Beer 101: What is Beer?
Having been pleasantly surprised in the number of people actually keeping tabs on Dierksenkougan through this weblog, I've decided to start a series of tutorials to bring the Brew Crew and its affiliates to a moderate level of intuition on certain things concerning beer that, come brew time, will have to be common knowledge. And since it isn't too far from the truth to say that many Americans can't discern their favorite beer from animal urine, I'll discuss the barest and bonesiest of the basics, right here, right now.
What is beer?
Fundamentally, beer has four ingredients, and according to some beer purists, anything outside of these boundaries is another beverage altogether. To be beer, a beverage must contain malted grain barley, hops, yeast, and water. In fact, one of Germany's oldest laws concerns "pure" beer, and it is strongly enforced today, requiring beverages with additives beyond these four to legally refrain from labeling itself as "Bier" else they experience the fiery fist of the law.
Barley: Malted barley, needless to say, is absolutely essential. It is responsible for providing the malt sugars that in turn break down into alcohol. Additionally, it produces the color and underlying flavor of the beer, among countless other things. Barley, over corn or millet or rice et al., has proven the staple grain in beermaking, though wheat beers have grown extremely popular and rice, whether you knew it or not, is commonplace in cheap American lagers to replace barley, which is rather expensive in comparison.
Keeping in mind that this is an entry level tutorial, what you should know is that freshly picked barley from the stalk is unsuitable in producing beer. The barley must first be malted in a kiln to prepare its guts to be turned into sugar, and then that grain must be sent though a mill to separate the husk from the grain. The kilning is not generally the responsibility of the homebrewer, but the milling is, if you wish to pursue an advanced level of homebrewing that is, as of yet, beyond the scope of Dierksenkougan. More commonly, beginner and intermediate brewers will purchase malt extract, which has been separated from the husk, crushed, and mixed with water into a thick syrup and is ready for secondary heating and, subsequently, brewing. It has also undergone a process of mashing, which prepares and releases the sugars from the grain and makes the mixture sweet and thick--a process that advanced brewers typically perform themselves. This grain, which now more resembles molasses and crude oil, is now ready for another key ingredient.
Hops: Hops certainly have less chemical influence in beer than malt, but they are equally important in dynamics of character.
Malt and hops are said to be the ying and yang of beer's flavor; where malt provides the sweetness, hops provides a balancing amount of bitterness, helping cover the flavor of alcohol in the finished product. Beyond bittering, hops (which are plants distantly related to marijuana that look like small, green pinecones) add spice and adjunct flavors to the beer, depending on which specially produced strain you decide to use. Less importantly, they are responsible for the aroma of the beverage, and more scientifically, act as bacterial inhibitors and natural clarifying agents for the wellbeing of your brew. No, beer cannot be brewed without hops (Timmy), and if what you hate about beer is its nagging bitterness, understand that hops are a necessary component in keeping beer from tasting like maple syrup and dirt.
Yeast: As equally essential as malt on the scientific front, yeast is what makes beer both intoxicating and effervescent. Yeah, alcoholic and carbonated. Yeast, as rudimentarily as possible, uses the malt sugars as food in absense of oxygen, producing, fortunately for us, carbon dioxide and ethanol (alcohol) as a by-product. In the brewing process, yeast is treated like a princess, kept at proper temperature and catered to in every manner. Bad or weak yeast can succomb to an overpowering propegation of wild yeasts or bacteria, effectively rendering your beer undrinkable. Thousands of yeast strains are used in beermaking, and each has been specially crafted over time to best fit certain beer styles, fermentation temperatures, and additive ingredients. For example, you would most certainly use a different yeast strain for a honey lager and an Irish stout, and you would probably use a different strain for an Irish stout and an English porter, though closely related.
Potentially, yeast can be used forever, skimmed off the surface before bottling your first batch and revitalized for a second, and so forth, until you screw up and kill the buggers. Since that idea sounds rather unappealing, I am suggesting that Dierksenkougan use new yeast in every batch and let our little friends rest in peace at the end of each brewing cycle, lest they become overworked and make us a nasty batch of brew.
Water: There would seem to be very little that can be said of beer's last ingredient, but water is phenomenally important to making the perfect brew. While most information regarding water is beyond the scope of the average introductory tutorial, it is essential to know that professional brewers spend thousands of dollars emulating water from different sites around the world, acknowledging that mineral and ion levels in certain water sources contribute to the unique flavors of their respective beers. Levels of chlorine, iron, calcium, and phosphate in water make significant differences in the "brewability" of water, as well as flavor quality and things like head retention (foam) and mouthfeel (physical characteristics like carbonation, thickness, and aftertaste). This is why it is not advisable to brew with distilled water; the natural mineral ions in groundwater promote a healthy atmosphere for living yeast cells. Distilled water, however, contains very little of these precious minerals, hindering growth and often paralyzing the progress of your brew.
There.
