The Malt Of Beer

The Malt Of Beer

We tend to think of "malt" as a thing. Of course there is the candy malt and there is the old fashioned "malted" that was the stable of 1950s "malt shops" which in our mind is more like a modern day milk shake.

But when it comes to beer, just about anyone, even people who are not involved in home brewing can list the ingredients as hops, malt, and grains. So as part of our quest to become more familiar with all of the aspects of beer making, it’s a good idea to explore more deeply what exactly the malt in beer is all about.

When you hear the word "malt" in regards to the brewing of beer, the reference is actually to malted barley. Malt is the outcome of the process of malting which starts with pure barley grain, the same grain you might use to make muffins or barley soup. That is a good way to ground the concept of malting to something very familiar.

But even then the term "malted barley" is not specific enough. Malting gets right to the heart of how beer is made because the core ingredient of beer are what results when the sugars from malted barley are fermented. Those sugars are scientifically named maltose, hence malt. So the malt used to make beer is the outcome of fermenting the sugars from malted barley whereas the candy or desert form of malt are those sugars themselves, unfermented. That makes good trivia for the new home brewers club meeting. But what makes brewers malt so useful in beers is that there are a wide variety of types of maltose sugars that result from the fermentation. And each of these can be brewed into a very unique beer.

How malt is produced can make for even more interesting trivia. And it gives you insight into how the malts you use in your home brewing come to be. The process of malting barley begins with jump starting the germination process that is nature's way of preparing the barley plants to grow from seeds into sprouts. The barley is soaked and then they are drained fairly soon so the seeds will be stimulated to begin to germinate. The part of the germination process that is interesting to brewers happens when certain enzymes are released by germination. These enzymes are powerful chemicals that convert the stored sugars and starches in the seeds which become food to power the germination and growth of the plant. But it is those enzymes that the brewer is looking to capture.

The entire objective of malting is to activate those enzymes in the seeds and release them so the brewer can capture them for the brewing process. So as soon as the germination process starts, the grain is quickly dried so the enzymes are captured in that raw state to be processed into malted barley. Once the brewer has the malted barley in the condition we just went through, that malt is saturated in hot water. This stimulates and activates the enzymes and puts them to work again. Under the controlled conditions of the brewing process, the enzymes do their job of converting the starches in the barley to sugars. And as those sugars go directly from conversion to be boiled with hops and then combined into fermented yeast, the result is this little thing we call -- beer.

Now this is all good information but most of us who are making beer at the amateur level. For our purposes, malt extract that is sold by your home brewing supplier is a great way to have all of that skilled preparation at your disposal without you having to do all the work. By buying the malt in extract form, it is ready to go into your boiling water and join the home brewing process in full swing. As you add the malt, those enzymes will kick in and the chemical reactions needed to create great tasting beer will be well underway.
Maybe there will come a time when you will get more involved in the more complicated procedures of brewing or at least visit a brewery where the malting process is underway. But since our love of home brewing is about learning all we can about how beer is made by making it ourselves, getting a feel or the malting process is both educational and fascinating as well.

The Heart Of Great Hops

The Heart Of Great Hops

There is no denying that a great beer has a unique flavor that is unlike any other beverage in the world. That artful blend of bitterness and the rich grain flavors can give you a beer that is bold and stout or one that is mellow and smooth. And while every component of the brewing process contributes important things to that unique flavor,

the hops can make a huge impact on the outcome of your beer. That is why it's good to understand the role hops plays in the brewing process and how you can control the taste of your home brewed beer by controlling the hops.

Hops are a natural ingredient that is actually a flower of the hop vine. One reason that hops give you so much flexibility as an amateur beer maker is that the varieties and origin of hops is very diverse. So you can find different hops to experiment with until you find one that gives you the perfect flavor for your beer.

How hops affect your beer is different depending on where the hops came from and how you use them. Some hops can introduce bitterness to your beer which is not a bad thing if it is part of the overall flavor. That "dry" flavor that many really enjoy in a good beer can came from the bitterness of the right kind of hops. But hops also give beer its deep rich aroma that is a flavor treat all by itself. So it's good to research which of these flavors the hops you are buying will add to your beer and to keep some records so you know which hops work best for you.

Now when you go to the brewing supply stores in town or order from the internet, you can buy hops unprocessed and prepare them for brewing yourself. But usually when you are starting out, its easier to buy them pressed and packaged into pellets in the right measure to add to your brewing process at the right time. You don’t need a lot of hops to make a five gallon batch of beer flavorful and rich. About two ounces per batch is plenty.

