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Beer Brewing - the basic ingrediants
When learning how to brew beer, you'll find there are essentially 4 main ingredients, water, hops, fermentable sugars (usually malted barley) and yeast. For hundreds of years in Germany before the addition of yeast, the Reinheitsgebot (purity law) decreed that only the first 3 ingredients were to be used. Malted Grain. Although usually barley, wheat and sometimes rye can be used. The grain is allowed to germinate and then it is dried in a kiln, and sometimes roasted. This process creates sugar and soluble starches, necessary for the creation of the beer. The amount of drying and roasting will have an impact on the color and flavor of the final product. Hops. The hops flower is from a type of climbing vine which is a relative of cannabis. Its main role in the brewing process is to contribute to the aroma and add bitterness to counteract the sweetness of the malted grain. Hops are also a natural preservative (essential to the beer making process in the years before refrigeration) that assists in head retention. Hops also provides an antibiotic effect that favors the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms. Yeast This is a microorganism classified as fungi. Basically, they consume the liquid mix of steeped grains and produce CO2 and alcohol as a by product. There are 2 types of yeasts: ales (top-fermenting) and lagers (bottom-fermenting). Ale yeasts ferment at warmer temperatures between 15-24deg C (60-75°F) and form a foam on the surface of the fermenting beer. Lager yeasts ferment at around 10dg C (50 deg F) and tend to collect around the bottom of the fermenter.
Ever since Louis Pasteur's discovery of the yeast microorganism, it is almost always added as a specific yeast culture. You can actually wait around for airborne or "wild" yeasts to find their way into your brew (as happens in traditional "Lambic" brewing), but you may also allow the introduction of other undesire-ables. Water, Obviously the purer the better. It is recommended that water be boiled before it is used in any brewing process. Hard water, which is water high in dissolved minerals and salts is better for producing ales, whilst lagers are more suited to soft water. Remember that learning how to brew beer is not always an exact science. Thus, the softness or hardness of water will not necessarily stop you from brewing any particular style of beer. |
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