Barley, Water, Hops, and Yeast - Part 4

"God is good!"  they exclaimed after tasting the beer, obviously a gift from above.  A few simple ingredients, a few weeks and Hokus Pokus, something amazing.  The water wasn't safe to drink, but this beverage was both safe, tasty, and nutritious.  Like liquid bread.  It made you feel good too!  Praise be to (name your favorite deity)!

Some will say the discovery of beer is a key element in the transition of the human race from hunter-gatherers to a more agrarian lifestyle.  This led to cities, and opportunity for education and learning, etc.  A monumental shift in the human civilization, and it is all because of the discovery of this wonderful substance we call beer.

How did it begin?  No one is quite sure, but it is believed to have been accidentally discovered.  It could have gone something like this.

A Story

Some 10,000 year ago an unknown ancient Sumerian forgot to bring his basket full of barley into the hut (tent, cave, hole in the ground?) one evening after another long day of travel.  It happened to storm that night.  Imagine his mood the next day while having to carry this now very heavy and water soaked package during the journeys of that day.  He probably had a hard time keeping up with everyone else, and I bet they made fun of him due to his lack of conscientiousness the previous evening.  Doesn't everyone know the importance of keeping the grain dry?

On and on they walked that day, and he became most thankful the next stop that evening was a scheduled three day stay.  He pushed through the day, knowing if he worked hard, he'd have time to relax upon arrival.  Later that night when they finally arrived, sore and tired, he was eager to drop the load off his back.  He immediately went in the hut/tent/cave, laid down and was fast asleep.

More rain ensued that night.  The next few days were uneventful, until the day of departure.  That morning, everyone was bustling around and gathered their cargo for the next journey.  Our friend too, went to gather his bundle of grain to find it setting in the basket, which was by now also full of water.  What is that lovely smell?  This water seems different.  Ever curious (and a bit thirsty) our hero decided to drink up.  "It's amazing!  Hey Maris, check this out," he exclaimed and called to his friend.  Soon the entire camp was gathered around this basket, full of this mysterious concoction.  It caused quite a stir.  What magic has happened in your basket?  We must stay here longer and more closely examine the evidence.

Yeast

Of course today, we know the source of that magic.  It is a single celled living organism known as yeast.  Or should we say billions of single cell organism.

Active Fermentation, the yeast krausen at the top.

There are a lot of yeast strains which have been cultivated and used for certain types of beer over the years.  Many breweries will have their own house yeast and will take care to preserve and keep it healthy.  Each type will impart a different set of flavors.  The yeast alone can have a huge impact on the flavor of beer.

We are fortunate today to have access to many various strains of yeast, including historic strains from all over the globe, through companies like Wyeast and White Labs.  With a little effort and know how, yeast from certain bottle conditioned beers can be cultivated and then used for brewing the next batch of beer.

For beer, there are two main types of yeast used.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae - Ale yeast, or "top fermenting"
Saccharomyces Pastorianus - Lager yeast, or "bottom fermenting"

The ale yeast will perform best at higher temperatures, between 60-74 degrees, and the lager yeast works best at temperatures in the 40-55 degree range.

Cultivated yeast, settled in hibernation at the bottom of the jar.

The possibilities and combinations of ingredients in beer really are quite endless.  I've only scratched on the surface here with yeast, but if I go on any longer, I risk you losing interest.  There are a lot of resources out there, including books specifically about yeast.  What is important here is the variety available to brewers and the fact that such a small thing has an enormous impact on beer.  In fact, without the yeast, there is no beer.

Yeast is good.  Yeast is good indeed.

Relevant Links:
Part 1, Barley

Part 2, Water

Part 3: Hops

Barley, Water, Hops, and Yeast - Part 3

We are talking about the 4 basic ingredients to beer, of course.  We first focused on Barley, followed by Water, and today we'll talk a bit about Hops.  Humulus Lupulus.

What makes beer bitter?  Yep, it's the hops.  Why is bitterness important in beer?  Balance.  Are there other reasons for the hops in the beer?  Two immediately come to mind.  Hops act as a preservative to the beer, giving it a longer shelf life.  They also can impart flavor and aroma, adding yet another layer to the vast diversity in beer.

Photographer: Dr. Hagen Graebne

We used a musical analogy with barley, stating that various types and combination of malted barley can act like chords in music.  It can be the same way with hops.  There are many variations in hops.  And many of these variations will act differently in beer depending on the length of time they are in the boil upon initial brewing.  In short, the longer the hops are in the boil, the more of the bittering acids in the hops will be imparted to the beer.  Hops added at the end of the boil will add mostly aroma, and during the middle of the boil (20-30 minutes) will add considerably to the flavor of the beer.  Some beers will have hops added during fermentation, imparting aroma to the beer.  This practice is referred to as dry hopping.

In brewing you will hear terms like Bittering Hops, Aroma Hops and Flavoring Hops.  While some varieties are better at one or another, many hops can be used for two or even all three of the categories.

The flavors in hops range from piney, to citrus, to earthy, and every combination between.  The diagram below I found online, but it is a chart that is found in the book "Brewing Classic Styles" by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer.  It shows the variations in flavor in numerous type of hops.

There is much to learn and if you are interested in a biology lesson, you are in the wrong blog.

Most craft beers will have two of more hop varieties, and will have them added at different times throughout the boil.  The possibilities are almost endless.  For best results, consult recipe guides or books, of simply do some research.  Most hop varieties have the traditional styles that they in which they are commonly used.  If trying to brew to style, don't get overwhelmed, simply find the several traditional hops used in that style.

Now that we spoke about barley, water and hops, we can create a wonderful substance called wort.  Now to convert the wort into beer, two things remain.  Yeast and time.  We'll talk about yeast in Part 4.

Relevant Links:
Part 1, Barley
Part 2, Water

Barley, Water, Hops, and Yeast - Part 2

About 70% of the earth is covered in it*.  60-70% of our bodies consist of it**.  It is 90% or more of beer***.  What is this ubiquitous stuff?  Water.

No big surprise perhaps.  We are water based life forms and live on a water based planet.  We expect things to have water in them.  H2O.  All water is the same, so what is the big deal.  Or is it?

Yes, in its purist form water is two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen.  Yet we rarely find it in the purest form.  Water coming from the ground has minerals in it.  The tap water, with mineral presence has yet additional items in it to help keep it safe to drink, such as chlorine.  Spring water, while clean and clear, is still often filtered and contains minerals.  If you want pure H20, get a gallon of distilled water.

When it comes to making beer, water can be very important.   Historical styles of beer taste the way the do, in large part because of the water chemistry in the region in which they were brewed.  For some styles it will be important to mimic the water of that region of the world.  John Palmer, in his book "How To Brew" talks about water in Chapter 4.  Let's look at an excerpt from "Taste of Water".

Water is very important to beer. After all, beer is mostly water. Some waters are famous for brewing: the soft water of Pilsen, the hard water of Burton, Midlands, and pure Rocky Mtn. spring water. Each of these waters contributed to the production of a unique tasting beer. But what about your water? Can it make a good beer? When using malt extract, the answer is almost always "Yes". If you are brewing with grain, the answer can vary from "Sometimes" to "Absolutely".

The reason for the difference between the brewing methods is that the minerals in the water can affect the starch conversion of the mash, but once the sugars have been produced, the affect of water chemistry on the flavor of the beer is greatly reduced. When brewing with malt extract, if the water tastes good to begin with, the beer should taste good.

This part of his book is focusing on brewing with Extract, but I find great solace in the fact that as long as the water tasted good, it will make good beer.

Remember, brewing can be as simple or as complicated as you wish.  I know some people who start with distilled water and add various minerals to it, in an effort to precisely create water as found in certain areas of the world.  Me?  If I can run the tap water through a carbon filter, I've found it turns out well.  In many instances I will add some Gypsum to it.  This will help mimic the harder water of Burton on Trent, famous for the British ales.

Most of the time, I find myself purchasing gallons of spring water.  Note that distilled is not a good choice, as the minerals are good for the mash.

I don't wish to get any deeper in this.  For one reason, I don't know too much more.  There are so many details to get involved in with the brewing process.  Water and water chemistry are just not ones I've chosen to dive into (at least not yet).  Keep it simple.  Get filtered or spring water for brewing.

And happy brewing.  But wait!  We need to talk about hops next.  Stay tuned for Part 3.  While you wait, check out Part 1 (Barley) if you missed it or simply to read again.

Notes:
* http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html
** http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/06/human-body-water/
*** I had a hard time finding a definitive answer on this, but sources I've found report more than 95%, and even up to 97%.  It will naturally vary depending on the style and percent of alcohol present.

Barley, Water, Hops, and Yeast - Part 1

The four ingredients in beer.... at least in the most true form (and according to the Germans), but not necessarily the Belgians, yet the English for the most part.  Uh, and not for the "big beer" in America, who have for economic reasons added the corn and other adjuncts to beer.  And speaking of adjuncts, wheat is commonly found it beer, along with other grains, fruits, spices, sugars, etc. on occasion.  But whatever!  In today's world, there aren't necessarily any rules (The Reinheitsgebot notwithstanding), yet many many many fine beers can be made and are made with these four ingredients.

Sound boring?  Wait until you realize the varieties of these four (yes including water).

First, lets talk about Barley.  What gives beer the alcohol content is the consumption of sugars by yeast.  And the sugars come from the barley.  The kernels (seeds) of the barley go through the malting process, allowing them to initially germinate.  After awhile that process is halted by heat through a process called kilning, leaving behind barley kernels full of complex starches.  The result of this process leaves us with Malted Barley.

Not all malted barley is the same.  The area of the world in which it is grown makes a difference.  The way that it it kilned makes an even larger difference.  Hotter and longer exposure to the heat will impart color and different flavors to it.  From lightly kilned, to moderately (with a wide range of color selection, each resulting in different flavor qualities) to almost burning the grains, and sometimes roasting them, there is a wide variety of resultant types of malt.

Of course, most beers will be created with multiple types of grain, offering even more possibilities.  Think of brewing beer as a song.  There are only 8 notes in the scale, plus the flat and sharp notes (black keys), and then all of the additional octaves.  A standard piano has 88 keys.  Yet different combinations of keys can be played in the form of chords.  Different chords can be played in various progressions, with a difference in speed (tempo), loudness (dynamics), etc., giving the world a plethora of songs and musical styles.

Back to beer!  Generally a beer recipe will start with a Base Grain, one which is usually lightly kilned and will serve as the backbone to the grain build of the recipe.  From there, some of the more Specialty Grains will be added.  Here is where a lot of character can be imparted, be it through Crystal Malts, which will impart caramel style flavors, or Amber malts, or even un-malted Roasted Barley.  It can be as complicated or as simple as you want, and both the complicated and simple recipes can make wonderful beer.  (I particularly like to keep it simple.)

This will give us what we call the Grain Bill for the particular beer.  Next in the process is to take these malted grains and convert the complex starches into the more simple sugars that the yeast can eat.  This process is called Mashing, and is done by adding warm water to the grains for a period of time.  There are multiple ways to accomplish this and the temperature of the water will also affect the outcome of the sugar conversion, offering yet additional variables to the final outcome of the beer.  For now, let's stick with converting the starches to sugars.  This sugary grainy watery soup is called the wort (pronounced wert).

We can't get the wort without the addition of water...  Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will talk about water.