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Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 1 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, Orkney: a case study. Merryn Dineley & Graham Dineley Part of Chapter 16 Neolithic Fair, Skaill House, Sandwick. Published in ‘Neolithic Orkney in its European Context’ edited by Anna Ritchie, published by MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK, Oxbow Books, 2000. Among the public events at this conference was a Neolithic Fair on the afternoon of Saturday 12th September 1998, organised by Anne Brundle of the Orkney Museum and sponsored by Historic Scotland, Breckness Estate and Elf Consortium. It was enormously popular. Each participant was asked to contribute to the conference volume. The crafts of flint knapping, pottery, fire-making, haematite and pigment production, simmans (straw ropes) and brewing were demonstrated. We took samples of barley and malt, including bere, a strain of barley now grown only in the Northern Scotland, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. Bere is probably like the barley that was grown by our Neolithic ancestors. It is skinny, but it produces three times as much draff or spent grain as modern barley does after the wort has been extracted. Graham has mashed crushed malted bere and fermented the wort into ale. The best-preserved Neolithic domestic buildings in Northern Europe can be seen at the 5000-year-old village, Skara Brae, Orkney (Childe 1931). This paper assesses whether the first farmers who lived there had the necessary resources to convert the barley that they grew into sweet malts and ale. The keystone is the fact that the biochemical reactions involved in malting, mashing and brewing are unchanged across the millennia (Hough 1985, Hornsey 2003). Brewing experiments are, therefore, both relevant and valid. The manufacture of malts and ale from the grain requires specialised knowledge and it involves specific activities, equipment and conditions, described below. 1. Malting: controlled germination of the grain Grain is steeped in water for two days, and then grown a little in warm, dark, damp conditions on a malting floor in a barn. It is then dried, using a kiln, oven or hot stones. Germination releases enzymes (alpha amylase) that make the grain friable and that begin the conversion of starch into fermentable malt sugars. We did not make the malt for our experiments ourselves, as crushed malted barley is readily available from brewing suppliers. We have successfully used crushed bere malt supplied by Harry Flett (now retired) of the Corrigall Farm Museum, Harray, Orkney. The only difference between ancient and modern malting is one of scale. At Highland Park Distilleries the barley is malted on large malting floors. On a domestic scale, a barn with a smooth, level floor made of beaten earth or clay is quite sufficient. A good example of a malting floor can be found in the Grain Barn at the Corrigall Farm Museum, a working 19th century style grain barn and kiln (Figure 1). Traditional floor malting techniques were the same in the 19th Century as they were several millennia ago in the Ancient Near East, Europe and the British Isles. Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 2 Figure 1: Grain Barn, Corrigall Farm Museum, Harray, Orkney, with beaten earth floor, kiln and grain drying facility. Harvested grain, malt, oats or corn can be dried for storage. Image copyright Merryn Dineley. Harry Flett explained how opposing doorways in the barn provided a through draught for winnowing. Threshing and malting took place on the beaten earth floor. The kiln fire is at the far end of the barn, to the left. To the right of this, two stone steps lead to the corn or malt drying area, above the wooden malt shovel. Hut 8 at Skara Brae, Orkney, has an interesting feature in the North-facing wall: large stone slabs are adjacent to an aperture which would gather the north wind and vent the south (see Figures 2, 3 & 4). With the aperture open to a north wind and the south porch open, the through draught would make an ideal winnowing area, like that between the opposing doorways at Corrigall Farm Grain Barn. With the aperture closed, the stone slabs would function as a threshing floor or as a malting floor. Threshing and malting simply require a level floor and shelter from the elements. Paterson interpreted the aperture as a kiln flue (Childe 1930; 177). These features, together with querns that were found in Hut 8, would have provided the necessary equipment and facilities to convert barley grain into malt. Several large bucket shaped Grooved Ware vessels were found within Hut 8, as well as in the ‘porch’, together with stone lids, potentially useful for grain or malt storage (see Appendix). Hut 8 could have functioned well as a Grain Barn as well as being a tool store and workshop. Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 3 Figure 2: Aerial view of Skara Brae. Hut 8 is on the right of the picture, a little separate from the rest of the village. The aperture or ‘wind-eye’ in the North wall is opposite the original entrance, behind it a kiln with fire cracked stones. The ‘porch’ was probably a later addition to the building. Image copyright to Charles Tait Photographic (http://www.charles-tait.co.uk/). Arrow indicates the ‘wind eye’. Figure 3: A view of Hut 8, looking over the ‘porch’ out to sea, with the aperture which Mr. Paterson interpreted as ‘the possible remains of a kiln flue’ clearly visible. Many heat-cracked stones were found by the aperture, as well as stone slabs. Hut 8 would be suitable for winnowing, threshing, malting and drying the barley grain. The image is copyright Charles Tait Photographic, as above. Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 4 2. Mashing: the conversion of grain starch into malt sugars and wort In ancient, medieval and modern times, mashing involves mixing the crushed malted grain with abundant hot water in large metal or wooden mash tuns. This re-activates the enzymes within the malt that convert starch into sugars. Much of this conversion occurs within the first ten minutes and saccharification is complete within the hour. Care is needed to ensure the mash temperature does not become too hot, as this will kill the starch converting enzymes. If it is too cool the enzymes will not react quickly enough. Between 65 and 67 degrees Centigrade is perfect (Line 1980; 125). A large volume of mash makes it easier to maintain a steady temperature. A thermometer is not necessary – if the mash is hot enough for your finger to dip into, but not then keep in, it is about right. Ancient mashing techniques involve baking the malted barley as ‘cakes’ on hot stones or in an oven (Samuel 1995; 27). Malted barley and water can also be mashed in a wooden bowl using hot stones (Vencl 1994; 310) or in an earthenware vessel, like those found at Skara Brae. These mashing methods were tried experimentally and are successful because of the slowly rising temperature, maintained long enough for saccharification to occur. The ‘cakes’ or the barley mash/malt liquor produced are very sweet and sticky and rich in essential B vitamins (Dineley 1999, published 2004). Figure 4: Ground plan of Skara Brae, Orkney, produced by HM Office of Works after Vere Gordon Childe’s excavations in the 1920s and 1930s. Drains are marked with dotted lines; they are not easy to see on the ground plan but they are there. Each building was designated a number as it was excavated. The village was inhabited for around 800 years about 5000 years ago (Childe 1931). 3. Sparging: obtaining sweet wort for fermentation. A sweet liquid, known as the wort, can be washed out of the sweet barley mash using a technique known by brewers as ‘sparging’ (Line 1980; 141). Hot water is poured Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 5 through the mashed barley to extract the liquid malt sugars. We did this, using a sieve held over a large pottery vessel to contain the wort. We obtained about a gallon of wort from five pounds of crushed malt. Another experiment involved the repeated steeping of mashed barley in a vessel. The grain and chaff settled out to the bottom. The sweet wort can be either carefully poured off or siphoned into a fresh vessel. Both techniques demonstrated the very sticky nature of the wort and mash, requiring repeated washing of everything that came into contact with it, people, pots and all. The skillfully constructed drainage system at Skara Brae would amply support this kind of activity. Childe describes a ‘curious green substance’ that he interpreted as being, perhaps, human excrement. It was found in several of the hut drains, with particularly thick deposits beside Wall Q, just outside Huts 4 and 5, perhaps representing seepage from the drains to the cells (Childe 1931; 34). The green slime was also noted in Hut 7, one of the buildings with no drains. Childe’s interpretation is unlikely to be accurate, as pit P is by the dresser – but what the green slime represents is still a mystery. Could it have been brewing residues? 4. Boiling the wort with herbs. Boiling sterilizes and concentrates the wort, reducing the soluble protein content and improving the flavour. Today, hops are added to the boil, acting as both a flavouring and preservative. Hops were only introduced to brewing in medieval times. Prior to the 9th Century AD in Europe and the 13th Century AD in Britain, a combination of herbs was used - ‘gruit’ - with brewers using different recipes for unique flavours and effects. These herbs included sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), horehound (Marrubium vulgare), meadowsweet (Filipendula vulgaris) and heather (Calluna vulgaris). Some of these plants have mild narcotic or medicinal effects. Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) has been known as a powerful and potentially lethal additive to ale in past times, a dangerous and poisonous plant that causes hallucinations and visions, as well as death. The active alkaloids of Henbane are soluble in alcohol, not in water. Ibn Fadlan, an Arab ambassador who travelled with Vikings in 921 AD, describes a fermented drink called ‘nabidh’ (probably Henbane Ale) being consumed by some of the retinue at the funeral of a dead chieftain (Frye 2005). Seeds of the Henbane plant were found during excavations at Skara Brae, although this does not necessarily mean that they were consuming it as an additive in ale. Nicholas Culpeper (1653) noted that burning the seeds of this plant and inhaling the smoke relieved toothache. In our brewing experiments, we chose to use Meadowsweet, a plant that grows prolifically on Orkney and elsewhere in Scotland. We gathered flower heads and dried them. For about one gallon of ale we used an ounce of dried Meadowsweet flowers. It proved to be ideal as a preservative: ale made with the wort boiled with Meadowsweet kept for months, whereas ale made without it went sour within days. It must be said that some people think that ale or beer can be made from flowers alone, imagining that, for example, ‘Heather Ale’ is made only from the flowers of that plant. In the Visitor Centre at Skara Brae, a notice claims that in the Neolithic, ‘alcoholic Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 6 brews’ may have been made from gathered herbs or wild plants. There are no sugars for fermentation in herbs or flowers – the alcoholic fermentation comes from the malt sugars that are obtained from the barley by malting and mashing. The flowers or herbs are for flavour and/or preservation of the brew. 5. Fermentation: the conversion of sugar into alcohol Yeasts begin the ferment of the wort. They can be airborne, deliberately added from previous brews or can survive, in dried form, on internal surfaces of the fermenting vessel. The ferment must be kept in a steady warmth for yeast to convert the sugars into alcohol. Anaerobic conditions are required, easily achieved by covering the fermentation vessel with a lid. Fermenting experiments using earthenware vessels show that the pot must be sealed, otherwise the alcohol permeates the porous fabric faster than the water, rendering the drink virtually alcohol free! We used beeswax to seal the pottery vessels effectively, basing this on the identification of beeswax in the Strathallan beaker. Hut 7 at Skara Brae contained sherds from a very large, highly decorated Grooved Ware pot, crushed by a pillar that fell when the roof collapsed (see Appendix). It had been standing by the central fire. Another pot was found on the ‘dresser’, above a stone lined pit or sump (Pit P). Green slime deposits were identified in Pit P. Perhaps this was where wort or ale was transferred by the use of a spigot, from one vessel to another, the spillage accumulating in the stone lined pit. Green deposits were also found in Pen D. Both depositions went through the clay floor and underlying sand. As noted earlier, Childe identified these deposits as ‘excrement’ because he had found a similar green deposit by the drains that run from Huts 4 and 5, at Wall Q (Childe & Paterson 1927; 253,259). This deposit might be the decayed residues of sugars from spillage of malt liquors or ale that was being either processed or consumed in Huts 4, 5 and 7. However, only chemical analysis of newly discovered similar residues will solve this particular mystery. Conclusion The inhabitants of Skara Brae certainly had the equipment and suitable buildings for making malt and ale from the barley grain that they grew. In the building that Childe named ‘Hut 8’ they had a well-crafted and versatile Grain Barn for dry storage, threshing, winnowing and malting as well as a kiln for drying the malt. They had large pots with lids, suitable as fermentation buckets, and a drainage system. Other Neolithic sites on Orkney were also suitably equipped. The conversion of bere barley into sweet malts and ale was an important aspect of Orcadian life, and of the British Isles, during the Neolithic. Bibliography/further reading Childe, V G 1930 ‘Operations at Skara Brae during 1929.’ PSAS Vol LXIV, 158-191. Childe, V G 1931 Skara Brae; a Pictish Village in Orkney. London Childe, V G and Paterson, J W 1929 ‘Provisional Report on Excavations at Skara Brae and on finds from the 1927 and 1928 campaigns.’ PSAS Vol LXIII, 225-279. Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. Culpeper, N 1653 The Complete Herbal , still in print today. 7 Dineley M & G 2000 Neolithic Ale: Barley as a source of sugars for fermentation. In A. Fairbairn (ed.) Plants in Neolithic Britain and Beyond, Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 5, Oxbow Books. Dineley, M. (2004) Barley Malt and Ale in the Neolithic. BAR International Series S1213, John and Erica Hedges, Hadrian Books. (M. Phil. completed 1999). Frye, R N 2005 Ibn Fadlan’s Journey to Russia Pub Markus Wiener Hornsey, I Cambridge. 