Beer Basics |
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Back in those days, all beer was ale, fermented by yeasts that work at temperatures between 59-77F and do their thing at the top of the vessel. (It is for this reason that ale is also frequently referred to as top-fermented beer.)
Lager wasn't discovered until Bavarian brewers seeking to preserve beer in Alpine ice caves found a family of yeasts that grew at cooler temps, ones which preferred a climate of between about 41-48F and worked at the bottom of the fermenter. They liked the crisper, less fruity flavours that resulted and lager was not only born, but quickly grew to become the dominant style of Germanic beer. Of course, all this fermentation stuff was proven empirically. The role played by yeast, which the Bavarians simply referred to as 'Gott ist Gut,' or 'God is good,' and which we now know devours sugars and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, wasn't understood until Louis Pasteur isolated cells under a microscope in the 19th century.
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A Beer is Born
All beer starts from the same raw ingredient: barley malt. This is grain that has been soaked in warm water and allowed to sit until it begins to sprout, then heated and dried so that germination is halted. Although it is possible to make beer from unmalted grain, the malting process facilitates the release of the seed's starch content, which converts to fermentable sugars in the first stage of the brewing process. Back in the day, preparation of the grain was the responsibility of the brewer, but today almost all breweries buy their malt from specialized companies.
In the brewery, the barley is again treated to a bath, in hotter water inside a vessel known as the mash tun. Following several hours of spa time, the starches will be fully converted into fermentable sugars and the resulting sweet water, now known as wort, will be transferred to the brew kettle for boiling. |
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Beer Basics |
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During the 1 to 3 hour boil, hops and, occasionally, other spices are added to the wort for seasoning. Hops were originally added to beer as preservatives, but are now employed primarily for bitterness, aroma and flavour. Added at the start of the boil, hops will yield more bitterness, while when they are tossed in towards the end, their greatest gift is aroma.
After the wort cools, it's time for | |
fermentation. There are dozens of unique hops, imparting various flavors and aromas. Additionally, the yeast that the brewer employs also has a major impact on the taste of the finished beer. Yeast from the ale family for example, will give the beer rounder body and some degree of fruitiness, while lager yeasts tend to ferment to crisper, more straight-forward tasting brews. Even within these families, different yeasts will produce sometimes |
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