Homebrewing

For all the writing, talking, and drinking about the various forms of alcoholic drinks, we spend too little time thinking about how they're made. Knowing the production process for a drink, whether it's wine, beer, or spirits, should inform our understanding and appreciation of it.

With this in mind, I attended a weekend course at UC Davis, California's leading institution devoted to the study and production of drink. I've always wanted to make my own beer, but have been daunted by all the equipment needed - pots, kettles, wort chillers, tubes, false floors, fermenters, and bottles - as well as lacking the space to allow the beautifully stinky aromas of fermenting beer to develop away from the living area. Even if I never get round to making my own beer - and I hope that I do manage it - this was a great opportunity to understand better the various styles of beer I enjoy drinking.

sanitation

we spent the first hour of a sleepy Saturday morning being told the importance of cleanliness and sanitation (two very different things). Unclean or unsanitised equipment will cause your beer to be infected with dirty organisms which will go on to spoil your beer and make it undrinkable. As clearly important as this is, most likely many homebrewers ignore this aspect of beermaking.

grains

hops may currently be the fashionable ingredient when discussing the flavours of beer, but having the chance to smell and taste different grains I found them to be more important. They are, after all, the base ingredient, imparting flavour and colour to the eventual beer. Most grains used are malted barley - barley is the most suitable grain for beer, for it has a husk which means the grain won't get too doughy in the mash (likewise, barley isn't suitable for bread-making because of that husk). There are also "speciality" grains which give distinct aromas to the beer and should only be used in small amounts - for instance, chocolate and peated malts or roasted barley. Dark malts only need to be used in very small quantities to give colour.

the mash

the mash

is when warm water (between 60 and 75°C) is added to the grains to break down the insoluble starches into fermentable sugars. Different temperatures result in different profiles; lower temperatures break down "beta enzymes" for a lower body, while higher temperatures do so with "alpha enzymes" for a fuller body. Playing around with these temperatures, for instance in the "step mash" when you gradually increase the temperature of the water, creates different styles and degrees of complexity.

water

95% of a beer is water; some of the most famous styles of beer have developed due to the nature of the local water. Burton-on-Trent, home of Bass and other darkish ales in the Midlands, has particularly hard water. In contrast, Pilsen, from which light, pale Pilsner comes, has extremely soft water. The homebrewer wishing to replicate renowned styles can alter the water by adding "brewing salts," such as calcium, carbonate, magnesium, sodium, and sulphate.

the wort

is the liquid drained off from the mash, full of grain flavours and that distinctly beery smell. This is then boiled, which is when hops are added.

hops

when I started drinking beer, I could barely have named a hop. This may be because English hops have a low flavour profile, contributing a light bitterness and body to the beer. Hop flavours come from the amino acids present in the plant: a traditional English hop like Fuggles has what is called an Amino Acid (AA) rating of 3.5-5.5%, while a modern North American hop such as Chinook or Citra have levels of well over 10%. Smelling through a series of hops made clear just how much stronger North American hops are compared to their English or German counterparts; Australian (e.g. Galaxy) and New Zealand (Nelson Sauvin) hops take the aroma and bitterness levels another notch higher.

adding hops to the wort

bitterness

is measured by IBUs (International Bitterness Units), one of the few internationally recognised and universally applied forms of measurement. The maximum level of bitterness that a human can discern is 90 IBUs; coincidentally, the physical limit of bitterness is 90 IBUs. Any beer that claims to have more than 90 IBUs is lying, taking advantage of the fashion for high levels of bitterness.

fermentation

the most obvious aspect of making a beer. The wort is put into fermenter vessels, with a small amount of exposure to oxygen to get the fermentation going when yeast is added. The fermenting beer is moved into a bottle or a storage container where the second part of the fermentation continues with a little added sugar and yeast.

yeasts

for a homebrewer, the best way to add yeast is in its liquid form, although some brewers use yeasts they've filched from a local winery or a strain they've taken from their favourite beers which have been bottle conditioned. As with wine, the most important yeast is Saccharomyces while the most dangerous yeast is Brettanomyces; conversely, this is the most significant yeast for the production of sour beers. We were wisely advised to use a separate set of brewing equipment if we wish to make sours.

styles of beer

in the US, there are 23 specific styles of beer allowed by the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program), beyond which 90 sub-categories are recognised for the Great American Beer Festival. To enter a beer into an accredited competition, a homebrewer has to meet the guidelines exactly or face disqualification. Such categories allow homebrewers to replicate famous recipes and stick to tried and tested parameters, but I think doing your own thing and experimenting would be much more satisfying.

metric system

it baffles me that the Americans continue to use measurements like cups, quarts, pounds, gallons, ounces, and Farenheit. I thought I was just the lone European struggling to come terms with these measurements, but the young brewer taking us through the practice of making a beer scratched his head reading the tutor's recipe: "The metric system is just so much easier." A student cautiously agreed, "It does make more sense." Yes, it does.

how many gallons?

This was an intensive overview of the beermaking process, delving into the history of beer, emphasising the importance of cleanliness and good preparation, and investigating the effect ingredients have on the finished product. I now just have to put all that theory into practice.