If you are a beer enthusiast, brewing beer at home must be something that piques your interest. It combines passion and creativity with your love of this tasty beverage. With time, you can craft a beer that will suit your taste preferences perfectly. So, let’s dive into the world of beer brewing and see what you need to create it on your own.
Ingredients
When you decide that you want to start brewing beer, you’re gonna need many things, but the first essential is ingredients. If you’re an avid beer enjoyer, you’re probably familiar with some of these, but we are gonna go through the ingredients and see what purpose they have and how to use them to create your favourite beverage.
Malt
What is malt in beer? The beer malt is a grain specially grown for brewing beer. It provides the sugar that is essential in the process of brewing, and during fermentation that sugar turns into alcohol and creates carbonation. But, that’s not the only reason why malt is used. It can also add flavour to the beer, as well as aromas. So, for example, aromas like toast, almonds, and coffee among others are generated by malts. During the process, the malt is infused with hot water and the juice that results from this is used to brew beer.
There are many different types of beer malt, and depending on the type of your choose, you’re going to get different flavours and aromas. So, let’s look at some of the types:
- Barley – this one is the preferred one among brewers. The malted barley has less protein and the bark is easier to use, which enables the beer to be filtered naturally. It’s used for lagers as well as IPAs and pale ales.
- Rye – this one has a strong character and it gives beers a grain-like flavour with spicy notes.
- Wheat – this malt is mostly used to create wheat beer and it can be used in large quantities. Unfortunately, wheat malt doesn’t have bark, so it’s paired with other malted grain types like barley for better filtration.
- Smoked – it’s used in smoked ales and lagers, and the aim is to create a pleasant smoky taste.
- Roasted – roasted malts are often used to give beer coffee, chocolate, or black fruit aromas and they are cooked at high temperatures.
When it comes to choosing the right malt for your beer, and it’s your first time brewing, stick to some basic recipes of beer to get the flavour right, because some malts need precision and experience. After you’ve gained some experience, you can start experimenting with different malts to get different aromas and flavours.
Yeast
It’s the most important element of the brewing process because yeast is what converts sugar to alcohol, but it also contributes to the flavour and the aromas. Nowadays there are many yeast choices you can pick from, but there are two forms in which yeast comes: dry and liquid. More strains are available in liquid form, but dry yeast has a longer shelf-life and it’s easier to use. The choice depends on you and your personal preferences.
Hops
Hops are what makes beer beer, and they are the essence of beer brewing. They provide the aroma and the bitterness, and help the beer stay fresh for a long time. They are divided into two types: bittering and aroma. The bittering ones have higher alpha acids whereas aroma hops tend to have more essential oils.
Water
Last but not least, water. Pure, clean water is essential because it makes up more than 85% of your beer, so the better the quality of the water, the better the beer. The mineral content and the pH of the water affect the beer’s flavour, so pick water with great quality to make sure that your beer tastes amazing.
Equipment
Brewing at home can be a lot easier if you have the right gear to ease the process and ensure that your beer will be done in the right way. One of the tools needed is the brew kettle. The kettle is used to boil wort during the process and it’s recommended to have a high-quality tool because the heat can damage it and cause corrosion. Another important tool is the fermenter, which is a vessel with an airlock. It’s where the sugar made from beer malt turns into alcohol.
Brewing Process
After you’ve equipped yourself, the fun begins. The brewing process is where the magic happens. But, there are important things you need to remember before this process:
- It’s necessary to sanitise the equipment because the last thing you want is your beer to be ruined because you didn’t want to sanitise.
- Mashing refers to the process where the enzymes in the grain convert starches into sugars which are later turned into alcohol.
- Then the wort is brought to a boil and the hops are added to it, to get the flavour, bitterness and aroma.
- Then the cooled wort is transferred to the fermenter and we add yeast to start the fermentation. This phase can last several days.
Bottling
When the fermentation phase is over, it’s time to bottle the beer. Just like before, don’t forget to sanitise the bottles by running them through a hot wash in the dishwasher. It’s a relatively simple process, compared to its alternative, kegging, and it makes beer easier to transport and share among your friends. You can use commercial beer bottles or you can buy new ones from a local homebrew store, but make sure that when you get the bottles they are designed to take the pressure of carbonated drinks.
Homebrewing can be an enjoyable hobby that will not only keep you occupied but it will also make you happy since you’ll be producing your own beer. How exciting is that? So, now that you know what you need, gather the ingredients, fire up the kettle, and then in a while enjoy a beer crafted entirely by your own hands.