So be careful you don’t buy too much. For one thing, as a perishable item, unused hops could go bad before you get them used up. But also you may wish to buy very small quantities of hops so you can experiment with different ones to find the flavor you want.

Besides the origin and type of hops you buy, the way you use hops during the brewing cycle has the greatest effect on the changes to the flavor of your beer. Hops used to bitter a beer are usually added during the boiling process very early in the beer preparation cycle. This ensures that the boiling will take out any aroma from those hops and leave only the bittering effect that you want.

Hops used for the flavor and aroma aspect can be added later in the boiling cycle or during fermentation. The later in the brewing process that aroma hops are introduced, the more the beer that is the outcome of brewing will have that strong hop flavor. To get a beer with the strongest flavor of hops, add dried hops late in the fermentation process and none of the original flavor will be taken out of the final beverage. But this can be a very strong beer so be advised.

Hops give you a lot of ways to experiment with the home brewing process to get new and interesting flavors. And the continuous growth and development of your home brewing skills and finding new ways to make your beers flavorful and rich is one of the things that makes home brewing so satisfying. And hops can be a big part of that fun.

History Of Micro Brews

History Of Micro Brews

Many historians believe that the ancient Sumerians and Mesopotamians were brewing as early back as 10,000 B.C.

Even though this product would have been different from the bottles varieties of today, it would have still been recognizable.

The ancient Egyptians and the Chinese brewed their beer, as did civilizations in America, where they used corn instead of barley. Back then, thousands of years ago, micro brews were very popular and on their way to what we now know and love today. In the middle ages, European monks were the guardians of literature and science, as well as the art of making beer.

They refined the process to perfection, and even institutionalized the use of hops as both flavoring and a preservative. It wasn't however, until Louis Pasteur came along that a final, important development was determined. Until this time, brewers had to depend on the wild yet airborne yeast for fermentation. By establishing that yeast is actually a living organism, he opened the gates for controlling the conversion of sugar into alcohol. Grapes grow well in warmer climates, while barley grows better in cool climates.

This is how the northern areas of Germany and England first became famous for their beers. Beer in America Everything in America went dim until the dark day of 1920, when prohibition took effect. A lot of breweries went out of business or switched their production to soda pop.

Not everyone stopped drinking, but gangster related products weren't known for high quality. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, he quickly appealed the very unpopular law. The new breeds of now famous beer came after World War 2 were generally mass produced and very bland.

Beer Ingredients

Ingredients In Beer

The primary ingredients found in beer are water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. Generally there are other ingredients like flavoring, sugar, and other ingredients that are normally used. Starches are used also, as they convert during the mashing process to easily ferment sugars which will help to increase the alcohol content of beer while adding body and flavor.

Water -  Seeing that how beer is mainly made of water, the source of water and its components have a really significant effect on the character of the beer. A lot of beer variations were determined by the characteristics of water in the region. However the effect of minerals in brewing, water is complex, hard water is more suitable for dark styles, while soft water is more suitable for light styles.

Malt - Amongst malts, barley is the most commonly used due to its high amylase content, and a digestive enzyme that helps the breakdown of starch into sugars. Based upon on whatever can be cultivated locally, other sorts of malts and unmalted grains can be used, like wheat, rice, oats, and rye. Malt is attained by soaking grain in water, letting it to germinate, and then drying the germinated grain in a kiln. By just malting the grain, enzymes will ultimately convert the starches in the grain into fermentable sugars.

Hops- Ever since the seventeenth century, hops were normally used as a bittering agent in beer. Hops help to add a bitterness which will balance the sweetness of the malts. They also bring aromas which vary from citrus to herbal. Hops also supply an antibiotic effect that favors the actions of brewer's yeast over the less desired microorganisms. The bitterness in beer is generally measured on the International Bitterness Units scale.

Yeast -  is a microorganism which is responsible for fermentation. Certain strains of yeast are picked based on the kind of beer made, because the two primary strains are ale yeast and lager yeast, using other variations available too. Yeast assists to metabolize the sugars that are extracted from the grains, and makes alcohol and carbon dioxide as a end result. Well before the functions of yeast were known, all fermentation was done using wild or airborne yeasts.

Clarifying agent - A whole lot of beer brewers choose to add more than one clarifying agents to beer that aren't requested to be used as ingredients. Examples include Isinglass finings, which are attained from swim bladders of fish and Irish moss, that is a type of red alga. Considering these ingredients can be attained from animals, people who are concerned with either the use or ingestion of animal products should obtain detailed information from the brewer.