If the germ theory is relatively new, how do they think fermentation was happening (like wine, ale, yogurt etc.) thousands of years ago?

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If the germ theory is relatively new, how do they think fermentation was happening (like wine, ale, yogurt etc.) thousands of years ago?

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43 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Just like people knew about heat treatment of metals long before we learned about materials science. You can do a lot of stuff without knowing the underlying mechanisms.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I believe back then when there was less of an understanding as to why things were the way they were they did a lot of trial and error and they just kinda need that it worked better when they did x

Anonymous 0 Comments

As others have said, they thought it was magic and/or “just happened.” In fact, the German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) originally stated that beer could only contain water, barley, and hops. It was only later (when they found out about fermentation) that it was amended to include yeast.

Anonymous 0 Comments

There was a very interesting superstition before they knew all the science behind distilling, when they brought in a new still to replace the old, they would hit it with a hammer to put dents in it to match the old as a superstitious thing, and now we know that in fact, the size and shape of the still do play a part in how it works, so doing this actually had a function, they just didn’t necessarily know it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

IMO you can just believe that before figuring out the true nature of ANYTHING, humanity just believed that it worked by MAGIC.

So, the answer is: MAGIC.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most medieval and before cultures didn’t really know why a lot of things happened, they just knew that they did happen. Call it a blessing from God(s). They essentially found out that the process we know to be fermentation happened under certain conditions and then that knowledge was passed on down the generations. Its pretty crazy to think that until maybe 300 years ago we didn’t really know why anything happened, just that it did.

Anonymous 0 Comments

fermentation happens naturally all the time in wild fruits, humans saw this, studied the phenomenon and took it from there

Anonymous 0 Comments

The description of how “minute bodies” enter the body and cause diseases by Ibn
Khatima were well in advance of Pasteur’s discovery of microbes.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Think of it this way,

You don’t need to know gravity works for it to do its job. You drop a ball, it falls to the ground.

Likewise if you crush grapes and let them sit they will ferment. You have wine.

You don’t need to know that there is natural yeast on the grape that eats the sugars in the grape converting it to alchohol.

You just need to know if you if you crush grapes, let them sit, and eat/drink them it makes you feel funny.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Spot on, man, kill the bad bacteria. Big part of early sailing from what I understand too. Watery alcoholic drinks were safe to drink in most ports. Y’see Margaret? I’m an adventurer, no a drunk, you gabby twit!