

-preservative qualities

-taxing of barrels or malt instead of gruit

define ale

drink without hops, lots of sugar and alcohol to not spoil

what was the 1516 reinheitsgebot bavarian beer purity law?

-ensures some uniformity

-beer had to be made from barley, hops, and water

-yeast was important but not an ingredient

-unlawful in 1987

what did steam engines do?

-iron-making

-transportation

-pump liquids, grind malt, stir mash, lift casks

-mechanical refrigeration

what were some important inventions?

-thermometer (temp)

-hydrometer (density)

-coal-fired ovens/drum roaster (drying malt)

-bottles (Shelf life)

what did the industrial revolution do to the beer industry?

-beer cheaper

-inc production