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This is one of those things that has been really exaggerated. Medieval people were concerned with water quality and protecting wells, rivers, and other water so
by neaden 5y ago
This is one of those things that has been really exaggerated. Medieval people were concerned with water quality and protecting wells, rivers, and other water sources from pollution/poisoning. Beer isn't really an efficient way to purify water either, the alcohol isn't strong enough to ensure it won't make you sick. Much like us though, medieval people didn't really like drinking plain water much, as well as beer barley water and various herbal teas were very popular.
- sbuttgereit 5y agoMy understanding from many of those claiming that the beer was safer than the water at the time don't make the claim on the basis of beer being alcoholic, but rather that the wort production earlier in the beer making process which involves heating/boiling the water used is what kills off many pathogens that might otherwise be present in the water. This isn't to say that your other points are wrong... I'm not studied enough on the subject to say... just that the beer making process is more the point of those that make the beer-safer-than-water claim than is the alcohol content.
- mason55 5y agoBut if you're just trying to sterilize water wouldn't you skip the beer making process for price reasons? Couldn't they just boil the water and then bottle it and you'd have clean water for much cheaper? Or is the idea that they didn't know that the boiling is what made it safe to drink?
- etothepii 5y agoI think it's more the if you've made beer I know you've boiled it. If you tell me you've boiled it you might cut costs even further and just say you've boiled it.
- neaden 5y agoWho is the you in this instance? The typical person in this time period lived in a small rural village, their water would have been fetched from a well, stream, or other source by themself or another family member. If you are dealing with a professional cook then it is someone who was employed by another person/organization as an employee, in which case trying to cut costs like this would be pretty easy to find out.
- mywittyname 5y agoThey didn't understand germ theory at the time. They had no clue that boiling water would make it potable. If they had known that, so many lives would have been saved. What they did understand was, if you made beer the "wrong way", it would go off. Turns out the "right way" to make beer is to eliminate any competition for the brewers yeast.
- cwkoss 5y agoIt was also probably easier to smell/taste beer and tell that it is safe. The scent of yeast fermentation is distinctive, and if contaminated before fermentation the off scent can be quite apparent. So if receiving a liquid from an unknown/untrusted source, beer may have been safer than clear water.
- SmellTheGlove 5y agoI think they didn’t know. Pasteurization didn’t come about until the mid 1800s. Maybe they suspected heating played a part - Wikipedia says it was a known method of preservation in China since the 1100s, but I think it took longer to get to Europe.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoThey were concerned to a degree, but they'd also give themselves cholera from time to time by burying their dead near water sources.