Old-style Brewing

[ron]

Forgive my ignorance in this matter.

When beer was ready to be kegged or casked in the last few centuries, how was carbonation accomplished?

I ask because I found a woodcutting dating back to the 18th century that depicts an ale house whose patrons are holding mugs with great, frothy heads.

[bierboy]

By adding krausen. The freshly fermenting wort would provide the necessary carbonation. Many large breweries still do it this way.

[ron]

How is pressure maintained? Were the barrels somewhat airtight?

[chris1kanobi]

Some breweries would simply take an "educated guess" about the amount of sugar remaining in fermenting wort. For example, they would brew on Sunday at noon, and Thursday at 8 am they would fill the kegs. The still fermenting beer would build up pressure inside the keg, and keep it under carbonation untill it was opened. Depending on the fermentation, and the time it was packaged, the beer could be over carbonated or flat. Back in the day, beer was served with less carbonation than it is today and certain beers had no carbonation at all. Sometimes a certain amount of honey (and herbs because they didn't use hops) were added to each keg before they were sealed up. Here is a great beer history site: http://www.alabev.com/history.htm

[bierboy]

Originally posted by ron
How is pressure maintained? Were the barrels somewhat airtight?

Yes, they were/are. In Munich and Salzburg there are still breweries that do it this way. One of my favorites, the Augustiner in Salzburg, serves there beer from full size wooden barrels. They tap the barrell by punching a hole in the top for air and pounding a tap into it. MMmmmm, talk about good beer and only $3 or $4 a liter.

[chazwicke]

I've seen the that tapping process in Munich and in a little Bavarian town called Bad Reichenhal (I know I misspelled it). The mayor of the town came out on May Day and tapped the first keg by pounding the tap into the keg. Lots of beer splashed out. I figured it was a waste of good beer. LOL.