The famous German Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law) of 1516 was neither
meant to protect the integrity of the product, nor was it designed as a
health measure, although the health aspect is valid. Most importantly the
law can not insure that all brewers have skill, flair, and sensitivity,
but in no corner of the world has so much good beer been brewed which routinely
tastes as clean and malty as those that do follow the Reinheitsgebot.
Although not all countries follow this law, it does provide the basis for
the brewing of beer.
BARLEY forms the basis or the malt. Other grains such as wheat and rice
are often used, and each grain alters the flavor of the beer.
YEAST: A brewer's yeast is now a carefully cultured and guarded ingredient
which causes the fermentation, - the yeast absorbing the carbohydrates and
sugars, producing the by-product, alcohol. Certain strains of yeast act
on the bottom of the mixture, while others act on the top of the mixture.
HOPS were initially used as a preservative and flavoring for beer. However,
they produce a certain bitterness, - often a desired quality.
WATER, with its natural minerals is also a vital element furthering the
flavor of a beer. As the say, "It's the water," be it from the
Alpine streams, fresh wells, or elsewhere.
BEER is a generic term for all malt beverages of which there are essentially
three basic types: top fermented, bottom fermented, and wheat beer. Top
fermented beers include Düsseldorfer Alt, Trappiste (primarily from
the Belgian abbeys), Steam Beer, Kölsch (from Cologne, Germany), and
ale. Bottom fermented beers (LAGER Beer) include most Munich, Vienna and
Dortmunder beers as well as Pilsners, and Bockbier. The third type is Wheat
Beer, a top fermented beer in its own, unique category.
WHEAT BEER uses a mixture of wheat and barley in the malt, with the south
German Weizenbier using as much as 60% to 70% wheat. Additionally,
the most popular and flavorful wheat beers are unfiltered, producing a cloudy
appearance due to the yeast remaining in the bottle. Wheat beer is now available
in three versions: clear, cloudy and dark.
*The material in this section was basically excerpted from Michael Jackson's
The World Guide to Beer, Exeter Books, New York, 1984.
by Charles Hiigel
Trying to apply words to express a flavor is chancy at best, and usually
relies on imagined comparisons with other flavors, and presumes that the
person you're talking to knows what you mean. Brewers have a greater vocabulary
than the rest of us for communicating with each other, but for consumers,
beer descriptors have not developed as far as those of wine.
It is best to begin by categorizing the beer in terms of color (which we
can all relate to); alcohol strength (which may be hard to identify as a
flavor, but you know it's there); and balance, which compares the malt emphasis
with the hop bitterness. The last categorization involves character deriving
from the yeast and fermentation, and will often involve a comment as to
the beer's fruiti ness (which is silly in beer with no fruit, but you know
what I mean, right?)
In the absence of good descriptions, we can quantify what we can't always
describe.
Alcohol Strength
This is first roughed in by a measure of the Original Gravity ("O.G."),
which gives us the proportion of fermentable sugars to water in the wort
before fermentation. If water is 1.000, then a common O.G. might be 1.050,
which would presumably give you a potential 5% to convert to alcohol. The
Germans use a scale measured in degrees, with a normal strength beer about
12 degrees, with numbers as high as 28 degrees on EKU's famous beer.
Alcohol strength expressed as a percentage must also indicate whether it
is a percentage of the beer's weight or volume, since the latter will give
a higher number. For instance, a 3.2 beer is 4% by volume. The level at
which the government no longer allows you to call it beer (thus the bizarre
term "malt liquor") is 4% by weight, or 5% by volume. In this
guide, all beers are listed by volume. On this scale, a 6% beer is noticeably
different, and a 7% beer is plainly strong, 8% is very powerful, and 9%
puts you in the after dinner sipping beer range.
Malt Varieties and Beer Color
All beers are made primarily from pale malt. In the case of microbrewers
and European brewers, the preference is for malt made from two-row
barley. Roasted malts are added in much smaller amounts to provide color
and roasted flavor. Special malts like "carapils" are often used
to provide a higher level of unfermentable sugars. The darkest malts are
called "chocolate" and "black" malt. Unmalted barley
is also available as an additive for smoothness and head retention.
All these malts are given a rating on the "Lovibond" scale, which
allows a brewer to target a specific overall color rating when selecting
his grains. Thus ten pounds of 40L malt would have the same impact on the
beer's color as 40 pounds of 10L malt. Lovibond ratings range from 2 for
the lightest American beers, up to the 40s for stouts.
