Originally posted by nh_ee
reply to post by LonelyGuy
I don't think that Beer would solve that problem....as muslims, they don't drink alcohol anyway.
The ancient Egyptians paid their laborers building the Pyramids in Beer per shift.
We know how drunks tend to fight....maybe it's us who need to simmer down a bit. And drink less ?
How would we behave if a known enemy of ours anchored a nuclear armed aircraft carrier within striking distance of our Nation's Capital ?
Can you imagine that ? We'd be very stressed as a Nation.....and might even resort to threats of force to motivate them them to leave.
But I digress...
....On topic....
Beer as we know it changed after Hops were introduced. .....and later the Czechoslovakians invented golden lighter colored beer....vs the traditional
historical dark beers such as Guinness.
Peace
For those who care, the various styles in beer like the light beers that came from the Pilsen area of Czechoslovakia, or the dark beers from Ireland,
came into being because of the different water profiles available in the area. Darker beers require a higher starting water pH when brewing because
the dark grains have a lot of "buffering" power and lower the pH of a mash quickly - while lighter colored grains have less buffering power and need a
lower starting pH to hit the target zone (5.2 - 5.4).
The water in the Pilsen area is very soft, with very little mineral content. It's so soft that there isn't enough calcium and magnesium in the water
to promote healthy yeast so they had to come up with creative methods of mashing to get a drinkable brew. This is where decoction mashing came from.
The water in Dublin, on the other hand, is the opposite with high bicarbonate content and lots of dissolved solids. Roasted, dark grains work well
with this water for the above mentioned reasons.
When these beers were conceived, brewers had no idea about water chemistry, pH, the importance of yeast or hops (originally used as a preservative,
the desirable flavors of hops came about after the practical uses did.) But they did realize they ended up with a better product, for example, in
Ireland when adding darker grains to the mash.
At one point yeast was banned in beer when Reinheitsgebot was declared in Germany. The story goes that the upper classes were using all of the wheat
to make beer and the peasants were starving because of this. Germany made it law that beer could use only barley, hops and water to make beer. They
had no idea that yeast was a vital ingredient to the fermentation of alcohol. Fortunately in these days, yeast cultures had evolved for use in beer
and already existed on the mash paddles and other equipment of the brewers.
ETA: I forgot the most important part! The upper classes for the most part ignored Reinheitsgebot and the peasants continued to starve. This serves as
evidence of just how wonderfully tasty a good Bavarian brew can be!
Anyway, thought I'd throw some anecdotal jibberish out there to waste some time. Hope it's not too off topic!
Prost!
edit on 3-1-2012 by TinkerHaus because: (no reason given)
edit on 3-1-2012 by TinkerHaus because: (no reason given)