The World That Was - Ancient Mesopotamian Wheat Beer

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was!



Today, I'll be showing you how to brew like a Bronze-Age Sumerian! By following the Hymn to Ninkasi (the ancient Sumerian god of beer and brewing), we'll be able to follow in their footsteps. Needless to say, this recipe is for an alcoholic beverage, so I hope that only people who are legally allowed to drink would actually try this!
Sumerian Beer is very different to modern beer. It has the same taste as modern beer, but more smoky, has no carbonation, and expires very quickly! The recipe takes about a week to do, but has a lot of downtime - often you'd spend less than ten minutes a day on it.

In any case, lets take a look at The World That Was.

Ingredients:
2.5-3L water
120g / 1.5 cups barley flour
60g / 0.5 cups wheat berries (or dried wheat, if that is all you can get)
1 cup dates, chopped

Special Kitchenware:
a large pot or demijohn

Method:

Day 1: Soak the Wheat
- Put your wheat berries into a bowl of water overnight, or up to 12 hours. This should re-hydrate them.

Day 2: Retrieve the Wheat, and Form the Bappir
- The next day, take your wheat berries out of their water (remember to reserve this wheat-water), and put them in a damp towel. Keep them moist and dark!
- Today, you'll also make the bappir, the source of your yeast for fermentation! Mix your wheat with some water until it forms a smooth dough. Now cover this up with a cloth for the day, keep it warm and dark. This is, in essence, a rudimentary sourdough! If you're not comfortable with using wild yeast, you can use domesticated, store-bought dried yeast here instead.

Day 3: Do Nothing
Today's the day where you leave things idle, don't do anything!

Day 4: Bake the Bappir and Wheat
- Uncover your bappir and take note of how it has darkened. This is normal, and a part of the dough oxidising. Preheat your oven to 150C or 300F, and place the bappir into it for about 15 minutes. We just want the exterior to harden, while the insides remain uncooked! This is to create a nicer atmosphere for the wild yeast to ferment.
- Spread your wheat berries onto a sheet pan in a single layer, and bake these at 150C/300F for 20-25 minutes. If a few of them burn, you'll know they're well past done!
Put these aside for tomorrow.

Day 5: Combination of the Ingredients
- Chop your dates to make sure they're pitted, and put these into a small saucepan. Pour water in on top of these until they're just submerged. Place this pan on high heat until it turns into a fairly runny syrup. This is to increase the sweetness and alcohol content of your finished beer!
- Cut up your bappir into small chunks, about the size of your thumbnail. Put these into your brewing container.
- Grind up your wheat berries in a mortar and pestle, or place them into a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin! Place these in on top of your bappir chunks in the container.
Now pour your syrup in on top of all of this.

(At this stage, if you want, you can add some rose petals, herbs, or spices, to give your finished beer some nice undertones! In my video, I left it plain, and it turned out quite nice!)

- Pour in 2-3 litres of water into the container, and swirl it around so everything is combined!
- Seal the container with a cloth (to prevent anything falling in), and place this in a dark area.

Day 6: Do Nothing
Take a break and wait for your beer to ferment!

Day 7: Decant
Take your finished beer out of the darkness, and look at how golden it looks! It should be cloudy and yellow. Try not to stir up the sediment at the bottom of the container when you're draining it out into bottles. You could, if you want to drink like a Sumerian, take a sip straight from the container by using a straw! This results in a sweeter, smoother beer than if you drink it straight from a bottle.

Even though this beer is greatly different to modern beers and brewing methods, it is still a very tasty drink. You can see why it was a sign of civilisation to the Sumerians of the Bronze Age!

I hope you enjoyed this look at The World That Was

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