Ale
Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops.
As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs or spices boiled in the wort before fermentation, before hops replaced gruit as the bittering agent. In England, however, it was also common to brew ale without adding herbs.
Etymology
The word ale comes into English from its ancestor-language, Proto-Germanic. English belongs to the West Germanic branch of Proto-Germanic, and some other languages in this branch also attest to the word: Middle Dutch āle and ael, and the Old Saxon word alo-fat 'ale-cup'. The word is also found throughout the North Germanic languages, almost certainly appearing in ancient runic inscriptions in the form alu, and subsequently in Old Norse as ǫl. Through linguistic reconstruction it is possible to infer that the Common Germanic form of this word was *alúþ-. According to the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, however, the origin of this word is 'uncertain and disputed'.Research by Harald Bjorvand, however, has favoured the following explanation: the Germanic word *alú-þ- descends from the Indo-European word **olú-t-, which originally meant 'golden or reddish colour'. Other Indo-European words related to this root include Old Indic aruṣá- and Old High German elo. The Indo-European word *olú-t- then came to refer specifically to ale because this is its colour, giving rise to both the Germanic word *alú-þ- and the Ossetic word æluton.
In this account, the Indo-European word *olú-t- was also borrowed into the Finnic languages, giving Finnish olut and Estonian õlu.
The relationship of similar words in the Slavonic languages and the Baltic languages remains uncertain.
History
Ale was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world. It was one of three main sources of grain in the diet at the start of the fourteenth century in England, along with pottage and bread.Scholars believe grains accounted for around 80% of the calorie intake of agricultural workers and 75% for soldiers - even nobles received around 65% of their calories from grains.
Small beer, also known as table beer or mild beer, which was highly nutritious, contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative, and provided hydration without intoxicating effects. Small beer would have been consumed daily by almost everyone, including children, in the medieval world, with higher-alcohol ales served for recreational purposes. The lower cost for proprietors combined with the lower taxes levied on small beer inevitably led to the selling of some beer labeled "strong beer" that had actually been diluted with small beer.
Records from the Middle Ages show that ale was consumed in huge quantities. In 1272, a husband and wife who retired at Selby Abbey were given 2 gallons of ale per day with two loaves of white bread and one loaf of brown bread.
Monks at Westminster Abbey consumed 1 gallon of ale each day. In 1299, Henry de Lacys household purchased an average of 85 gallons of ale daily and in 1385–86 Framlingham Castle consumed 78 gallons per day.
Brewing ale in the Middle Ages was a local industry primarily pursued by women. Brewsters, or alewives, would brew in the home for both domestic consumption and small scale commercial sale. Brewsters provided a substantial supplemental income for families; however, only in select few cases, as was the case for widows, was brewing considered the primary income of the household.
From the mid-17th century, strong ales became particularly fashionable. They were known by names such as Huff-Cap, Nippitate and Hum-Cup, so called because it caused "a humming sensation in the head". Strong ale, like wine, was typically decanted due to the high sediment content into small glasses, which were better suited to the high ABV ale.
Chambers' Cyclopædia of 1741 states that "Ale is chiefly distinguished from beer... by the quantity of hops used therein; which is greater in beer, and therefore renders the liquor bitterer, and fitter to keep."
Modern ale
Modern ale is typically fermented at temperatures between. At temperatures above the yeast can produce significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavor and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling those found in fruits, such as apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, cherry, or prune.Modern beer yeast
Sulfur metabolism
When ale ferments, it naturally creates two prevalent byproducts, those being Sulfur Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide. Each of these compounds affects the product in different ways, and each can be managed before and during the fermenting process to create different flavors and benefits for the ale.SO2
Sulfur Dioxide is a product of some of the initial ingredients of ale and is produced during the fermentation of the wort. Sulfur Dioxide helps to increase an ale's shelf life; however, it naturally occurs in foods when they become old, so many people react negatively to its smell and can even be viewed as an allergen in some countries. During the stages of fermentation of ale, the production of SO2 works as an antioxidant, a preservative, and, in addition, it works to fight bacteria. Throughout the fermentation process, one of the ways in which brewers can control the levels of SO2 is through temperature during brewing, and another way to preserve that reaction is by tempering with the temperature at which the product is stored. The cooler it is stored, the more SO2 is preserved, which helps the ale keep its flavor.When an ale becomes stale from oxidation, it loses its natural flavors; it could taste like any multitude of different undesirable things, depending on the initial flavor of the ale. Some of the most common tastes for people are that of sherry, where the flavors have gotten negatively sweeter, or that of cardboard or paper, where it tastes stale and bland.
Hydrogen sulfide is another byproduct of fermentation. In yeast strains, it helps the yeast grow and also works as an antioxidant later in the fermentation process. Having a chemical compound including sulfur, however, means that it has a pungent smell that people often associate with rotten eggs, which can later affect the produced ale negatively, so producing and managing a finite amount of hydrogen sulfide is very important in the fermenting of ale. When controlled, the amount of H2S is generally unnoticeable and does not affect the overall smell or taste, but still does its job of keeping the shelf life of the ale.