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from the one-that-is-missing-from-FatPhil's-collection dept.
400-year-old Ecuadoran beer resurrected from yeast:
Inside an old oak barrel, Ecuadoran bioengineer Javier Carvajal found the fungus of fortune: a 400-year-old yeast specimen that he has since managed to resurrect and use to reproduce what is believed to be Latin America's oldest beer.
That single-cell microorganism, taken from just a splinter of wood, was the key to recovering the formula for an elixir first brewed in Quito in 1566 by friar Jodoco Ricke, a Franciscan of Flemish origin who historians believe introduced wheat and barley to what is now the Ecuadoran capital.
"Not only have we recovered a biological treasure but also the 400-year-old work of silent domestication of a yeast that probably came from a chicha and that had been collected from the local environment," Carvajal told AFP.
Chicha is a fermented corn drink brewed by the Indigenous people of the Americas before Spanish colonization.
Carvajal, who already had experience recovering other yeasts, found out about the ancient Franciscan brewery in Quito while reading specialist beer magazines.
It took him a year to do so, but he finally managed to find a barrel from the old brewery in 2008.
It was stored in Quito's San Francisco Convent, an imposing three-hectare complex built between 1537 and 1680, which is now a museum.
After extracting a splinter, Carvajal used a microscope to find a tiny yeast specimen, which after a long period of cultivation he was able to resurrect.
[...] For Carvajal, resurrecting the yeast and the age-old methods used to make the ancient recipe was simply a labor of love for "the value of the intangible."
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday August 07 2022, @09:41AM (5 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Sunday August 07 2022, @06:55PM (2 children)
I'm not a beer drinker (hard cider is my preference), but I'm surprised to hear that lactose is added to beers in North America, given that it has intolerance issues. None of the ciders, beers and ales I have in (for guests) mention lactose on their labels, whereas they do note other allergens, such as barley and sulphites. I know tastes differ, but it seems that manufacturing processes differ wildly too.
I write this having been pressing apples from my garden and pouring the juice into airlocked containers to make this year's cider. It'll sit there until the yeast runs out of sugar, then I'll get around to bottling it. That's my taste in alcohol (and complication too).
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 08 2022, @10:46AM (1 child)
It's added not just for sweetness (lactose isn't that sweet, so it's not a great adjunct for that goal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetness#Examples_of_sweet_substances ), but for a fuller smoother body. Personally, I think it makes beer slimy - in particular when used in the quantities that will permit you to notice its sweetness. And if anything less friendly than saccharomyces cerevisiae is alive in your mix, holy jeebus will the lactose produce some horrible off flavours ("dirty dish rag" is a very common descriptor of one of the things you can end up with).
Its popularity has crept up in the last decade or so, it used to be a secret ingredient, but everyone knows about it now, and feel the neet to show off that they know about it - some even seem to feel the need to completely overdo the lactose use in comically bad ways. You might encounter some making "milkshake IPAs", for example. Expect vanilla and fruit too, because apparently beer should be yoghurt.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday August 08 2022, @12:42PM
Well aside from my general aversion to beers (as mentioned in another post), a milkshake-style beer would be well off my tasting list. Thanks for the explanation.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday August 08 2022, @05:41PM (1 child)
You must be referring to true American beer. A little googling says it's mainly for stouts.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 09 2022, @04:13AM
Like cancer, it's spread.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves