As some of you may know I’ve been an avid home brewer of fine ales for about 10 years now. While preparing to make a batch this weekend I decided to read a bit of beer history for inspiration and found out an interesting bit of medieval beer lore that made my heart swell with love for my great God.
You see, medieval brewers knew little about the chemistry or biology of brewing. They didn’t really know why beer was safe to drink but water was not. They just knew that you could drink beer and not get sick and for this reason every good wife was the family’s brewer just as much as she made soup or spun yarn. Children had a bit of beer with each meal and dads had a big mug full, of course.
Now for the interesting part: after they made the sweet wort from a mash of barley and hops they would set it out to await God’s miracle. They didn’t know why it fermented or how, they just knew that it did. After a day or so they would see the foam begin to form on top of the ale as wild yeasts landed in the vessel and began to multiply consuming sugar and producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. You want to know what the name of this miracle foam was called? They called it “God is good.” They didn’t know how it got there or where it came from, but they did know that God provided and that it was beneficial and could only happen with his help.
"Summer Nectar" fermenting happily. God is GOOD!
So, as I prepared to make a batch this weekend and even though I used carefully grown and selected yeast strains from a microbiologists lab, I was still amazed at the miracle of fermentation and when I saw that foam appear I was reminded that God is definitely good.
Grace, peace, and home brew,
Jeremy
