Drink

Ale, cider, wine, mead, spirits and the morning cup.

9 documents · 3 chapters · 10 dishes · 50 rows

In the chapters

Chapter 6 The Five-Year Conversation
The Story: Spice, and the coffee you will not drink
At the Bench: 5. A chicory roast Safety
Chapter 13 Sour
The Story: The skin on the wine
At the Bench: 3. Cider vinegar in the Orléans manner Safety
Chapter 15 Drink
At the Bench: 1. Malt and small ale, with a Weisse variant Safety, 2. Cider Safety, 3. Mead and country wine Safety

Documents 9

On the Menu

Ale Berliner Weisse Hard cider Wine Mead Distilled spirits and fruit schnapps Herbal bitters Elderflower cordial Herbal infusions Chicory and dandelion coffee

In the Workshop

The keeve

Sources

Practitioner A distiller

All the sources

In the log 50

25 confirmed
12 amended
5 partly confirmed
8 unresolved
15 marked for safety

W4 confirmed Safety Bare copper plus acid (vinegar, wine, tomato, apple, whey) gives verdigris, an emetic; every pan that meets acid is tinned
G8 amended Safety Biosand filter removes >4 log helminths, 3 to 4 log protozoa, 1.5 to 2.5 log bacteria (95 to 99 %), 0.5 to 1.5 log viruses (70 to 90 %); it is not a steriliser and …
F7 confirmed Safety Chicory/dandelion roots concentrate Cd/Pb; city and roadside roots not to be drunk; acrylamide from roasting >120 °C, worse if root was chilled
O12 amended Safety Mugwort and ground ivy contraindicated in pregnancy; yarrow 1.5–4 g/150–250 ml up to 4×/day (EMA); horseradish/chicory contraindications
O8 confirmed Safety Dried herbs carry Salmonella, E. coli, B. cereus, S. aureus; drying is no kill step; cold brew only with pasteurised herbs; botulism in sealed low-acid brews
A14 amended Safety Avian influenza housing orders (Stallpflicht) every autumn since 2016, virus enzootic in wild birds of the Mark; roof and wild-duck-free trough the defence; three hens …
E10 amended Safety Cyanobacteria toxin (microcystin) passes a cloth, survives boiling, has killed dogs on Berlin lakes in recent summers; no bathing, no drinking, gut fish at once and burn …
R2 amended Safety Vinegar must reach 5 % acetic acid to preserve; cider at 5 to 8 % alcohol; "wait two weeks beyond" rule
D1 amended Safety A pot still does not separate methanol from ethanol; drinking heads can blind or kill; fruit high in pectin (apple, plum, pear) makes more methanol than grain
D11 amended Safety Weisse variant: sour unboiled wort with a handful of crushed raw malt and a spoonful of sour-crock brine at 35 to 40 °C for a day, then pitch beer yeast
D2 unresolved Safety Discard the first 50 ml of every 10 litres of wash as heads; run a solvent-smelling spirit again cutting the first 100 ml
D4 amended Safety Distilling without a licence is a crime in Germany and the licence is not a formality
T3 confirmed Safety Lye stored lidded, labelled, high shelf, never in a bottle that ever held a drink; children taught the sign
T4 amended Safety Lead glaze melts at pit temperatures (700–800 °C) and leaches into acid food (vinegar, wine, kraut, fruit); Devonshire colic (cider), saturnism; unknown or chipped …
T54 amended Safety Bottle cutting: single score, oil-soaked string burnt about a minute, cold-water plunge, wet grinding, no fire polish without annealing; lead crystal rings 3 to 6 s, …
W30 confirmed The still is left bare because hot copper binds the wash's sulphur compounds as black copper sulphide, scrubbed off between runs; a tinned or stainless head gives a …
G18 confirmed The Spree ran for a century on water pumped from the Lusatian lignite pits and shrinks as they close; Berlin drinks mainly bank-filtered river water; the 2018 to 2023 …
F49 confirmed Frederick II coffee monopoly 1781, Kaffeeriecher; Förster Braunschweig privilege 1769; Muckefuck
F50 confirmed Chicory: sow Apr–May 1–1.5 cm, 12–15 × 30–50 cm, no N, lift Oct–Nov; never refrigerate; roast 135–220 °C, inulin gone by 195; brew short/pressurised; dandelion 1.5–2.4 …
O39 confirmed Keeving 8–12 °C, calcium pectate gel, chapeau brun, 1–3 points/week, rack from middle, sweet and sparkling
O44 confirmed Rosehip tea in two wars; spring greens list; garlic mustard raw (myrosinase 45–55 °C, denatures >75 °C)
