Ancient Egyptian Brewer's Tomb Found

Rambo Tribble writes "Reminding us of beer's pivotal role in the civilization of humankind, the BBC comments on the discovery of an Ancient Egyptian tomb, belonging to the distinguished 'head of beer production' in the Pharaoh's court. From the article: 'Experts say the tomb's wall paintings are well preserved and depict daily life as well as religious rituals. Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told the Egyptian al-Ahram newspaper that security had been tightened around the tomb until excavation works are complete.'"

Comments

Tetracycline ale.

[EmperorOfCanada]

Some Egyptian beer used a yeast that produced huge quantities of tetracycline; enough that it changed the colour of their bones. I wonder if any of the text will refer to the beer's medicinal properties.

Re:Tetracycline ale.

[Mal-2]

A bit of clarification -- it's not the yeast, it's contamination of the grain itself by streptomyces. It would have also led to (much lower) levels in unfermented products like bread or gruel, but fermentation let the production increase tremendously.

Linky.

Any yeast found ?

[perpenso]

Any yeast found? It would be interesting if his brew could be resurrected.

Re:Any yeast found ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably not. The most likely sources of yeast would have been either spontaneous yeasting, letting natural occurring yeast "contaminate" the wort or by using residue from earlier brews. The yeast as such was not contained because it was unknown that this biological substance was required.
It probably is far more likely that this will shed some light on the common ingredients, which seeds were used for the malt, which additives were included (herbs, fruits, nuts) and what (if any) gruit was common. The yeast strains are most likely a reflection of what occurred naturally in that ecosystem. To find out what that could have been like, a paleo ecological study could shed some light on that.

Signed:
An archaeologist and beer fanatic (which seems to be a pleonasm)

Re:Any yeast found ?

[MrBingoBoingo]

Tetracycline family antibiotics are actually very popular for use in humans. Like any antibiotic though resistance is a concern as is making sure the antibiotic in question is effective on the pathogen casuing problems. Tetracyclines tend to be bacteriostatic antibiotics rather than bacteriocidal (so they require use with a functioning immune system to have maximum benefit) which along with their side effect profile makes their use a bit more targeted in practice generally than some other antibiotics.

Re:Any yeast found ?

[Ellis D. Tripp]

Have you seen the TV show "Brew Masters?". They did an episode where an expedition was mounted to Egypt, to examine some hieroglyphs at a tomb and capture wild yeast. It was then used to brew "Ta Henket", a limited release one-time brew by Dogfish Head brewery in DE.

The hieroglyphs showed what appeared to be loaves of bread involved in the brewing of beer. One theory is that the ancient brewers put loaves of bread into the wort, inadvertently pitching yeast in the process. The modern brewers attempted to recreate this by baking simple loaves of bread using emmer, a local grain of the time period, then adding the crumbled loaves to the fermenter.

Re:Any yeast found ?

[dasunt]

Just to add - it's also interesting to note that wild fermentation is an important way to preserve food and remove toxic organisms from it. Even the most common, non-alcoholic fermentation (lacto-fermentation), it tends to change the environment of the brew that toxic organisms can't survive. There's actually a history of what was called "small beer" in the west, which was a brew just alcoholic enough to kill off many pathogens. It was safer to drink than water in many areas.

Now consider this in the land of Egypt, where a large population living around one major water source (a river) without modern sewage treatment. It's probably safer to drink a fermented drink than the water directly.

Re:Any yeast found ?

[Ellis D. Tripp]

I agree. They knew that the bread was a necessary part of the process, so it was added.

They had no idea that the only part of the bread that was needed was a microscopic one-celled organism that also caused the bread to rise in the first place.

Would likely be explained as the "spirit of the bread" causing the brew to become beer, or similar pre-scientific explanation.

Re:That Explains the Peace in Egypt

[Anonymous Coward]

Prohibition was in the 1920's, World War I was from 1914 to 1918. Please recompute theory.

Re:That Explains the Peace in Egypt

[gcore]

Please take into account that the beer made hundreds or thousands of years ago had very little alcohol. Things like enzymes, temperature rests, fermentable extract, FAN and sanitation was unheard of. Beer wasn't usually being drunk to get drunk. Beer was a more healthy alternative to water, since it contains a number of nutrients and energy, and also being harmless to drink since no known bacteria that's harmful to man can survive in beer.

Re:That Explains the Peace in Egypt

[HornWumpus]

Just wrong. Beer can go bad. The bacteria is killed when you boil the wort. Crack a bottle and let it sit out for a week, then report back.

Not enough alcohol in beer to make it an effective antiseptic. But enough alcohol in beer to get people drunk, even in ancient days.

Don't buy the neoprohibitionist narrative.