I imagine that is enough information for now, but every week or so, for your benefit and my own review, I will update the Brewlog with "Beer 101" tutorials, so that hopefully by September, we will all know the ins and outs of homebrewing enough to understand and appreciate the final product a little bit more. If you made it this far in this post, you're as serious as I am, and it's nice to not be alone...
Your Brewmaster,
Sam Reese
What is beer?
Fundamentally, beer has four ingredients, and according to some beer purists, anything outside of these boundaries is another beverage altogether. To be beer, a beverage must contain malted grain barley, hops, yeast, and water. In fact, one of Germany's oldest laws concerns "pure" beer, and it is strongly enforced today, requiring beverages with additives beyond these four to legally refrain from labeling itself as "Bier" else they experience the fiery fist of the law.
Barley: Malted barley, needless to say, is absolutely essential. It is responsible for providing the malt sugars that in turn break down into alcohol. Additionally, it produces the color and underlying flavor of the beer, among countless other things. Barley, over corn or millet or rice et al., has proven the staple grain in beermaking, though wheat beers have grown extremely popular and rice, whether you knew it or not, is commonplace in cheap American lagers to replace barley, which is rather expensive in comparison.
Keeping in mind that this is an entry level tutorial, what you should know is that freshly picked barley from the stalk is unsuitable in producing beer. The barley must first be malted in a kiln to prepare its guts to be turned into sugar, and then that grain must be sent though a mill to separate the husk from the grain. The kilning is not generally the responsibility of the homebrewer, but the milling is, if you wish to pursue an advanced level of homebrewing that is, as of yet, beyond the scope of Dierksenkougan. More commonly, beginner and intermediate brewers will purchase malt extract, which has been separated from the husk, crushed, and mixed with water into a thick syrup and is ready for secondary heating and, subsequently, brewing. It has also undergone a process of mashing, which prepares and releases the sugars from the grain and makes the mixture sweet and thick--a process that advanced brewers typically perform themselves. This grain, which now more resembles molasses and crude oil, is now ready for another key ingredient.
Hops: Hops certainly have less chemical influence in beer than malt, but they are equally important in dynamics of character.
Malt and hops are said to be the ying and yang of beer's flavor; where malt provides the sweetness, hops provides a balancing amount of bitterness, helping cover the flavor of alcohol in the finished product. Beyond bittering, hops (which are plants distantly related to marijuana that look like small, green pinecones) add spice and adjunct flavors to the beer, depending on which specially produced strain you decide to use. Less importantly, they are responsible for the aroma of the beverage, and more scientifically, act as bacterial inhibitors and natural clarifying agents for the wellbeing of your brew. No, beer cannot be brewed without hops (Timmy), and if what you hate about beer is its nagging bitterness, understand that hops are a necessary component in keeping beer from tasting like maple syrup and dirt.
Yeast: As equally essential as malt on the scientific front, yeast is what makes beer both intoxicating and effervescent. Yeah, alcoholic and carbonated. Yeast, as rudimentarily as possible, uses the malt sugars as food in absense of oxygen, producing, fortunately for us, carbon dioxide and ethanol (alcohol) as a by-product. In the brewing process, yeast is treated like a princess, kept at proper temperature and catered to in every manner. Bad or weak yeast can succomb to an overpowering propegation of wild yeasts or bacteria, effectively rendering your beer undrinkable. Thousands of yeast strains are used in beermaking, and each has been specially crafted over time to best fit certain beer styles, fermentation temperatures, and additive ingredients. For example, you would most certainly use a different yeast strain for a honey lager and an Irish stout, and you would probably use a different strain for an Irish stout and an English porter, though closely related.
Potentially, yeast can be used forever, skimmed off the surface before bottling your first batch and revitalized for a second, and so forth, until you screw up and kill the buggers. Since that idea sounds rather unappealing, I am suggesting that Dierksenkougan use new yeast in every batch and let our little friends rest in peace at the end of each brewing cycle, lest they become overworked and make us a nasty batch of brew.
Water: There would seem to be very little that can be said of beer's last ingredient, but water is phenomenally important to making the perfect brew. While most information regarding water is beyond the scope of the average introductory tutorial, it is essential to know that professional brewers spend thousands of dollars emulating water from different sites around the world, acknowledging that mineral and ion levels in certain water sources contribute to the unique flavors of their respective beers. Levels of chlorine, iron, calcium, and phosphate in water make significant differences in the "brewability" of water, as well as flavor quality and things like head retention (foam) and mouthfeel (physical characteristics like carbonation, thickness, and aftertaste). This is why it is not advisable to brew with distilled water; the natural mineral ions in groundwater promote a healthy atmosphere for living yeast cells. Distilled water, however, contains very little of these precious minerals, hindering growth and often paralyzing the progress of your brew.
There.
I imagine that is enough information for now, but every week or so, for your benefit and my own review, I will update the Brewlog with "Beer 101" tutorials, so that hopefully by September, we will all know the ins and outs of homebrewing enough to understand and appreciate the final product a little bit more. If you made it this far in this post, you're as serious as I am, and it's nice to not be alone...
Your Brewmaster,
Sam Reese
posted by Sam Reese at 6:59 PM
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