Nope it’s a common misconception. If you had the ability to boil water for a beer wouldn’t you just drink the water that had been boiled? Beer wasn’t pasteurised, carbonated and bottled in sanitary conditions like modern beer. It would have been full of natural yeast and bacteria on top of being unrefrigerated chances are you would have something close to vinegar in a few weeks. Truth is people like getting fucked up and they always have.
Yeah, the alcohol kills pathogens, making beer safe to drink even if your water source is bad. And it can be stored for a long time without going bad.
At some point people must have discovered that “hey, if I mix water and grains in a certain way, and wait until it stops bubbling before I drink it, then it makes me feel good AND I don’t get diarrhea (or worse)!”
Beer provided a huge percentage of the average worker’s daily calories. So if you literally didn’t want to both starve and dehydrate to death, you’d need a steady supply.
I was on a bus with some kids (18-19) and they had about ten slabs of beer they were taking home. Someone said something to them and they said that there was works going on in their building and the water would be off for 24 hours, so they had to have something to drink.
You might consider a combination of a hiker’s squeeze filter and a Brita elite, see if you could get a safe end product. Neither can remove salt, though. For that you’d need to distill it.
I love the audacity of “brewing beer”.
Wasn’t back then that the only way to store liquids for a long time? It would be like I’m collecting water in a way, kinda need that to live.
Nope it’s a common misconception. If you had the ability to boil water for a beer wouldn’t you just drink the water that had been boiled? Beer wasn’t pasteurised, carbonated and bottled in sanitary conditions like modern beer. It would have been full of natural yeast and bacteria on top of being unrefrigerated chances are you would have something close to vinegar in a few weeks. Truth is people like getting fucked up and they always have.
Yeah, the alcohol kills pathogens, making beer safe to drink even if your water source is bad. And it can be stored for a long time without going bad.
At some point people must have discovered that “hey, if I mix water and grains in a certain way, and wait until it stops bubbling before I drink it, then it makes me feel good AND I don’t get diarrhea (or worse)!”
Beer provided a huge percentage of the average worker’s daily calories. So if you literally didn’t want to both starve and dehydrate to death, you’d need a steady supply.
Where I’m at tap water isn’t potable, so I’m ordering liquids (of any kind that fit within my budget) in order to stay alive.
I was on a bus with some kids (18-19) and they had about ten slabs of beer they were taking home. Someone said something to them and they said that there was works going on in their building and the water would be off for 24 hours, so they had to have something to drink.
How much/many is a slab of beer? Never heard that expression before
24 cans/bottles
lol any excuse to drink. A bucket of water would be safe for that short of time.
Joking aside, they usually hand out pamphlets telling you to do exactly this for short periods.
In our city they have mobile water tanks they hook up to buildings if it’s over 48 hours iirc.
You might consider a combination of a hiker’s squeeze filter and a Brita elite, see if you could get a safe end product. Neither can remove salt, though. For that you’d need to distill it.