hist-brewing: chewing grains

[Joanna Bailey]

We press apples with a neighbor for cider every year, and while it is a 
mechanical process, it's not terrible technical. But sugar content is 
definitely an issue. We make a few diff varieties - juice with ale yeast and 
no added sweetener, and juice with honey and wine yeast being the main 
flavors. The non-sweetened brew is maturing well, but very dry. If our 
ancestors were using crab apples, I imagine the brew would be pretty dry 
too. But then again, history shows that when it comes to gettign your drink 
on, people are very adaptable.

On the chewing front, I wonder if translation quirks might have something to 
do with the confusion. The word macerate can mean chewing and also to crush 
something as if it had been chewed. Maybe some interim term was used that 
led people to think dried corn and grains were chewed by humans for assorted 
brews.

-Joanna
www.seventreesfarm.com