Okay, I Have a Question.

[Christopher Helms]

Why would this work? It's a huge, open vat so God knows what is
settling into it, it's wood so it's almost impossible to sterilize
between batches and a guy is stirring around in it with something that
probably wasn't boiled in advance. Yet Ballantine was famous for
consistently making some of the best ale around. Why did this work for
them for decades when any of us would get malt vinegar if we tried to
make ale this way?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1938-Print-Fermenting-Vat-Yeast-Ballantine-Ale-Berenice-Abbott-Brewery-Beer-/300626685908?pt=Art_Prints&hash=item45febf2fd4#ht_2528wt_1398

[Ecnerwal]

In article

Post by Christopher Helms
Why would this work? It's a huge, open vat so God knows what is
settling into it, it's wood so it's almost impossible to sterilize
between batches and a guy is stirring around in it with something that
probably wasn't boiled in advance. Yet Ballantine was famous for
consistently making some of the best ale around. Why did this work for
them for decades when any of us would get malt vinegar if we tried to
make ale this way?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1938-Print-Fermenting-Vat-Yeast-Ballantine-Ale-Berenic
e-Abbott-Brewery-Beer-/300626685908?pt=Art_Prints&hash=item45febf2fd4#ht_2528w
t_1398

Steam - sanitizing stuff is easy when you have a boiler on site. Same
thing with the Yorkshire squares (big slate pools for fermenting...)
which I believe are still being used by Samuel Smith's in Tadcaster, at
least.

It would also be false to think that is a large dirty room - the whole
place probably got hosed down and steamed somewhat regularly. Your
kitchen is probably filthy by comparison (I know mine is.)

Pasteur's "Studies on Fermentation" had been out for 62 years at that
point. Sanitizing was not something those folks were unaware of - they
were simply working on a scale that you and I don't. If you sanitize the
whole room, and the wooden bucket, and don't go in the room (with all
the nasties you bring on you) except when something needs to be done
with the beer (and try to clean up before you do), you can possibly
replicate that process.

_Studies on fermentation, the diseases of beer...._ is old enough that
you can find digital copies now, as it's out of copyright. While the
terminology is archaic, it's still a heck of a read for any brewer. The
English translation is what I read (on paper, from a college library.)
Google books is one easy source of a digital copy now, or there are
others from various Gutenberg project sources.