2003 A History of Beer and Brewing. Royal Society of Chemists, Hough, J 1985 Biotechnology of Malting and Brewing. Cambridge Studies in Biotechnology. Line, D 1985 The Big Book of Brewing. Argus Books Ltd, G W Kent Inc, USA. Samuel, D 1995 ‘Rediscovering Ancient Egyptian Beer’ Brewer’s Guardian Dec, 27 Vencl, S 1994 ‘Archaeology of Thirst’ Journal of European Archaeology, 2.2 (1994). Appendix, added February 2010 Recent discoveries at two Neolithic sites in the British Isles deserve mention and very brief discussion here: Durrington Walls, Wiltshire; Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. Excavations are taking place at Durrington Walls, under the auspices of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge). They have uncovered a ‘village’ rather like Skara Brae, they say, but built from wood, not stone. There are the outlines of buildings, some with ‘plaster’ or clay floors as well as many cattle and pig bones. It has been suggested that feasting and important ceremonies took place there. What were they drinking at these feasts? The sherds from Grooved Ware pots from the Neolithic village of Skara Brae and from Durrington Walls, a Neolithic henge and village a few miles from Stonehenge, indicate that such vessels could be very large indeed. Some would have been suitable for fermentation of up to 25 gallons of ale – surely enough for a feast (see Figure 5). Roughly five pounds of crushed bere malt makes about a gallon of ale. Professor Parker-Pearson of Sheffield University has suggested that at Durrington Walls, they were drinking cider not ale, on the basis of a few excavated crab apple pips. To me, this is a most unlikely conclusion. Crab apples are just not sweet enough alone for cider and need to be mixed with sweeter apples. Even if some kind of alcoholic drink were made from the crab apple juice, how were the apples crushed? Crab apples are extremely hard. Where were they gathered from and how many would be needed for just one gallon of liquid? Ale is a far more likely alcoholic beverage at these feasts. The discovery of caried pig teeth at Durrington Walls indicates that they were fed with something sweet. The most likely candidate for this would be spent grain – this is the Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 8 still slightly sweet barley mash that remains after sparging. It has been used as animal fodder for thousands of years and still is today. Most breweries either sell or give away their spent grain or draff to farmers for their livestock. This explains the lack of barley evidence on site – all barley products were consumed, either as ale or as animal fodder. The suggestion on the Time Team website that honey was routinely fed to the pigs to make honey flavoured pork simply beggars belief. Honey would have been a valuable commodity – far too valuable to use as pig feed. If the spent grain was so sweet that it rotted the pigs’ teeth, then this suggests minimal sparging and potentially strong ale. It has also been suggested that the cattle consumed at these feasts came from afar, that people brought their own beasts for slaughter at Durrington Walls, some 4000 years ago. It is equally possible that people brought their own malt along, so that it could be crushed, mashed and fermented on site. Or, perhaps, local barley was malted on site as well. As explained earlier, barley or malt evidence does not easily survive in the archaeological record, being ephemeral, biodegradable or consumed. (see my article on the Durrington Maltsters British Archaeology January 2008, 98, pp30,31). Excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney, ongoing since 2005, have uncovered a ceremonial site with Grooved Ware sherds from some very large pots and also thousands of cattle bones. Five thousand years ago it was a place for feasting and ceremony, situated close beside the Ring of Brodgar. Not far away are the Stones of Stenness and the Neolithic ‘village’ of Barnhouse. The discovery of a few huge ornate and highly decorated Grooved Ware pots, many drinking vessels, drains, barley husks in House 2 at Barnhouse and a smooth, well repaired floor surface in House 6 seem, yet again, to indicate malting and brewing. Excavators at both sites claim to be ‘cautious’ about the idea of ale in the Neolithic, citing a lack of evidence. It is necessary to understand the processes and traditional techniques of malting and brewing in order to recognise and understand the archaeological evidence that survives – usually the buildings, installations and equipment that would have been used. Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. GROUND PLAN & ARTEFACTS HUT 8, SKARA BRAE ,ORKNEY 9 These two ground plans of Huts 7 & 8 were traced from Childe’s original. The artefacts were included, as described in Childe’s excavation reports. The red arrow indicates the ‘wind eye’ in Hut 8. Hut 7 contains some strange and interesting artefacts; the potential for ritual, healing and other activities at Skara Brae is immense. Copyright Merryn Dineley Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. GROUND PLAN & ARTEFACTS HUT 7 SKARA BRAE, ORKNEY 10 Copyright Merryn Dineley Merryn & Graham Dineley 2000 From Grain to Ale. Skara Brae, a case study. 11