A few months ago, I was searching for the perfect Christmas present for my brother and stumbled upon a deal for a beer brewing kit. My brother loves beer and, being something of a hippie, I thought that he might enjoy brewing his own. Being a discerning consumer, I set off to research different kits, the tools of the trade, and subsequently read quite a bit about the brewing process. In the end, I settled on and purchased a kit for my brother.
And then I bought one for myself.
Brewing beer is basically like a big chemistry experiment (or you can think of it as cooking if you’re scared of science) in which you end up with beer. I can’t believe I had never considered this as a hobby – I love science, cooking and beer – it is shockingly up my alley.
Before I started reading up on it, I knew that beer was made from grain, hops, water and yeast, but nothing of how it was done. For anybody that has wondered about brewing beer, I’ll outline the basics of what goes into creating a simple beer.
Basic Ingredients:
Malted Barley
1) Sugar – In the case of beer, this is primarily sugar from malted (germinated and then dried to halt it from actually growing into a plant) barley. The barley is crushed, and then steeped in hot water to remove the sugars for use. Alternately, homebrewers often purchase malt extract, which comes as a powder or thick syrup, also made by crushing and steeping grains in hot water.
The amount of sugar determines sweetness and alcohol content, although these factors are also impacted by adding sugar from other sources (say corn or rye), which may or may not be metabolized to different degrees by the yeast later.
Hops on the vine
2) Hops – Hops are flower buds that grow on vines. They do two general things to the taste of beer: First, they provide the bitterness that offsets the sweetness of the alcohol and sugar in beer, giving it its characteristic flavor. Second, they provide a flowery or citrusy taste and smell, which is commonly referred to in beer as being hoppy (very appropriate). They also have magical powers that ward off some infectious bacteria, etc, etc, but that’s really beside the point of this post.
Yeast. Yum!
3) Yeast – There are a bajillion strains of yeast, but we are only concerned here with a few of them. Brewer’s yeast is added to the hop and sugar mixture (called wort) and it ferments it into beer. Different strains are responsible for different tastes. Some yeasts are ‘cleaner’ tasting, some convert more (or less) sugar into alcohol, some even contribute specific flavors (e.g. ‘I get notes of apple’) to the finished beer.
Brewing Basics:
In a big pot, a water and sugar solution is heated to a boil. Hops are added and boiled in the solution for different amounts of time. Hops that are added early and boiled longer add a bitter taste to the beer. Hops added later and boiled less will impart the hoppy flavor with less or no bitterness, and hops boiled very shortly, or added when the heat is turned off, will add a hoppy smell. (Heat breaks down oils in the hops, so the length of time they are boiled makes a big difference in the tastes that they impart).
The final step, in this simple brew, is adding yeast. Once the wort has been boiled (usually for an hour), it is cooled, and poured into a bucket or other container, and yeast is added. The vessel is closed off such that carbon dioxide can escape but oxygen cannot enter, and left alone for a couple weeks to ferment.
Done! Sorta…
You have beer! Well, maybe. Depending on your recipe, you might need to let it sit for longer, or you might want to add other flavors like fruit or wood or more aroma hops, and you still have to bottle or keg it, as well as carbonate it, and, of course, cool it down before you drink it.
Overall, it can get pretty involved, but it can also be made simpler by starting out with an ingredient kit. A kit will contain all of the ingredients necessary to brew, and will have specific step-by-step instructions on how to do what, and for how long to do so.
DIYthehellnot 