Do you want to learn how to make beer? I bet it’s easy, inexpensive and most important of all fun. Ever since the popularity of home brewing got bigger, more and more have started beer brewing as a hobby. With a wide variety of high quality ingredients available, you can brew thousands of styles that will impress your friends and taste good. It’s not an expensive ordeal and should cost a small amount depending on your level of interest. Several beer making kits range from $60 to $200 and are unique.
Beer making is as easy as cooking, provided you know how to cook. Different ingredients and techniques are used for different recipes. Let’s now look at some of the basics of home brewing in order to get a feel of how beer is made.
To start with, yeast, hops, malt and water are primarily used in the making of beer. Amongst all, water is the most available ingredient in any style of beer. Instead of using plain tap water, I recommend filtered water for a better outcome. It makes an impact on the taste of beer. If you are planning to use distilled water, forget it. Why? Because you cant find oxygen content.
You must soak malted barley in water until it sprouts and has to be dried. This procedure results in the development of necessary Sugars and Soluble Starches that add fermentation. To continue, the malt has to undergo a process called mashing which extracts the starches and sugars from the grain. You can consider following this self-explained procedure, provided you are experienced in home brewing. If you are a novice and looking to start home brewing, you can find malted barley in market in the form of a product known as malt extract.
Know hops? It’s a green flower that grows on a vine and is similar to a pine cone. They are known to perform several roles in the beer making procedure. Taste and Aroma are the most notable features they impact on a beer. Not all sugars ferment which will cause the malt to make beer taste sweet. Use of Hops will balance the sweetness by adding considerable bitterness. They also add a distinctive aroma to the finished beer.
Yeast is one of the most key ingredients as stated above. It is a living organism that feeds off sugars in the malt. They convert sugars into alcohol in a process known as fermentation. Did you know that there are several strains of yeasts? Even in the air we breathe! In order to get the best results, especially cultured beer yeast is utilized that imparts taste and mouth feel qualities.
I’ve written enough. Let’s now summarize the whole process in short. Initially hops, malt and water are boiled for a short period of time. This combination is known as Wort, pronounced as Wert. Coming back to the topic, Wort is allowed to cool down by using a fermenter. After it cools down, the prepared yeast is poured into the fermenter and an airlock is inserted over the opening. Yeast will multiply innumerable times as it consumes the sugars in the brew. After some time, normally within 7 to 10 days, the Yeast will go through the whole process, consumed all it can and shall fall to the bottom of the fermenter. At last, beer is bottled and kept in storage for a couple of weeks to carbonate and mature.
What are you waiting for? Follow what has been stated above and start brewing today.
