Part four of Dining and Dwelling publication (Part one here,  part two here and part three here)

CONCLUSION

So, what is the evidence for brewing? First, the experiment worked. Fermentation caused by wind-blown yeast even occurred in the leftover mash in the trough within a few hours. Secondly, a number of quern-stones have been found in association with fulachta fiadh (e.g. Hegarty 2005)—indicating that grain processing was taking place nearby. Furthermore the fact that hot-rock brewing was carried out to an industrial level until the early part of the last century testifies to the efficiency of the process.

But what of the physical evidence, should not excavated fulachta fiadh contain archaeobotanical remains indicative of malted barley? It is our contention that the spent grain even after mashing had its uses and would not have been dumped, rather it was treated as a valuable resource and may have been recycled to make bread or as brewers do to the present day, given to animals as fodder.

The grain normally found on archaeological sites is usually charred and survives due to its carbonised state making it less susceptible to decay. Charred grain has no nutritional value and certainly has no place in brewing as it would spoil a beer mash.

Ordinary malted grain after mashing is reduced to a non-starchy material consisting of a cellulose pulp comprising the hull and pericarp (the tissue around the seeds). This pulp still contains sugar residues and given its de-natured state and its high water content is more vulnerable to microbiological decay if left exposed to the elements. In the archaeological record, given the time frame, this evidence would be entirely ephemeral. Indeed, our own experience in dumping spent grain in Billy’s backyard, although hardly scientific, was telling—within a matter of three months the dumped grain (approximately 125 kg) had disappeared and it was practically impossible to determine the exact dumping spot. The spent grain was eaten by animals, birds or vermin or simply decayed.

In conclusion, beer at its most basic is fermented liquid bread and is a highly nutritious beverage. Our ancestors would have consumed ale on a daily basis as a healthy, uncontaminated, comfort drink. But this does not preclude the fact that in the long Bronze Age evenings and nights, family groups likely sat around a blazing fire telling tales, interacting socially and enjoying the wellbeing and genial companionship that ale enhances. We suggest that the fulacht fiadh was possibly multifunctional, the kitchen sink of the Bronze Age, with many conceivable uses but for us, however, a primary use seems clear—these sites were Bronze Age micro-breweries.

Enjoying the fruits of our labour

REFERENCES

Barclay, G.J & Russell White, C.J.  1993  Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol 123, 1993, p. 42.

Brown, P  2003  Man Walks into a Pub. Macmillan, London.

Civil, M  1964  ‘A Hymn to the Beer Goddess and a Drinking Song’, Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim, June 7, 1964. The Oriental institute of the University of Chicago, 1964

Cotter,C. Western Stone Fort Project, Discovery Programme Reports Vol. 1, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, P.13.

Dineley, M  2004  Barley, Malt and Ale in the Neolithic. Archaeopress, Oxford.

Dudley, R  2004  ‘Ethanol, fruit ripening, and the historical origins of human alcoholism in primate frugivory’, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Vol. 44, No. 4, 315–323.

Dudley, R & Stephens, D  2004 ‘The drunken monkey hypothesis: the study of fruit-eating animals could lead to an evolutionary understanding of human alcohol abuse’, Natural History, December 2004.

Griffiths, I  2007  Beer and cider in Ireland. Liberties Press, Dublin.

Haggarty, A  1991  Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol 121, 1991, p. 51.

Hegarty, L  2005  ‘A saddle quern discovered on Site 43, in Balyduff East, on the route of the N25 Waterford City Bypass’, in J O’Suliivan & M Stanley (eds), Recent Archaeological Discoveries on National Road Schemes 2004, 45–50. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 2. National Roads Authority, Dublin.

Connellan O, 1846 Annála ríoghachta Éireann. The Annals of Ireland, translated from the original Irish of the four masters, with annotations by P. MacDermott, M.D. (Dublin: Published by Bryan Geraghty 1846) [copy presented by J. L. Richardson, 1963 in Marsh’s Library.

Hornsey, I  2003  ‘A History of Beer and Brewing’ RSC Paperbacks, Cambridge, P.194.

McGovern et al, 2004  ‘Fermented Beverages of Pre- and Proto-Historic China’,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA, 2004.

Michel, R.H., McGovern, P.E. & Badler, V.R.  1992  Nature, Vol 24, 360.

Nelson, M  2005  The Barbarian’s Beverage: a history of beer in ancient Europe. Routledge, New York.

O’Kelly, M J  1954  ‘Excavations and experiments in ancient Irish cooking places’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 84, 105–55.

Ó Néill, J  2004 ‘Lapidibus in igne calefactis coquebatur: the historical burnt mound tradition‘, The Journal of Irish Archaeology, Vols 12 & 13, 2003–4, 79–85.

Quinn, B & Moore, D  2007  ‘Ale brewing and fulachta fiadh’, Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 21, No. 3, 8–17.

Sparrow, J  2005  Wild Brews: beer beyond the influence of brewer’s yeast. Brewers Publications, Boulder.

INTERNET RESOURCES

St. Brigid and the Bathwater.

Internet resource, accessed March 2008.

http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/st-brigid-and-the-bathwater/

Odin’s glass of Nectar

Internet resource, accessed April 2007

www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000103.html

Sahti – A remnant of Finland’s Rustic Past, Ilkka Sysila.

Internet resource, accessed April 2007

www.brewingtechniques.com/library/styles/6_4style.html

St Patrick and Mescan

Internet resource, accessed April 2007

www.mohurley.blogspot.com/2009/03/from-annals-of-4-masters-st-patrick.html

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge the assistance and advice of Merryn and Graham Dineley, Max Nelson, The Hooker Brewing Company, Pete Brown, Libby Best and Maree Daffy, Moore Group and everyone else who helped.