Hops and International Bitterness Units
All hop varieties are rated for bitterness by a measurement primarily of
their alpha acids and secondarily of beta acids (which have only one ninth
the bittering effect). Knowing this rating, and multiplying by the number
of ounces of hops added, allows the brewer to target the desired bitterness
in the beer. Hops added at the beginning of the boil have the most complete
utilization of their bitterness, while hops added later must be adjusted
accordingly in bittering calculations by the brewer.
A standardized calculation has resulted in I.B.U.s being used more and more
often as a description of a beer's hop intensity. Negligibly hopped beers
might rate at 5 or less, while India Pale Ales and Barleywines can exceed
a rating of 50 I.B.U.s.
by Charles Hiigel
The possibilities for variety in beer seem endless when you think about
the many changes that must take place in converting barley, water and hops
into a fermentable liquid. Fermentation is the conversion of sugars to alcohol
and CO2, and extracting a sugary liquid from barley, which is neither liquid
nor sweet, is the fundamental goal of the brewing process. But the decisions
that each brewer makes along the way, and then in the fermentation process
itself, result in a wonderful array of beer varieties.
Malting
The first change is in the inside of the grain as it is converted from barley
to malt. A week long steeping of the grains starts a germination, and the
starches inside are made soluble. The grains are kiln-dried, stopping germination.
At this time, the maltster may use an extended roasting at higher temperatures
to achieve a variety of malt colorings. The choice of barley types and region
where they were grown, the amount of modification of the grain during germination,
the moisture content of the grain at the time of roasting, and the amount
of roasting, are all variations that the brewer will take into account in
selecting the amount and proportions of malt varieties for his brew. The
beer's color will be the most obvious result of these decisions, but also
the amount of unfermentable sugars extracted in the mash, and the beer's
body and head retention are affected.
Mashing
The heart of the action at the brewery takes place in the mash tun where
the malt, after being precisely cracked into grist in the mill, is brought
into contact with warm water, and the enzymes in the malt convert the starches
into sugar. The mineral balance of the water may be manipulated to assist
the starch conversions and emulate the water of famous brewing cities in
Europe. The temperature of the mash is carefully controlled, and the brewer
may hold the mash at a sequence of temperature settings during the one and
a half to two hour process. As the new sweet liquid, called "wort"
is drained off, fresh water rinses the last stubborn sugars from the spent
grains, and adjusts the specific gravity of the liquid to the desired level.
In this decision, the brewer begins to determine the alcohol strength of
the finished beer.
Brewing
The wort is transferred to the brewkettle, and is brought to a full rolling
boil, again for one and a half to two hours. Here the wort is stabilized,
proteins coagulate and drop out, any bacteria is killed, and most importantly,
the brewers favorite choices are made: which hops to add, how much, and
when. The resins in the cone of the hop flower give the brewer the bitterness
necessary to balance the sweetness of the malt, act as a natural preservative,
provide a wonderful floral aroma, and the hops may even serve as a filter
when the wort is run off out of the kettle. There are many different varieties
of hop, some best known for their bitterness, and others for their aromatic
contributions. The former are added at the beginning of the boil, and the
latter at the end. Intermediate additions of hops may be used to add character.
Each hop has its own personality and can often be identified in the finished
beer. The amount of hop bitterness imparted will be the determining factor
in the beer's "balance."
Fermenting
The brewer now has a fermentable liquid with the desired color, potential
strength, and malt/hop balance. All that remains is to ferment it. As you
might guess, many more decisions will be made.
Whether the beer will be an ale or a lager will be determined by the choice
of yeast strain used, the temperature during primary fermentation and aging,
and the duration of the aging. Ale fermentation is the old method, using
a top-fermenting yeast, which acts best at easily available cellar or cave
temperatures, and finishes in as few as two weeks. "Lager," the
German word for "to store," gained popularity with the advent
of modern microbiology and modern refrigeration, since it employs a bottom
fermenting yeast, and must be kept at very low temperatures for four to
twelve weeks. Bottomfermentation may result in a cleaner, crisper beer character,
topfermenting yeasts will be more likely to remain a part of the finished
beer's character, and enhance the beer's fruitiness and complexity.
Packaging & Serving
The beer is now finished, but even in the packaging, more decisions such
as filtration, pasteurization, and additional fermentation and aging in
the keg or bottle will be made.
The last decisions are left to the drinker. Which beer variety will match
the mood and situation. What serving temperature suits the beer, how much
C02 will be released in raising a foam during pouring, and what glass will
best enhance the beer's color and aroma?
It would be impossible to sample every permutation of beer variation. But
one can't help thinking it would be fun to try!