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The article covers this. It also mentions widespread home brewing. If you or your neighbors are brewing, then I imagine they can make it as strong as they like

by gexla 3y ago

The article covers this. It also mentions widespread home brewing. If you or your neighbors are brewing, then I imagine they can make it as strong as they like (I have never brewed beer, so I don't know how it works.)

loeg 3y ago
It's harder to make the very high alcohol stuff but anyone could make 5% beer.
- gpuhacker 3y ago
  As a home brewer myself, I'd say it's not harder to make just more expensive.
  - atourgates 3y ago
    Historically, how did people make higher ABV drinks? It's my understanding that most "wild yeast" will die off at around 5-6% ABV. Were people cultivating and sharing yeasts capable of surviving higher ABVs, or am I misunderstanding?
    - hnick 3y ago
      Distillation, but if you are talking about wine/beer: https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/yeast-fermentation-and-the-making-of-beer-14372813/ https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/yeast-fermentation... "Most yeast strains can tolerate an alcohol concentration of 10–15% before being killed. This is why the percentage of alcohol in wines and beers is typically in this concentration range." I assume temperature and other factors play a role in how successful you are at keeping them alive that long though.
    - Bombinator 3y ago
      Distill
    - mrob 3y ago
      Brewers reused yeast skimmed from the top of fermenting beer ("barm"). Wikipedia's "History of beer" article quotes a 1557 source mentioning this, and it probably goes back much earlier. The motivation here is probably speed and reliability of fermentation, which are obvious benefits to people not aware that yeast is a microorganism, but it also incidentally breeds for alcohol tolerance (especially considering the popularity of strong beers). Reusing wooden brewing equipment without sanitizing between batches has similar effects.
starkparker 3y ago
cf. Flavin 2023: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/understanding-early-modern-beer-an-interdisciplinary-casestudy/76C118F73B8D35FED9E5B69CB3E966FB https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/a... Among other things: > The beer in these accounts was graded with the nomenclature typical of the period. Historians generally identify three main strengths of beer in accounts and brewing instructions: ‘strong beer’, perhaps with a particular seasonal association like ‘October’ or ‘March’; ‘ordinary’ or ‘household’ beer; and ‘small’ beer. Within these categories, there was variation in quality and strength, and a tendency for types to overlap. Names also varied over time. While such issues make estimating the relative amounts of each type produced difficult, there are indications that ordinary beer was the most consumed overall, particularly by the working classes. This is confirmed by the Irish accounts. At Dublin Castle, household production focused on two kinds, strong and ordinary, of which far more was drunk of the latter. In the yearly account for 1574, only 13 per cent of beer consumed was strong. Other years showed similar values.

by gexla 3y ago

loeg 3y ago

It's harder to make the very high alcohol stuff but anyone could make 5% beer.

gpuhacker 3y ago
As a home brewer myself, I'd say it's not harder to make just more expensive.
- atourgates 3y ago
  Historically, how did people make higher ABV drinks? It's my understanding that most "wild yeast" will die off at around 5-6% ABV. Were people cultivating and sharing yeasts capable of surviving higher ABVs, or am I misunderstanding?
  - hnick 3y ago
    Distillation, but if you are talking about wine/beer: https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/yeast-fermentation-and-the-making-of-beer-14372813/ https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/yeast-fermentation... "Most yeast strains can tolerate an alcohol concentration of 10–15% before being killed. This is why the percentage of alcohol in wines and beers is typically in this concentration range." I assume temperature and other factors play a role in how successful you are at keeping them alive that long though.
  - Bombinator 3y ago
    Distill
  - mrob 3y ago
    Brewers reused yeast skimmed from the top of fermenting beer ("barm"). Wikipedia's "History of beer" article quotes a 1557 source mentioning this, and it probably goes back much earlier. The motivation here is probably speed and reliability of fermentation, which are obvious benefits to people not aware that yeast is a microorganism, but it also incidentally breeds for alcohol tolerance (especially considering the popularity of strong beers). Reusing wooden brewing equipment without sanitizing between batches has similar effects.

starkparker 3y ago

cf. Flavin 2023: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/understanding-early-modern-beer-an-interdisciplinary-casestudy/76C118F73B8D35FED9E5B69CB3E966FB https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/a... Among other things: > The beer in these accounts was graded with the nomenclature typical of the period. Historians generally identify three main strengths of beer in accounts and brewing instructions: ‘strong beer’, perhaps with a particular seasonal association like ‘October’ or ‘March’; ‘ordinary’ or ‘household’ beer; and ‘small’ beer. Within these categories, there was variation in quality and strength, and a tendency for types to overlap. Names also varied over time. While such issues make estimating the relative amounts of each type produced difficult, there are indications that ordinary beer was the most consumed overall, particularly by the working classes. This is confirmed by the Irish accounts. At Dublin Castle, household production focused on two kinds, strong and ordinary, of which far more was drunk of the latter. In the yearly account for 1574, only 13 per cent of beer consumed was strong. Other years showed similar values.