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Good gentles, I present for your pleasure a beverage that I myself have brewed, in my own home. I refer to this particular brew as beer, rather than ale, because in early England, "ale" referred to a beverage drunk as soon as fermentation ceased; and "beer" referred to an aged drink.1 Beer was considered a suitable drink for persons of any rank or station in the Middle Ages. This may have been because the alcohol content rendered it, in many cases, safer than the local water.
Brewing In the 16th Century- Ingredients
In 1516, Germany's "Reinheitsgebot" purity law took effect. This law states that the only ingredients permitted for brewing beer are water, malted barley, malted wheat, and hops.2 This edict, however, applied only to German beers. The English were somewhat more liberal regarding ingredients. I found two references to the use of honey in ale in Sir Kenhelme Digby's book, "The Closet Opened..." which is a standard brewing reference in the SCA brewing community as it is one of the few books published close to period about the art of brewing.3 On page 104 Sir Digby describes a recipe for "Ale with Honey" and on page 107, he describes "Mr. Webbs Ale and Braggot" which also mentions the addition of honey as an ingredient.4
The Brewing Process
According to William William of Baden-Baden (mka Dr. Paul G. Wilhelm), the basic steps used in making beer are5:
Malting - germination of the grain, allowing for creation of enzymes which will later convert starches to sugars.
Mashing - conversion of starches within the grain to fermentable sugars.
Fermentation - conversion of sugar to alcohol.
Bottling & Priming - the addition of small amounts of sugar at bottling time to allow for correct carbonation.
The brewer did not necessarily make all the ingredients of the beer himself. An article on brewing in Tournaments Illuminated explains the reason for this: "Malting is a very difficult and exacting process and is rarely carried out by the brewer, but, rather, is done by another specialist in his field, the maltster."6 The next step, mashing, consists of heating whole grains of various types of barley. The grain is kept in the water for about 30 minutes, then removed. This causes the starches in the grain to be converted to fermentable sugars.7 At this point the liquid is referred to as 'wort.' "Fermentation of the wort varies, depending on the type and character of the beer desired. In any case, however, it should take place in a large, non-porous container from which air can be excluded, just as in the fermentation of wine."8 In period, yeast would not have been added to the wort.
The final step in the brewing process would probably have been to put the beer into a keg. It is also possible that the beer would have been served directly from the keg in which it was fermented. It was not until 1602 that Dr.
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