Chapter V In the Gruithouse

De Middeleeuwse Brouwerij en de Gruit - The Medieval Brewery and the Gruit.
by G. Doorman, 1955. Translated by Susan Verberg, 2017.

Chapter V In the gruithuis.

The administrative chamber accounts of Deventer are also of much importance to find out about business in the gruithuis. Some details from this are collected in the table in Appendix IV-VI. After the year 1348 the results of city interference in this matter are only globally noted, but from the years 1339-1348 we have at least six years of detailed accounts.
    In 1339, the first year in which the city had rented the gruit of the Bishop of Utrecht, it bought in raw materials ca. 222 mud bog myrtle for ca. 333 fl and also duris specibus for 1 Mk 19 s 6 br (thus 6 fl 6 s) and resin for 22 s 6 br (thus 4 fl 10 s). There is a notation of 22 Mk 6 s (53 fl 2 s) 'ad emendum Mirtum' and one of 27 Mk (64 fl 16 s) without a description. These two notations are included in the expenses for bog myrtle; ad emendum = to buy (emo = buying).
    The substance of gruit was sold in certain amounts, most often a two part unit (duabus grutis), sometimes a three part unit (tribus grutis). In later years often in larger amounts together, so one finds in 1347, apart from una, duabus and tribus, also notations for quatuor, quinque and even decem grutis. The prices rather accurately reflect these amounts. The city official in 1344 numbered these amounts in sequence and gave, for instance, a notation for the 11th to 15th in gruta. In German cities one also finds the sale of such constant amounts of gruit. In the by Kraus (Kra 23) examined city accounts of Wesel between the years of 1342-1390 one called such a unit a 'satta' and there the sale often happened with 2 satta at a time.
    The word satta might have bene derived from sat = enough, sufficient, and most probably were all units meant to be enough for one brew of the in that city usual amount.
    To know how much gruit this unit contains, it is important to know that at the end of 1339 of the 22 mud gagel bought 66 mud was left. Therefore 156 mud had to be made into the 48 units gruit, which had been sold. That means 3 1/2 mud per unit.
    The accounts of Wesel of 1348 and 1349 note about gruit that '110 satta que faciunt 137 1/2 maldra' and 102 satta there are 127 1/2 maldra. Therefore here 1 satta = 1 1/3 maldrum gruit.
    How much these units could be measured in hl [hectoliters], is shown by the data in the 'Tresoir' of 1590 (Tre). There is noted that an Amsterdam 'last' was the same as 27 mud in Deventer. On these grounds, as noted in the next chapter (IX), I therefore take for the Amsterdam last a volume of 2877 l  [liters], so the mud in Deventer would be 106.55 l, and the unit in gruit thus 346,4 l.
    The maldrum of Wesel is not mentioned in the Tresoir, but it does mention that the Amsterdam 'last' in the land of Cleve counts as 15 1/2 'mouwer'. Wesel is not far from Kleef [Cleve] and in 1385 (after Kleef was united with the county of Mark) gifted Wesel to 'onsere Vrouwe van Cleve' [our Lady of Cleve] 1 ohm wine. Should I compare the mouwer of Kleef identical to the maldrum of Wesel, then I would assume for this 185.6 l and for the satta 190 l.
    In Deventer a mud gagel cost in 1347 71 s (pound system).
    In Wesel 1 maldrum gagel cost in 1347 20 s in the mark system, thus 80 s in the pound system. If the maldrus was 185.6 l then Wesel should, for 106.5 l (Deventer mud), only have paid 46 s, which is 35% less than in Deventer. This is not assumed as bog myrtle was sourced from Arnhem, Deventer and Zwolle. Presumably the maldrum in Wesel is thus not much bigger than the mud of Deventer. Should one make them the same, then the satta becomes only 133 l, which could indicate that Wesel also brewed with a lot less grain per brew than Deventer.
    Kraus noted the market prices of bog myrtle in Wesel for the whole period of 1342-1390 per maldrum. According to appendix IV, in Deventer in 1348 the unit price was 150% higher than in 1347, in Wesel that year the unit prices were almost 100% higher than the year before; although many fluctuations occur, only around 1382 does it reflect a decline. This is probably caused by less demand due to the transition to hops.
    Bog myrtle and gruit was traded in a dry state; this is concluded by the fact that it was available throughout the year. Hoops (Hoo 282) takes gruit for an 'Extrakt der Krauter, ja diese selbst' [an herb extract]. That others thought of an extract might have to do with the mention of vats and kettles in the gruithuises, but, as is explained below, those served a different purpose.
    We know, for instance, that in St Gallen malt was ground in morters into a coarse flour (Gei 133 and MuJ 80). In the administrative accounts of 1340 is often mention of the 'stampus'; I assume, that just as in St. Gallen there was a mill. The word stampus or stamphus is then used for the place in which this apparatus was housed, because in 1340 3 fl 4 s was paid for the work which had been done in this place: 'de operc (read opero) facto ad domum dictam stamphus'. Apparently this was also the place where the inventory was stored, of which the gruitmeesters [masters of the gruit] at the end of their service year were accountable for; so one reads from 1347 and 1348 'de gruta dimissa in stampa'. The word operc could also be a shortening of the word operculum = lid to close, which would have been made in that room.

