Reconstructing Medieval Gruit Beer: Looking Beyond the Botanicals скачать в хорошем качестве

Reconstructing Medieval Gruit Beer: Looking Beyond the Botanicals

Susan Verberg - Independent Scholar (USA) In this video-paper, I will demonstrate a plausible connection between malt and the substance gruit. Gruit was a government-regulated substance used in the brewing of medieval gruit beer, a type of beer found in the European Low Countries. It is also a favorite with living history brewing demonstrations, as well as with craft brewers interested in alternative botanicals. But many gruit-beer experiments only concern themselves with flavor and herbal components. They do not consider how or why the gruit substance may contribute to a longer shelf life, nor the reason its reputation as an essential element in brewing persisted for centuries even after hops came into common use. We know from surviving tax records in the medieval Low Countries that the grain aspect of the malt was at least as important as the botanical inclusions. I will present one experiment that examines how the gruit substance affects fermentation and alcohol content, and therefore shelf life, which leads to greater economic possibilities. A second experiment examines the use of chaff as a source of spontaneous fermentation, which supports gruit’s historical reputation as a desirable malt base rather than simply flavoring. #EXARC #ExperimentalArchaeology #EAC12