Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin  
I have made many (hundreds) of gallons of wine and beer. As well as *ahem* reading about (thats right everthing I know about the distilation process I learned from books) distillation.
The key to alcohol content is sugar. Yeast is a living organism that "eats" sugar. This produces 2 by products, Alcohol and CO2 (fizzzy bubles).
Alcohol levels of 12 % (or more!) are entirely natural. It requires NO outside manipulation or "fortification". This level of alcohol will cause drunkeness if consumed to excess. Heck, we have all seen guys knee-walking drunk on coors lite. That has a level of around 4%.
So unless the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD changed the fundamental laws of the universe, something even the most radical full-preterist would claim, then these claims are so much nonesense. Any person who claims that "bible wine" hace a lower alcohol content is ignorant. Any person who repeats it after having it explained is lying or a flat-earth type of crank. |
Exactly. The fermentation process is the fermentation process...is the fermentation process...
However, out of curiosity, I was doing a search on the net regarding this topic, and what many claim is that the alcohol content was lower due, not to the fermentation process, but rather because the drink was supposedly diluted with water, something like 3-4 parts water to 1 part drink (reminds me of drinking something like a Bud Light).
The two questions I would have regarding this dilution of wine claim is:
1) Is there any credible evidence of this? The websites I read that purport this do not cite any sources. They only assert this to be the case.
2) If it is the case that wine was in fact diluted with water, what exactly was the purpose of doing so?