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Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

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    Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

    Hi everyone!
    I'm a beer brewer in my spare time and I was wondering if there were any special prayers that are said to bless beer? It has been so long I don't exactly know how to bless water to make "holy water", either, although I think making a sacred beer of sorts would be a pretty awesome concept, especially if the beer was blessed prior to being made in addition to being blessed for cakes and ale after a ceremony.

    Any tips, suggestions or anything that might help?

    #2
    Re: Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

    Hey!

    Great to meet you!

    I've got a great book on brewing traditions. Let me do a little research and get back to you - any particular nationality? Interested in antique recipes?
    Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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      #3
      Re: Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

      I'm interested in all sorts of recipes, even old "bread brewing", bappir.

      But I was thinking more along the lines of blessings for the beer as well.

      Like said, bless the water water used to make the beer, bless the beer after bottling, then bless it before cakes and ale.

      Holy beer, basically.

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        #4
        Re: Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

        Hi, I am also a brewer. My intuition would be bless at the pitching the yeast. Fermentation was historically regarded as a magical/holy process, and yeast was sometimes called 'god is good.'

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          #5
          Re: Blessing beer before, during or after fermentation?

          Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you...

          The book I'm looking at is called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, by Stephen Harrod Buhner, Siris Books, 1998.

          It is not just a beer book, although there are a lot of recipes for beers made of different herbs, as well as indigenous fermentation recipes from different cultures. But what makes the book especially interesting is that it goes through the myths, magic, and rituals of fermenting. There are sections dealing with sacred brewing traditions from around the world, and I think that may be what you are looking for.

          Just as an example, here's a bit about manioc beer:

          The manioc for beer must be gathered in an especially sacred manner. The slayer's wife, her hands held by an Omaha priestess, offers prayers to manioc, and then uproots the first plant and carefully lays it in her basket. All the women of the village then carefully and with attentive mind harvest the rest of the plants used in brewing.
          Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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