These words have been uttered by many a salesperson selling beer starter kits. This is
somewhat true. When you brew beer, when starting out, the emphasis is clean and sanitized equipment which are two the most important factors that are stressed. These are extremely important when brewing beer. Fortunately as a home brewer you are not trying to make the exact same beer every time you brew. You are trying to make a beer you can enjoy and share with your friends.
How technical is brewing beer? It is easier to say what is not technical rather than what is technical. Every phase of brewing is science into itself. As you learn more about beer making and all the different variables you really start to understand how difficult it can be to brew the same beer again and again and they all taste the same.
From choosing the grains and grinding them to pitching the correct amount of yeast and even the hops have different effects on the beer. Take the different methods of making the wort. When making the mash the type of water, the temperature of the mash and time you allow it to rest all have an effect on taste, clarity and color of beer. When making mash you use time and temperature to break down the various starches and carbohydrates to form simple sugars. Depending on the type of beer the alcohol content these will all be controlled in part by how much of the starches and carbohydrates are broken down in the mash.
When you do decoction method you are boiling the grist, grains in the mash, and then adding them back into the balance of the mash to rase its temperature. This does a couple of things. This is old school brewing and will give you control of temperature and color. By boiling the grist it will darken and clarify the liquid or liquor that you are making to form the wort. By rising the temperature to set points you allow the enzymes to break the different starches and carbs down to simple sugars. You can even have a protein rest which will break down proteins to simple sugars.
Obviously by breaking more of the grist into simple sugars the more food the yeast have to change from wort to beer. Now the yeast which are major players and usually the least understood and studied by home brewers. Yeast not only change the sugars present in wort to alcohol but in the first 72 hours they impart flavor, aroma and a variety of other characteristics to the wort. The mount of yeast you pitch will in some ways determine the flavors and intensity that is imparted by yeast.
When pitching the yeast, temperature, the amount of sugars available in the wort, the PH of the wort, even the amount of yeast and how strong it is all are important factors when brewing beer. The temperature of fermentation has to be monitored and carefully controlled because at the beginning of fermentation the yeast give off heat and too much heat will kill the yeast. The temperature at the beginning of the fermentation is different than at the end by as much as 8-10 degrees or more depending the style and type of beer.
As the yeast finish their fermenting of the wort there needs are different. Keeping them in a cooler state at the beginning allows them to work and multiply quickly with little strain on their systems. The lower temperature also affects how easily and the quantity of flavors it imparts in the beer. At the end of the fermentation the yeast start to absorb some of the chemicals that are not wanted back into their cells and this is best done at a higher temperature.
These are simplistic explanations of the processes of making of wort and fermentation.. There are other ways to achieve the same or close to the same results. If you are brewing variety of beers to enjoy and repeating the same beer over and over again are not something you are planning to do than many of these variables can be ignored. You can brew with extract and forget about the different decoction methods or some of the other more technical ways and just follow the recipe and you will get good or great tasting beer.
If you are looking to make the same beer over and over again and want it to taste the same every time you will need to control more of the variables. If you want to clone beers that some of the major breweries make you need to get a bit more technical.So as you start to get involved it gives you a greater appreciation for what the big breweries have to contend with. They are also making lager beers which is a whole new set of variables and the margin for error is harder to mask, in other words the mistakes are easier tasted.
Obviously if all of these variables were told to the potential home brewer many would have never gotten involved in brewing. But by allowing the home brewer to choose what he values and how deep he wants to get involved this is a hobby for many.
Boiling Wort
In our attempt to brew the best beer possible the Brewbarons are getting ready to progress to the all grain method. This is what the brewers of the micro-brewery and the big breweries do. It is cost prohibitive to continue to use extract when for a bit more time and energy the all grain process is available.
For people not sure what the difference is, the extract method is the manufacturer of the extract makes wort then basically cooks it down till it is a syrup. The homebrewer takes the wort and then boils water and adds the extract to the water to make his wort. After the boils the brewer will add more water till he gets to his 5 gallon mark.
In all grain method the home brewer gets the grains, splits them and then gets the grains to start to germinate. This allows the part of the grain that has the starch and carbohydrates to be broken down into the sugars the yeast need. The homebrewer then after a prescribed time rinses the grains and takes the liquid and transfers it to the brew pot were he or she boils the liquid, now called wort, and add any hops or sugar to the boil.