A37 confirmed Half of 6,000 kg to cheese leaves ~4 t whey (100 kg milk → ~10 kg cheese + 90 kg whey); finishing pig drinks 10–15 l whey a day = about a third of its energy; a cheese …
A55 unresolved Herb list (thyme, oregano, sage, turmeric, ginger, linseed, psyllium, sweet chestnut, tormentil, oak bark, St John's wort, calendula, garlic, comfrey, wormwood) with no …
A60 confirmed Plantain and chicory roots reach nearly 2 m; milk on such a ley 12 to 19 µg iodine per 100 g, egg 23 to 43 µg (Norwegian and British figures, none from Brandenburg)
A67 confirmed Sand pasture 1,800 to 2,800 kg DM/ha unimproved, 3,800 to 4,800 with plantain, chicory, trefoil, burnet; winter feeding 215 days; tree hay a third of a goat's and a …
M25 confirmed Lombardy mascarpone set with tartaric acid from wine barrels
D13 confirmed Malting: alternate 8 h soak and 8 h air three times to about 45 % moisture; sprout at 15 to 18 °C 4 to 6 days until the acrospire is three-quarters of the grain; wither …
D14 confirmed Malt keeps a year in a dry sack
D15 confirmed Enzymes: beta-amylase 60 to 65 °C, dies quickly above 74 °C; alpha-amylase a few degrees hotter; mash at 65 °C gives a dry beer, near 70 °C a sweeter one
D16 confirmed Mash: 12 l water at 72 °C on 4 kg cracked malt settles to about 66 °C; hold an hour; iodine test; sparge with 10 l at 75 °C
D17 confirmed Boil 60 to 90 min hard; cooked-cabbage DMS mark of a short boil; cool fast; 30 g hops at start and 15 g at the end for 20 l
D18 unresolved Gruit substitutes: 20 g dried yarrow and 10 g bog myrtle for 20 l; drink within a fortnight
D19 confirmed Ferment at 18 to 22 °C 5 to 7 days; 20 l at 4 to 5 % ABV from 4 kg malt; skim second-day froth as next yeast, keeps a fortnight cold
D20 unresolved Hildegard of Bingen, Physica, c. 1150, on hops holding back rot in drinks
D22 unresolved Hopped beer keeps and travels; Bremen and Hamburg built fortunes on it; Brandenburg brewed for itself
D23 confirmed 1516 Bavarian law: barley, hops, water; also a grain rule keeping wheat and rye for bread; the north did not follow it for four centuries
D24 partly confirmed Berliner Weisse: 3 parts wheat malt to 1 barley; wort not boiled; mixed yeast and Lactobacillus; pH 3.2 to 3.4; hops barely used; "champagne of the north" story stands …
D28 confirmed Cider ferments by itself in a fortnight; dry cider about 6 % ABV; wild ferment 2 to 4 weeks at 15 to 20 °C; rack within a day of bubbling stopping; keeps a year cold
D30 unresolved Keeving: juice at 8 to 12 °C, brown cap in about a week, siphon from beneath, ferments a point or two a week, stops sweet in two or three months
D32 partly confirmed Cistercians at Lehnin 1180 and Zinna a few years earlier planted vines; vineyards at Werder, Potsdam and the Kreuzberg by the 14th century; thin sour wine; died in the …
D38 partly confirmed A Brandenburg colony without sugar or medicine makes about 20 kg a year, needs 18 to 20 kg for winter, keeper takes 10 to 14 kg and a kilogram of wax, loses one hive in …
D39 partly confirmed Mead: 1 kg honey to 3 l water gives about 13 % ABV; 3.3 kg for 10 l; nutrient from skimmed froth, pollen or 100 g raisins; honey's own yeasts stall; pitch live sediment …
D40 confirmed Country wine by the same rule; Solaris or Regent grapes need nothing added; ferment on skins a week
D41 amended Mary the Jewess and the bain-marie; al-anbiq; al-Razi distilling before 900; Brunschwig, Liber de arte distillandi, Strasbourg 1500, lute of linen, salt water and egg …
D43 confirmed Copper strips sulphur compounds as black copper sulphide; a steel still makes a spirit that smells of the ferment
D44 unresolved Korn: unhopped rye or wheat beer distilled twice; Prussian potato schnapps the 19th century's cheapest spirit, sold by the bucket from the estates east of the Elbe; …
D46 confirmed Chicory, dandelion, roasted barley, rye and acorns contain no caffeine; pine and roots cannot replace coffee
D47 partly confirmed Frederick II's coffee monopoly 1781 and the Kaffeeriecher; Braunschweig chicory factory from the 1770s; Muckefuck from mocca faux
D48 amended Chicory: root 30 to 50 cm, sow 1 cm deep April to May, rows 40 cm, thin to 15 cm, lift October; about 200 g dry root per square metre; roast at 180 °C 20 to 40 min to …
D52 unresolved A brewster in 1400 tested mash heat by hand