Introduction to Beer

Ingredients Malt Water Hops Yeast chocolate ≠ chocolate, traditionally.

Malt Sprouted then toasted grain 500 shades of toasting Used malt can be recycled for bread, livestock feed, compost Provides the food for the yeast Influences taste, color, OG, etc.

Municipal tap, filtered, Water Water quality affects taste! Municipal tap, filtered, spring, distilled, bottled, artesian, river, etc. Water is the main ingredient in beer! Sweet, refreshing water.

Hop Flowers Add scent, flavor, bitterness, anti-biotic properties (preservative) Wet-hopped vs. dry hopped. Lots of hops = very bitter beer. Lower amounts = sweeter, maltier beer. Added during second boil

Yeast Brewer’s = nutritional yeast Brewer’s ≠ bread yeast Wild vs. cultured Eats sugars (from the malt) & releases alcohol & CO2 Influences flavor, carbonation, and ABV Brewer’s yeast “is inactivated yeast that has been grown on a nutrient rich medium for the purpose of producing a flavorful powder that is used to add a "cheese" like flavor to vegan foods.   It is not at all related to baking yeast that one uses for bread baking. Nutritional Yeast is dry, powdery and flaky.”

Beer Trivia! Which ancient civlization invented beer? What was the Reinheitsgebot? How many microbreweries in CO? Pueblo? Difference between micro- and macrobreweries? What is the study or practice of fermentation, brewing, winemaking, distilling? Beer Trivia!

Brewing! The Simple Way: Malt + water  boil it (mash it) to make wort (not wart!) then Sparge it! While you’re waiting for the watched pot to boil, sanitize your equipment. Drink beer. First boil = temperature varies by recipe; mash it in a mash tun; you end up with a sweet water called wort. Sometimes you add additional water during this boil or during sparging, which is called liquor. You then discard grain. “Liquor is the brewer's word for water used in the brewing process, as included in the mash or, used to sparge the grains after mashing.” MonsterMashTun?

Brewing! The Simple Way: Wort + hops  boil it. Reduce by a few gallons. Then cool it quickly! While you’re waiting for the watched pot to boil, sanitize your equipment. Drink beer. Wet hopped, dry hopped, fresh hopped, pellets. Why do we want to cool it quickly?

Brewing! The Simple Way: Put it into a carboy (fermenter) and pitch the yeast! Store in a cool dry place. In 3-6 weeks, bottle or keg the beer! Sanitize! Sanitize! Sanitize your equipment. Beer stays in the carboy for a few weeks, depending on the recipe. Then you bottle or keg the beer for second fermentation for a few weeks, sometimes adding additional sugars at that point to feed the yeast and raise the ABV.

Brewing! First boil, sparge, wort, sweet water, liquor, discard grain.

Second Boil, cool quickly, bottling/kegging for first fermentation (primary, only)

Two main branches of the beer tree Ales: Lagers: bottom fermenting = Sinks to the bottom Ferments at warmer temps ~60°-75°F Shorter production time Saccharomyces uvarum Saccharomyces carlsbergensis Top fermenting yeast = Rises to the top Ferments at cooler temps ~45°-60°F Longer production time Saccharomyces cerevisiae Why do you think that MACRObreweries make more ales? Because they are faster to ferment and more forgiving of variations in temperature. Lagers take longer and are more sensitive to temperature fluctuations.

Examples of Beer Styles Ales: Lagers: Porter Stout ESB IPA APA Pale Ale Golden Ale Brown Ale Red Ale Amber Ale Belgian Ale Pilsner Dortmunder Bock Dunkel Schwartzbier Märzen Black Lager Imperial pint brown ale vs. ein Maß pilsner. Ales + Lagers can be either pale or dark, hoppy or malty, your favorite or your least favorite.

Other beer-like fermentables: Lambics: Meads:

Malt Liquor = A legal term used in the U. S Malt Liquor = A legal term used in the U.S. to designate a fermented beverage of relatively high alcohol content (7%-8% by volume).

A few of my favorite things:

http://guides.library.colostate-pueblo.edu/beer