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Wine & Beer Making

Historians speculate that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from grain & water before learning to make bread.Beer became ingrained in the culture of civilizations with no significant viticulture.

Noah’s provisions included beer on the Ark.

4300 BC, Babylonian clay tablets detail recipes for beer.

Beer was a vital part of civilization and the Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Inca cultures.

Babylonians produced beer in large quantities with around 20 varieties.

Beer at this time was so valued that it was sometimes used to pay workers as part of their daily wages.

Early cultures often drank beer through straws to avoid grain hulls left in the beverage.

Egyptians brewed beer commercially for use by royalty served in gold goblets, medical purposes, and as a necessity to be included in burial provisions for the journey to the hereafter.

Different grains were used in different cultures:

a) Africa used millet, maize and cassava.b) North America used persimmon although agave was used in Mexico.

c) South America used corn although sweet potatoes were used in Brazil.

d) Japan used rice to make sake.

e) China used wheat to make samshu.

f) Other Asian cultures used sorghum.

g) Russians used rye to make quass or kvass.

h) Egyptians used barley and may have cultivated it strictly for brewing as it made poor bread.

1600 BC Egyptian texts contain 100 medical prescriptions calling for beer.If an Egyptian gentleman offered a lady a sip of his beer they were betrothed.

Early brewers used herbals like balsam, hay, dandelion, mint, and wormwood seeds, horehound juice, and even crab claws & oyster shells for flavorings.

Romans brewed “cerevisia” (Ceres the goddess of agriculture & vis meaning strength in Latin).

55 BC Roman legions introduce beer to Northern Europe.

49 BC Caesar toasted his troops after crossing the Rubicon, which began the Roman Civil War.

Before the Middle Ages brewing was left to women to make since it was considered a food as well as celebration drink.

23 BC Chinese brewed beer called “kiu”

500-1000 AD the first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins to be practiced in Europe, shifting from family tradition to centralized production in monasteries and convents (hospitality for traveling pilgrims).

During Medieval times beer was used for tithing, trading, payment and taxing.

1000 AD hops begins to be used in the brewing process.

1200 AD beer making is firmly established as a commercial enterprise in Germany, Austria, and England.

a) German’s preferred cold temperature lagers (bottom-fermentation) stored in caves in the Alps.b) English preferred mild temperature ales (top-fermentation) stored in cellars.

1295 King Wenceslas grants Pilsen Bohemia brewing rights (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia & Czech Republic).1420 German brewers develop the lager method of brewing.

1489 Germany’s first brewing guild, Brauerei Beck, was established.

1490’s Columbus found Indians making beer from corn and black birch sap.

Click Here for How i made My first batch of DIY homemade wine,   IMAG5340  

Click here for Home DIY beer making

 I got my brew supplies at http://homebrewerspantry.com/ a local start up, good people who own it, if you need any thing look them up! Phone: 843-73BEERS, 1015 4th Ave, Conway, SC 29526