Part three of Dining and Dwelling publication (Part one here, and part two here)

Our first brewing experiment was carried out at Billy’s home in Headford, Co. Galway, in August 2007. In an effort to make the experiment authentic the equipment had to be basic. For the mash tun we used an old, leaky, wooden cattle trough that measured 1.7 m in length, 0.7 m in width with a depth of 0.65 m (roughly consistent with the average trough dimensions from excavated fulachta fiadh). To make the trough watertight the seams were caulked with moss, a technique used by Bronze Age boat builders. The trough was then lowered into a ready-made pit and the edges backfilled. Water was then added. Despite some initial leakage the water in the trough eventually reached a natural level by simply flooding the immediate area. When filled to a depth of 0.55 m, the trough held 350 litres.

In choosing the stones for heating we consciously avoided limestone, as most fulachta fiadh are made up of non-limestone material. As O’Kelly (1954,122) observed, heated limestone on contact with water turns to calcium hydroxide, known as ‘milk of lime’, and is dangerous to ingest. Interestingly, during the excavations at Dún Aenghus on the Aran Islands, which geologically is a natural extension of the Burren, a trough was discovered with burnt granite cobbles scattered roundabout (Cotter 1993, P.13). Given the lack of granite on the island these ancient people obviously went to a lot of trouble to source this stone either by breaking up glacial erratics or travelling by boat to south Connemara. For the purposes of our experiment we used a mix of granite and sandstone from Clonbur, Co. Galway.

For our Bronze Age brewer stage one in the process after harvesting and winnowing the barley crop, would have involved artificially promoting growth by placing the grain in a textile bag or perforated leather container within a stream, allowing the grains to saturate and swell. This would result in the growth of a sprout or ‘acrospire’, visible as a rootlet at the base of the grain. At this point the grain is stunted by drying and rolling the grain in hot stones to make a starch-rich, roasted malted barley. The malt is then ready for grinding. In prehistoric times this would have been done with a saddle or rotary quern (grain which has been malted is far more suitable for grinding than unmalted grain that would still have a water content). Our malted barley (50 kg) was provided by Aidan Murphy, a master brewer with the Galway Hooker Brewing Company. The barley arrived unmilled and for reasons of convenience and expediency we crushed it using an electrical food processor. Aidan also supplied us with wet yeast from his brewery. If time permitted we could have made a simple yeast by kneading a hole in some dough adding water and leaving it exposed resulting in the formation of a yeast cake. However, yeast is notoriously volatile and we were content to use a known species.

Hot Stones

These ancient ‘wild’ beers would have been spontaneously fermented by particular combinations of local wild yeasts and micro-organisms as well as local plant and herb flavourings. In all likelihood they may have been somewhat tart, sour and acidic in taste, more like the Lambic beers of Belgium or contemporary Flanders red brown ales (Sparrow 2005, 5).

Echoing the role of air borne yeast the Norse sagas have it that Odin (the chief god in Norse paganism), disguised himself as an eagle and spilled the secret of beer from the sky. Furthermore, in Scandinavia and the Orkneys there is a tradition that early brewers realising that by reusing a stick they had stirred previous brews with, they could activate fermentation in subsequent worts, such sticks became valued items and it was not uncommon for them to be willed from one generation to the next. One can imagine that in prehistoric times these ‘wands’ impregnated with living yeast cells would have been invested with a spiritual potency. Indeed, a shaman or druid using the transformative powers of these ‘wands’ could be likened to Christ at Cana changing the water into wine.

To begin brewing our prehistoric beer, stones were heated in a wood fire for roughly two hours until superheated before being transferred into the water trough. After 15–20 minutes we achieved our optimum temperature of 60–70°C. This temperature can be identified by observing the surface of the water. As the water heats it becomes thinner and gently steams becoming glassy and mirror still. The ideal temperature is when the reflection is clearest. At this point we half submerged a wicker basket in the trough and began adding our barley and stirring it vigorously. Over a period of 45 minutes, maintaining a fairly constant temperature with the addition of occasional heated stones, our water transformed into a sweet smelling, syrupy wort. Even at this stage the nutritional value of the beverage was obvious. If we had decided to add milk, the resultant concoction would be similar to modern-day Horlicks or could have been served as gruel.

Heating the water

After completing the conversion of starches to sugar, ascertained by tasting the wort, we brought the mixture to a boil and then decanted it into fermentation vessels. We used plastic containers with a total capacity of 75 litres. In later experiments we used two Bronze Age replica urn-style pottery vessels, each with a capacity of 30 litres. The containers were then cooled in a bath of cold water before we added 350 ml of wet yeast. To counter the sweetness of the wort and lend the beer a more recognisable bitter taste we added seasonal flavourings sourced near Billy’s house. These included sprigs of bog myrtle, juniper berries and yarrow wrapped in muslin and suspended into the wort. Within eight to nine hours after cooling, the wort audibly began to bubble. Fermentation took place over the course of a week before the beer was ready for bottling. The end result was a relatively clear, copper-coloured brew with a sharp, yet sweet , taste. The hot rocks had imparted a slightly smoky caramelised flavour making it eminently drinkable. Friends and family likened it to wheat beer and compared it favourably to home kit brews.

Optimum temperature

Our beer could best be described as a gruit ale, an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops.

We discovered that the process of brewing beer in a fulacht fiadh using hot-rock technology was entirely feasible. The production took only a few hours, followed by a week allowing for fermentation. Three hundred litres of water was transformed into a very palatable 110 litres of ale with minimal effort. The spent grain provided the ingredients for a dozen malt loaves and the rest was used as cattle fodder. Other than the shattered stone and the remains of the fire, there was little detritus.

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