The Brewer's Art

The brewing process is deceptively simple and straight forward. Beer generally has four simple ingredients: Water, Cereal Grains, Yeast and Hops. Subtle differences in each ingredient, as well as the timing of the brewing process can result in wide variations in flavor.

Water is the easiest and least complex ingredient. Despite the claims of certain brewers it generally adds little to the beer. Whether it is the “Artesian” water used in Olympia Beer, or the Rocky Mountain Spring Water used in Coors. The simple fact is that most beers today use sterilized and filtered water. Certain styles of beer use mineral additives to soften the water and change the profile of the beer. The beers Burton on Trent are often noted for their soft-water tang. These are the exception and not the rule.

Cereal grains are the “guts” of the beer. Aside from being the source of the fermentable sugar the grains impart color, body, head retention and taste. The grain of choice is two-row barley but just about any grain imaginable can and is used, as are syrups and various sugars. Most craft brews use only barley. Most of the Major Brewers use some barley, but also corn, rice, and processed extracts and sugars. These non-barley grains and syrups are called “adjuncts”. To talk about each type of grain and what it contributes to a brew is however way too complicated for most people. I will give you a link at the end of the article where you explore each such ingredient in great detail. For the rest of the article we will talk exclusively about “All- Malt” brews.

What is all this talk about “Malts” and “Malted Barley?” Barley, while fermentable without malting is too starchy. You can brew with it but the resulting brew will taste “grainy” and will contain lots of un-fermentable starch. To convert the starch into something fermentable you need to malt it. The dried grain is steeped in water to induce germination and then kilned to convert the starches into sugars and other soluble substances. The majority of malt used in beer is kilned to a light color, and if used alone will result in a paler beer.

Now, a word or two about beers “color.” As mentioned above a beer gets its color from the malt. The “grain bill” or the amount and proportions of grain used in a beer is typically composed of a base of pale malted barley with other styles of malt added to give the beer a deeper color and impart some flavoring.. The amount of toasting the malted barley receives increases the darkness of the malt and consequently of the beer. Colors ranging from light amber, through chestnut brown to nearly black (think Guinness.) I am sure you have heard this old saw “Oh I don’t like dark beers they are too heavy.” People see dark; they assume “Heavy.” In fact the color and the “body” of a brew are not related. Guinness “Pub Draught” in the can or bottle is lighter in body (and carbohydrates) than most of the pale yellow, fizzy beers that the major brewers sell. A small portion of dark roasted malt gives Guinness (http://www.guinness.com ) its distinctive dark color, and imparts a roasted coffee taste as well. Interestingly the dark roasted malt is largely un-fermentable so it adds little beyond color and taste. The “heft” found in some beers come from the amount of grain used and not it’s color. In fact the darker the grain the less fermentable material it retains. As counterpoints consider Belgian Trippel Ales such as Duvel (http://www.duvel.be) which despite the pale color is a relatively hefty beer in terms of the amount grains used.

Hops? Specifically, Humulus Lupulus are the flowering cones of a perennial vine. Hops are a member of the hemp family and thus a cousin of the cannabis plant (sorry no THC in this stuff). Hops typically thrive in climates similar to the ones that grapes do. Hop plants are dioecious, meaning the males and females flower on separate plants -- and the female cones are used in the brewing process. Hops are a natural preservative and were first used to ward-off spoilage. They also impart a pleasant dryness or bitterness to beer to balance out the sweet malts. Ever so versatile they also lend a hand in head retention, help to clear the beer (acting as a natural filter) and add a pleasant aroma.

There are many varieties of hops, each with unique characteristics. Some are used for bittering and others for their aroma. The “Noble Hops” of which Jim Koch. brewer of Sam Adams ( http://www.samadams.com ), speaks are the hops originally used in German and Czech Beers. The Noble Hops include three main cultivars, the Saaz variety for bittering, the Tettang variety for aroma and the Hallertau variety for a little of both. In American craft brews Oregon and California grown hops play a major role. The Cascade variety imparts a herbal aroma and a citrus bitterness to beers and is a key ingredient in many West Coast Craft beers such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (http://www.sierra-nevada.com ).

The fourth ingredient in beer is the catalyst of the brewing process…(cue the grey haired monotone guy in a lab coat …) “Yeast. Yeast is a single-celled microorganisms that reproduces by budding. It is biologically classified as fungi and is responsible for converting fermentable sugars into alcohol and other byproducts. There are literally hundreds of varieties and strains of yeast. In the past, there were two types of beer yeast: ale yeast (the "top-fermenting" type, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and lager yeast (the "bottom-fermenting" type, Saccharomyces uvarum, formerly known as Saccharomyces carlsbergensis). Today, as a result of recent reclassification of Saccharomyces species, both ale and lager yeast strains are considered to be members of S. cerevisiae. (Cue shaggy haired surfer) “Whoa too much information dude.”

For now just know this: The variety of yeast used effects the beers flavor greatly. If you care to experiment just compare a German unfiltered wheat beer, such as Weihenstephaner Hefeweisbeer where the yeast is among the predominant flavors to a filtered Wheat Beer such as WeihenstephanerKrystall. http://www.brauerei-weihenstephan.de. Gee, Beer Dude why did you just spend all that time writing about malted barley and wrap up your discussion with a wheat beer? Sit down, or I won’t give you any homework…and that means no beer for you.

All the beers mentioned in this article (along with at least 580 other varieties) are available at the Spirits Unlimited on Newman Springs Road in Red Bank My main sources for this Article were Michael Jackson’s The New World Guide to Beer (http://www.beerhunter.com/) and the Beer 101 Section of Beer Advocate.com (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/101/)