    Not clear is what was done with the press, which is mentioned in the following passages:
1414: Item voer die persse te verbetere [to make the press better] ... 1 gl. 7 pl.
    Item 1 nye bedde ende lit ter perscen ende voer holtwerc daertoe ... 28 pl.
    [Item one new bed and lid to press and for woodwork thereto]
1421: Item voer 1 holt een bedde tot der perssen te vueren ende te zaghene ... 10 pl.
    [Item for one wood for a bed to the press to feed into and to saw?]
    Item die persse te makene [to make or repair the press] ... 17 pl.

Nowadays before shipment hops is pressed in to bales to about a 10th of its volume. It is unlikely that one already did this in Deventer in the 15th century with gruit. Bog myrtle and hops were measured in volume and with 'mytter platter hand' [with a flat hand] leveled. (Luk 62) The numbers for the volume per Amsterdam ships' pound in the 'Tresoir' (Tre 123) points to very little specific weight.
    That the gruit business in Zwolle could exist in almost the same place [geographically] as Deventer could be explained from what I noted of the year 1398. This article of the ordinance brings us right into the Deventer gruithouse atmosphere, as the city administrators had to turn over, at the end of their duty to their successors, the 'crude', 'hersen' and 'zwaer crude' [herbs, resins, heavy herbs]. Later this article was removed from the ordinance; indeed it does not fit into the ordinance well, as it is about an internal rule of the government.
    At the end of their service year the officials in charge of gruit gave the keys to their successors. With the sale of the gruit in Wesel one or two city officials had to be present; sometimes also bog myrtle or malt was sold. (Kra 10)
    The fermentarius (the gruiter) in Wesel was the best paid civil servant. In the list of civil servants Kraus also found the word 'druper' which he can not place; this could have been the announcer, therefore not connected to the brewery. Also about the often returning posts like 'pro cespitibus fodiensis' and 'de plaustris cespitum introducendis' Kraus gives no explanation; this could have meant the digging out and transport of peat. What this had to do with the gruithouse in Wesel is not said for sure. As far as the accounts show, they mostly sold a lot of gruit and not much bog myrtle or malt. If the amounts of peat are too large to heat the house maybe this fuel was used to heat the 'eest' [malt oven] to dry privately prepared malted grains.

Medulla brasii and soppa fermenti (gruet soppe)

The expression medulla brasii first showed up in 1340 in a separate account of the gruitmasters of Deventer. That year distinguishes itself from the previous also because several new expenses were necessary:

1) a pendiculo(-um) dicto henge ad caldarium (a hanging aparatus for the kettle) ... 1 fl
2) a caldario(-um) cuso cuidam coperslagher [copper kettle] ... 6 fl 10 s
3) 10 (?) mud grain ... 17 fl 2 s
4) 1 schuit peat (cespites) ... 4 fl
5) 1 scepel (shovel) ... 10s

