Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
John Powers gives a talk entitled “Michael Combrune and the Chemistry of Brewing in the 18th Century”. This talk was given on 16 September 2025.
Who doesn’t want a better beer? Certainly, the small, London brewer, Michael Combrune, did. He looked at the inconsistencies in the quality of English beer and decided that brewing had to be perfected by reshaping the brewer’s practices with philosophical rigor and chemical knowledge. So, in the 1750s and 1760s, Combrune advocated for the establishment of “philosophical brewing,” built upon the chemical theory of Herman Boerhaave and the use of instruments new to brewing, like thermometers, to control brewing processes. Ultimately, I will show that English brewers rejected most of Combrune’s ideas as “too philosophical,” yet his program was not a complete failure. Some brewers adopted select parts of Combrune’s program, specifically in areas where his methods could be integrated into traditional practices to streamline the production of beer.
John Powers gives a talk entitled “Michael Combrune and the Chemistry of Brewing in the 18th Century”. This talk was given on 16 September 2025.
Who doesn’t want a better beer? Certainly, the small, London brewer, Michael Combrune, did. He looked at the inconsistencies in the quality of English beer and decided that brewing had to be perfected by reshaping the brewer’s practices with philosophical rigor and chemical knowledge. So, in the 1750s and 1760s, Combrune advocated for the establishment of “philosophical brewing,” built upon the chemical theory of Herman Boerhaave and the use of instruments new to brewing, like thermometers, to control brewing processes. Ultimately, I will show that English brewers rejected most of Combrune’s ideas as “too philosophical,” yet his program was not a complete failure. Some brewers adopted select parts of Combrune’s program, specifically in areas where his methods could be integrated into traditional practices to streamline the production of beer.
