SMALL BEER QUESTIONS ANSWERED

[Denise]

Tim Hall wrote:
"That's why it was very common in colonial America to drink what we might call 'small beers' in lieu of water...it was safer."

Did they make the small beer with the less safe water?

Also, if no alcohol was desired, would the small beer be able to further ferment into a drinkable vinegar?

Thank you.

[Tim Hall]

Did they make the small beer with the less safe water?

Well, I don't think anyone intentionally used "less safe" water. Relatively "safe" water is something we take for granted in the modern, western world. We didn't always have water filtration or chemicals to remove or kill pathogens in water. We didn't always have the technology to dig water wells deep enough that they'd be safe from contamination.

When have you ever heard of a cholera outbreak in the US? This was something that happened much more often in the past, and still does in places where there's deficient sanitation infrastructure.

Drinking tea was a safe way to get hydrated because the water would be boiled. Likewise with beer. Beer would also be something you could store safely because it contained alcohol and often preservative herbs. The fermentation itself may also render the beverage safer to drink.

Of course now our problem isn't so much pathogens in water, but rather chemicals of the industrial era.

[Tim Hall]

Also, if no alcohol was desired, would the small beer be able to further ferment into a drinkable vinegar?

Yes, it'll eventually turn to vinegar if you let oxygen get to it.

[godPotato]

Beer would also be something you could store safely because it contained alcohol and often preservative herbs. The fermentation itself may also render the beverage safer to drink.

Of course now our problem isn't so much pathogens in water, but rather chemicals of the industrial era.

Which is why it's always a hard choice choosing between small/mid-sized breweries and the industrial ones.

With small breweries, the process is not that efficient and there are a lot of human contact involved so it's easy to contaminate. On the other hand, we don't really know what industrial breweries put in their beers. Source: alcohol fermentation

One thing's for sure, I wouldn't trust a homebrewer that I personally don't know.

[Tim Hall]

With small breweries, the process is not that efficient and there are a lot of human contact involved so it's easy to contaminate. On the other hand, we don't really know what industrial breweries put in their beers...One thing's for sure, I wouldn't trust a homebrewer that I personally don't know.

I see this much differently. Small breweries have more at stake - doing something wrong that'll cost you money is more difficult to recover from when you're small. Microbreweries exist because people want to brew better beer, not because they want to be Anheuser Busch (InBev).

And I'd never turn down anyone's homebrew. Homebrewers brew because they care about what they're doing and making.

Industrial-scale brewers? If they make their bottom line, what else matters? Let's say there's less human contact (but this is purely speculation) with the product in larger breweries. I'd rather have more human contact from caring workers, than less from someone who doesn't care.

And either way I think it'd be really hard to do something to beer that would actually make you ill.