Also firewood, copper, lead, iron, stones, wood construction and the already mentioned work in the stamphus or mill.
    Apparently some sort of brewing was going on, but of what? The city had a wine cellar, managed by a domus de vino, and this business produced fl 600 in 1340, but apparently had no beer on tap. Also there is no mention of other sales of beer (cervisia). I therefore came to the conclusion, that the medulla brasii which was sold must have been wort. Later I heard that at least in Belgium until recent times wort was sold to others by certain breweries, whom then through fermentation made their own beer.
    Of the point of view of the city this is a reasonable idea, as this way the small brewers did not all need to own a kettle to heat [brew]. The city did not compete much with their principal customers, as would have been the case if the city had started their own brewery of any importance.
    The Latin translation of wort is not unreasonable: it is indeed the core, the medulla, thus the essence of malt (brasium) and not beer (cervisia). In a lexicon of 1773 is also spoken of the core in the brewery process: '... dass es im Wasser seinen Kern und bestes Wesen endlich gehen lasset' or, the grain in water its core and best essences at long last lets go. (Ges 31, 36)
    If multiple cities started to supply wort I was not able to ascertain. It would not surprise me if this was the case in 1487 in Munich, although Sedlmayer (Ges 41, 10) denies this. One reads in the ordinance concerning this: 'aber unverjeren pier mögen die prewen auf das Lande geben, wie bisher geschehen ist' [only unjust? beer can the brewers from the land give, as has always been done?]. In 1440 in Kampen the gruit was still leased by that city, even though it did not make revenue; with the lease was determined, that the leaser would be leased 'ketel noch stamte' [kettle nor press]. This might mean that in earlier times in the gruit business a kettle was used, and this would be for the making and sale of wort.
    From Appendix IV can be deduced that the city of Deventer delivered wort for at least 9 years. As the later administrative chamber accounts are not as detailed, we do not know of how it continued. Maybe the purchase of a 'gatenplancke' [wood board with holes] in 1414 indicates continuation.
    The accounts of 1340 and 1344 did not include soppa fermenti yet; a small amount for the purchase of such is noted for the first time in 1345. In the years 1347 and 48 with the increasing income of wort the income of gruet soppe also increased a little. Just like the medulla brasii, this soppa fermenti or gruet soppe could not be identified but nowadays it is clear that with the making of wort the filtered off spent grains were sold under this name. The substance apparently made one think of a thick vegetable soap and had some value as livestock feed.

Mixing of gruit and malt.
In Deventer the delivered gruit did not contain added malt. As is however mentioned in chapter II, in Dordrecht it was usual that the brewer would bring his malt to the gruithuis, in order that the gruiter could add the gruit substance to it. This is written in ordinances of 1322 and 1401. This unnecessary transport back and forth of malt makes it into an unwieldy rule. Two things could have been the reason: first avoiding fraud by only using part of the received gruit and sell the rest to other brewers, who then did not pay tax to the city; second the strive for uniform and good quality of beer brewed in the city. The everywhere existing ordinances to not use more than a certain amount of water also served this goal, or as it is called, to not brew the brew longer than a certain amount of barrels of beer.
    It could also be to make it more difficult to analyze the contents of the gruit substance. According to Grewe (Gre 18) the gruiter in Koln added a little malt to the gruit to keep the composition secret.

Did the city also brew or tap beer?
As has been said, this was initially not the case in Deventer. In 1357 a couple of smaller purchases for hopped beer were accounted for (cervisie hummulate, or orientali, thus German). Already in 1347 hops is bought, probably to mix with bog myrtle, to process into gruit, and in the years '60 the city starts to interfere with hopped beer making. The 'vieren die de hoppe vorwaren zullen' [the four who will account for the hops] are appointed in 1361 and in 1363 these civil servants are sworn in. Also the regulation of hops begins (1362). Still in 1363 someone bought three barrels of hopped beer from Emmerik, and in that year there is correspondence between Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Monnikendam, Weesp, Hoorn and Enkhuizen about hops, probably in conjunction with the to the bishop owed gruitrights and 'der stad pleyt teghens den bisschop van Vtrecht' [the city pleads to the bishop of Utrecht], for which they even 'appelaci zinghen' [sang an appeal?].
    It is not sure if the city of Deventer made hopped beer, or only traded in small amounts. The income from hopped beer in the 14th century is never more than that of gruit and is mostly noted as 'hoppensize' [tax on hops], in contrast to the tapping of wine. Maybe they were mostly limited to excise duty. This had to be paid with import as well: to control this in 1363 people were employed 'die scepe omme ghenghen ende zochten dat hoppenbier' or, who would go onto ships to search for hopped beer; they had to 'antasten' [taste] the in the city arrived beer.
    Of the German regions who made gruit beer, almost every city of some renown had a gruithuis and many German cities had their own brewery and a Ratskeller, where beer was tapped. Especially about Munster we are really well informed because of the study of Grewe (Gre). In Munster next to the gruit right existed also the city brewery; and in 1448 the city received a monopoly for the tapping of 'das frommede bier' (strange beer, or imported beer) as well. They would tap this beer 'de quarte von 2 Pf, als de tit dat liden mach und anders nimant bi sinen brocke' (a fine). Others were allowed to tap grusink (gruit beer) for 1 Pf per quart and per ton of 108 quarters for 8 s.
    In Germany not only cities but also cloisters brewed for sale; from our country not much is known about cloister brewing, although Maastricht at least brewed for third parties, sie Appendix I at 1299 and also Ever 176.