Some would say why not stay with extract because it is easier. An important reason is that you have control over a few more of the variables in making beer. When making the mash you have to calculate the time the mash sits and at what temperature. You control the amount of sugar that will be used by the east. Various mash temperatures, rest times, target specific types of carbohydrates and starches into breaking down into simple sugars that yeast can use.
The biggest reason is taste. Obviously if we wanted a good beer it can be bought and drank. Sometimes the journey is almost as fun as the vacation. I said almost, sharing a good beer is still one of simple pleasures and if you make the beer it does not get much better than that.
The all grain process will be time intensive with rest times and the boiling of the sparge water, water to rinse the mash, along with the cooking of the wort but we hope to be rewarded with a smooth and more intensely flavored beer. We have seen a steady progression of better beer as we have progressed. Can we continue to get better with the extract brewing. Yes we can but only if we were going to continue to extract brew because of time or other constraints. Their is nothing wrong with extract brewing as some of the best beers I have had were from extract kits. It is time to make the move.
The first couple of all grain sessions will most likely take longer than expected. This will be due to using new equipment, a complete different process and just not having all the steps worked out. The brew schedule for the all grain process is being worked on and discussed. At this time we are in the learning phase so we will not experiment with the recipes but once we get the process down we will begin the process. If you have suggestions for possible beers you would like us to brew leave your input in the comment box.
Time to sit back and enjoy a Home brew!!
When you start this hobby everyone tells you that if you can boil water you can brew beer. Well I have boiled water and it is nothing like brewing beer. Probably if they would have told me about the sanitation of everything in site, the different temperatures that you need to ferment the wort at, or the importance of yeast I may not have ever started.
Looking back I am glad I started with blinders and that first batch was a Scottish 80 Shilling beer which was the Scottish’s answer to English extra bitter beer. It had very little head but it tasted good.
Now that I have read 3 books, and counting, on brewing and countless magazine articles and even resorted to You Tube to learn about brewing it has been worth it. But my education is not complete. YEAST
Probably one of the most important aspects of brewing and the least understood. Only certain yeast strains can produce beer. The yeast basically take the simple sugars in the wort and convert them into liquid food. They produce alcohol that helps add bite to the beer and they help in the formulation of flavor and aroma.
Face it if beer had no alcohol it would be just another drink. But the amazing yeast do a variety of chores and have the most input into the taste and aroma of beer. The yeast in the first 72 hours of fermenting impact the beer by producing flavor and aroma. They also start to produce CO2 and alcohol.
When we first started we used the yeast out of the box and pitched it when we lowered the temperature of the wort to the range that yeast could live and multiply in. The beers we made were excellent and we moved on without much thought to our little friends.
As time went by I read a article about yeast starters for the heavier beers. By using a yeast starter you increase the number of yeast cells by 4-6 times. The yeast cells are healthy and strong and ready for their one mission in life, to make beer!
How important is Yeast? Take two batches of wort and use two different yeast and you will end up with two completely different beers, even though you started with the same ingredients.
The more you learn the more you realize that controlling all the variables of brewing is not easy. I have a better appreciation for the big boys. No matter what beer you drink, Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Sam Addams or what ever every beer tastes the same.
When you open a can of Bud Lite you know what to expect every time no matter where you buy it from. How hard is that? Extremely!! You need to control the temperature of many things from the grain while in the mash tun to the temperature of the fermenting beer. Temperature is key in almost all of the process’s. It’s critical in the beginning when breaking the grains down to make the wort. You need to control the boil because a vigorous boils versus a rolling boil will change how the complex sugars are broken down for the yeast to use. You need to control the temperatures in the fermentors.
If you have large fermentors like the big boys they need to watch the temperatures at the various levels of the fermentor. Another byproduct of yeast is heat. The yeast are very good insulators and in a large fermentor their can be a 6-10 degree difference from the middle to the edge.
What I have started to explain is that brewing beer is fun. It is a practical chemistry experiment and if you pass the test you get to enjoy the test by drinking it. I have just pointed out some of the large variables. Their are more that I will address in future posts.
Passing the Chemistry Test!!
The more I learn and realize that our first batches where like
We are starting use temperature to control the yeast as they work better in certain ranges. We are learning how to re-use the yeast and control that variable. So the next time you pop open a can or a bottle of beer or watch your favorite beer poured from a tap tip your hat to the brewmaster for getting it right every time. In upcoming posts I will expand on the different variables and will continue with the history of beer. Thanks and have a Homebrew.
