ExtractAleDemo

About Beer

You didn't realize when you signed up for this demo that you were embarking on a journey that started thousands of years ago and has been a critical part of shaping the world we now live in. Few hobbies are steeped in more tradition and wonder than home fermentation. I won't do it justice here but the internet is wide and deep with stories of beer. Just have a look for yourself. Only starting around prohibition did beer become a bad word and just in the last handful of decades has beer become what is referred to as "fizzy yellow beer" by many craft brewers. You are now taking the first step towards the high art of crafting beer and you are doing so at a very exciting time in beers history.

Malt

Sugar is the name of the game. Our fermented beverages all rely on dissolving sugar into water and waiting for yeasts to convert the sugars to alcohol. Malting is a complex process so just remember that the whole point of it is to get the starch (potential sugar) from the grain into our wort (sugary water that ferments to beer). Other common sugars used in beer are dextrose, lactose, maple syrup, honey, table sugar, raisins...

Entire libraries could be filled on malt alone but here is the 2s tour. Cereal grains are little batteries so when the seed germinates it has energy to grow a root and leaves which then become the grasses energy factory. Energy in the grain is mainly stored as carbohydrates which is converted to sugars by enzymes produced by the seed at germination. Malting is a process developed by humans to take advantage of this. Malting consists of wetting the grain and allowing it to germinate. At the critical moment the seed is killed to prevent further development - this moment is when the enzymes have been produced but none of the potential energy has been converted. Today the grain is generally dried in a kiln and may be toasted to a varying degree to make different types of malt.

The "first" step (after growing, threshing, malting, and milling) of beer making is the mash. The malted grain (generally referred to as just malt) is added to warm water which activates the enzymes and converts the carbohydrates in the grain to sugar which dissolves into the mash water. The resulting liquor is the basis of beer - a sweet water.

Malt can be loosely grouped into base malts and specialty malts. Base malts provide most of the sugar for the beer and include common types like american 2-row pale malt, maris otter, or pilsner malt. This is a very small subset of the available base malts. Specialty malts are used to adjust the beers color, flavor, head retention, or give it extra body. They come in many styles.

Hops

Like malts, hops can fill volumes. The most important bit for the homebrewer is the alpha acid content because that tells you how bitter your beer will be. Hops are also broken into bittering hops and flavor hops (noble) but that just tells you what they are typically used for. Any hop can be used for bittering or flavoring.

American brewers are especially noted for continually pushing the limits of how hoppy a beer can be. Hops serve many roles in beer tho there was a time when hops were not used at all. Hops started dominating when their antiseptic properties were discovered and utilized to preserve beer longer. Hops are also used to provide bittering to balance the malty sweetness and to provide flavor and aroma to the beer. The current premier style of american brewers is the IPA which is heavily hopped from start to finish to provide bitterness, hop flavor, and a heavy hop aroma to the beer.

Hop properties vary mainly with their region of origin. American hops tend to be citrusy, piney, and very bitter. English hops tend to be woody or earthy. German hops tend to be noble varieties. There is a lot of overlap and new cultivars are constantly becoming available. Again the internet is your friend when learning about hops because I am no expert.

Yeast

Yeast has been the least understood component of beer from the beginning (they didn't even know yeast existed back then). There are a great number of yeast strains available which are prized for their properties from ester production to dusty flocculation. Its best to start simple but do experiment in the wonderful world of yeast. Without them you'd just be drinking sweet, bitter, horrible tasting water.

Water

Water chemistry determines a great deal about your beer. Hard water, soft water, various minerals... Some people put a lot of effort in trying to reproduce classic water profiles. Luckily Durham has excellent brewing water and most likely your home water is fine. Some people buy distilled or spring water but I've always used tap. Ideally you would let it outgas for a day or two to eliminate the chlorine.

Our Brew Day

GenericAle pretty well hashes out what we will be doing. I have purchased a True Brew homebrew amber ale kit and we will make it pretty true to the instructions. These kits are designed to be inoffensive and uninteresting. In many ways they reflect what food and drink has become around the world. Set your sights low and make something acceptable for the masses. I don't mean to dig on True Brew. I cut my teeth on their kits and made passable beer when I would have otherwise made garbage. I just mean to say that you should expect beer kits to make descent beer.

The kit is made up of liquid malt extract (molasses consistency) and dry malt extract (confectionery sugar consistency), some hops, and extra bits needed for bottling. To add a bit of body, color and flavor we will also include some crystal malt. Crystal malt comes in every shape and form and is only one of the specialty malts available to you. There is only so much you can do with malt extract alone and will turn to specialty malts for variety. Be sure to have your grain milled at the brewshop when you buy it and don't let it sit around for more than a couple weeks cracked.

