Did anybody advise boiling drinking water before Pasteur?
People knew that drinking water was unsafe. That’s why even children drank small beer in the middle ages, it was safer. Small beer is the product of the first step in the ale or beer making process. Every “huswif” – (housewife) made ale or beer at home. Few people in the middle ages drank anything else, except wine. To make ale or beer you start with boiling the water you use. – Apparently it didn’t occur to them to just boil the water, but they definitely knew that plain water could be hazardous to their health. Beer brewing has been going on since mankind first planted grain and harvested it. There is some evidence to suggest that the reason for agriculture to even exist is man’s desire to have beer and that bread was a side product to beer production.
