On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 12:46:11 +0100, "Mike Lyle" wrote:
I don't think enough people were home-brewing

I agree that home-brewing of beer was not all that common but home
winemaking was very common ( well it was in the NW of England in my
youth !),

contaminated with wild yeasts and bacteria quite easily in inexpert
hands: few people would have been able to keep a culture pure for
long.

Ginger beer yeast plant cultures seemed to survive well enough !

rather lower strengths;

very true

I wouldn't recommend it, though.

Nor me.

Bees-yeast? Educate me, please,

Maybe I should have typed "bees-wine-yeast" ?
A yeast that clumped together in little fuzzy lumps and strings that
would be in constant motion up and down the jar of liquid usually to
be found on a kitchen or pantry windowsill (depending on time of year
and angle of sunlight)
Fed with a dolop of sugar or syrup from time to time etc, like a
ginger beer plant, split when growing too big and passed on to a
friend (who probably had one already from another friend, so extras
would be thrown away !)


O Guru.

Dunno bout that !