Resources

The subtle nuisances of beer could fill 10 internets but here I strive for simplicity. The interwebs are alight with unimaginable information about beer. From very technical chemical processes, to history, to modern techniques. Spend some time researching and reading. Millions of people publish all of human's knowledge for your benefit. Here's just a couple bits to get you started.

My beer stuff

• GenericAle - Process for a generic extract ale. This isn't a recipe, just a guide to the general process.
• Minimalists Guide - a bit more detailed
• my brewing notes

Online Tools

As you gain more experience and learn more about how recipes are formulated you will find tools like these helpful. There a myriad calculators and brewing tools out there. All are good enough; look for tools tailored to how you work.

• IBU Calculator - measure of bitterness in the beer
• Hydrometer Temperature Compensation - should be measured at 59F
• ABV Calculator - Measure your alcohol content

Basic Equipment

You could spend any amount of money and buy/make any number of crazy contraptions but when you first start out you don't need any of that stuff. Its hard to cut through the jargon but try to stick to the basics. You probably have most of the things you need in your kitchen. Here's what I recommend you have for your first beer.

• 2-5gal stock pot, whisk or metal stirring utensil
• Two 5-7.5gal food grade bucket with tight sealing lid (local restaurants go thru tons - go ask for one)
  • One to ferment in, one to transfer the finished beer to for bottling
• Interlock that fits into the bucket lid
• 5' Racking tube - get from the homebrew shop
• Capper
• 22oz non-twist off bottles (12oz are fine too but you have to clean less bottles with 22oz)

How Clean is clean?

Here I will refer to things that have been sanitized as clean, I don't mean that your house isn't clean just not sterile so wild fungi are covering everything.

Homebrew doesn't require you to be that clean but the cleaner the better. Many things are in your favor such as the huge volume of your yeast, acidic wort and alcohol production - this tends to minimize the badies that can spoil your beer. Let's be clear, you will have wild yeasts and molds floating around in your beer no matter how meticulous you are. They will have minimal impact as long as you follow the general guidelines we have been developing for thousands of years.

• Sanitize everything
  • hot soapy water is sufficient, no need for antibacterial soap (no need for it at home for anything)
    • Dish soap contains tons of surfactants and will minimize head retention in your beer
  • Commercial cleaners are a good idea
    • Starsan is de facto standard
• Don't touch clean things to unclean things. If you put your [cleaned] stirring spoon down on the [not cleaned] stove you have now contaminated the spoon.
• Keep your equipment clean - wash it as soon as you are done with it and store it dry, that makes sanitizing the next time a breeze.

Ale v. Lager

These are usually considered the two main types of beer. Each is broken down into countless subcategories and the boundaries of those categories is often blurry. Like most things beer exists on a continuum but it helps to try and fit them into specific categories. A pilsner is not a porter, but a porter and a stout are pretty similar. Apollo's labels are always trying to reign in Dionysus' art.

Ale

Warmer temperature, top fermenting yeasts. Fruity, esters, flavorful

Ale is generally easier to make at home because most yeast strains work well at room temperature. Yeast strains vary greatly and many people will tell you that 1F matters but it really doesn't. Hotter than 80F is too hot, colder than 50F is too cold; the sweet spot is between 60-70F.

Lager

Colder temperature, bottom fermenting yeasts. Clean, crisp

Local Brewers and Clubs

This area has a ton of breweries, probably not going to list them all out here. Start paying attention to any local brewer and you will find hundreds more. Those listed below are on twitter, facebook, and/or have their own sites. The beer scene in this area is alive and well.

• Top Fermented
• Hop Wild
• Durham: TRUB Club
• Carrboro: OC Hoppers
• Raleigh: Carboy

Local Homebrew Shops

• Durham Brewmaster
• Raleigh Brewmaster^?
• Carrboro Fifth Season

Environmental

A few obvious things to further reduce the impact of your homebrew. That you are homebrewing is already saving a lot of fuel by reducing the amount of water being shipped all over the world (beer being mostly water). Still the grain, hops, and other supplies at the brew shop have to come from somewhere.

GMO

Many malt producers seem to use GMO-free grain but keep an eye out if GMO isn't your thing.

Spent Grain

• Bread - Jimmy's Recipe
• Compost
  • Splash a little yeast on the grain to prevent it from souring and upsetting neighbors
• Grow Mushrooms - probably more work than its worth for the casual brewer

Reuse Water

If you use a hose fed wort chiller try to collect the "waste" water and reuse it the next time your brew. You're looking at 5-15gal easily, no sense sending all that potable water down the drain.

-- ChristopherPepe - 09 Feb 2010