Having spent a considerable amount of my time over the autumn making wines I have been thinking about brewing quite a lot. I came upon the often stated issue of "Small Beer" - how people in the past made a safe-to-drink low alcohol beverage they could drink all day. So I did a bit of searching and only got sketchy details. There seem to be a few beer enthusiasts who will sometimes make a weak beer - made in the same way as normal beer but with less starch/ sugar added. Boiling is an important step in beer making.
But, I want to get back to basics. Take water, some flavouring, a small amount of sugar (preferably natural), some acidity and some yeast. I could probably come up with a pleasantly flavoured cloudy drink in just a day or two with alcohol say 1-2%. But would it be safe to drink if it started out with E.Coli or even worse in it? I can think of only 2 sig things that might work on my side a) the fermentation process and b) the alcohol level.
If it was effective then it would in principle be a survival technique.
Anyone know about this?
But, I want to get back to basics. Take water, some flavouring, a small amount of sugar (preferably natural), some acidity and some yeast. I could probably come up with a pleasantly flavoured cloudy drink in just a day or two with alcohol say 1-2%. But would it be safe to drink if it started out with E.Coli or even worse in it? I can think of only 2 sig things that might work on my side a) the fermentation process and b) the alcohol level.
If it was effective then it would in principle be a survival technique.
Anyone know about this?