Hops
While malt equates to
the body of the beer, hops are the spirit, the essence of the brew. Hops
play a dual role in brewing beer or ale. They provide the characteristic
bitterness of the brew comfortably offsetting the sweet malty flavor of
the brew. They also provide the unmistakable aroma in a quality beer.
Hops are the
cone-like flowers from Humulus lupulus, a vigorous perennial vine grown in
many places across the globe. There are many varieties of hops, some
subtly different, some major excursions from blandness. From the brewer’s
standpoint they are classified by their concentration of alpha-acids and
oil content. A high alpha hop is used more for imparting bitterness to
the beer whereas the lower alpha-acid containing hop typically contains a
higher concentration of aromatic oils. The lower alpha-acid variety of
hops are added in the later stages of the wort preparation to produce the
characteristic beer aroma. It is not uncommon to find recipes using both
types of hops in the same brew.
Oddly enough,
historically, hop additions to beer and ale came about not for flavor or
aroma’s sake, but for its preservative properties.
The aromatic hop oils
are not very water soluble; the alpha-acids are not extremely soluble
either but more so than the oils. Isomerization occurs at elevated
temperatures in the wort and this helps to increase the solubility of
these components. Because of the low solubility in water, most recipes
call for boiling the wort when adding hops directly. The aromatic hop
oils unfortunately are quite volatile so they have a tendency to boil
off. Therefore, hops for aroma are added at the late stages of the wort
boil to minimize the oil loss.
Yeast
Malt is the body,
hops are the essence, and yeast makes it all possible. Beer making has
been an essential part of cultures even back to the Egyptian pharaohs.
Yet is was only in the 19th century when Louis Pasteur (Uncle Louie in
beer making circles) discovered it was not magic, not God’s will, nor
“spontaneous generation” of microscopic beer animals that produced beer.
It was actually microscopic, naturally occurring airborne plant organisms,
yeasts, that were responsible for the metabolic reactions for transforming
sugars of varying complexity into carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol.
Prior to Uncle
Louie’s input, beer making, as essential as it was to civilization (see
the sidebar Ale and Freedom), was often a hit or miss proposition.
Early Brazilian Indian beer makers would use their own form of “Uncle
Looey” to make their “all-natural” beer. This 17th century engraving shows
what looks remarkably like the loveable Twombly twins I once knew, chewing
on some substance and then hurling or otherwise ungracefully depositing
the chewed ‘whatever’ in the form of a ‘looie’ back into the churning vat
of wort. Whoa! That’s all-natural brewing to the extreme!
I’m reminded of Crazy
Francis, an old heartthrob of mine from yesteryear. One in a million as I
recall, she had such a virgin-clean palette. Crazy Francis refused to
drink anything but Molson Ale and my goodness could she consume Molson
Ale. Even though I was somewhat afraid of her, if I were to brew an
all-organic beer today, without hesitation, if I could find her, I would
let her inoculate my wort.
Yeast for brewing
comes in two distinct styles; top fermenting (ales) and
bottom fermenting
(beers) although it is not uncommon for both activities take place from
the same strain. It is the yeast that determines whether you brew beer or
ale. Bottom fermenters generally do well in colder fermentation
environments whereas top fermenters would slow down and quench the process
below 65F.
The yeast actually
imparts a subtle flavor to the brew. Often you will hear of a fruity,
citrus, or even doughy character ascribed to a brew. These subtle
refinements are brought on by the strain of yeast used. It’s a porous
boundary between civilization and the wild so sometimes wild yeasts
produce distinctive flavors for better or worse as well.
It is worth
experimenting as you get more experience in home brewing with various
strains of yeast. But do stay away from bread yeast and unless you run
into Crazy Francis, refrain from using spit!
Water
A whole volume could
be written about water and beer but unless you are using advanced brewing
techniques like mashing your own malt, water is water, and at least with
malt extract brews, does not make an overwhelming contribution to flavor.
It can be troublesome if the water is exceptionally hard or highly laced
with minerals, for here it will affect the head retention properties of
the brew. It could impart an off taste to the finished brew if the
mineral content is too high. A rule of thumb for extract beers is: “If
the water tastes good, so will the beer.”
Recipes
There’s been a
resurgence of small microbreweries around the world offering a tremendous
selection of brews available. Some good, some bad. Some brews are worth
emulating, others . . . well, I might stay away from just based on the
name.
On the internet you
can find hundreds of beer recipes to try. See the references at the end
for some. Some recipes try to emulate commercial products, for instance
there are a couple that claim to be a fair representation of “Pete’s
Wicked Ale”; one involves mashing your own malt the other uses extract and
dry malt that has already gone through the mashing process for you. Pick
out one and try it.
Experiment, take good
notes, and may your yeast always flocculate well.
Four Weeks Later
In the end, I ran out
of patience after 34 long, thirsty days. With only occasional tapping off
some beer from the carboy dispensers (for quality control purposes I might
add), the time for consummation had come. And the anguish was well worth
it.
Both the kit beer
(Cooper’s Lager) and the medium bodied “grocery store malt” beer were a
delight.
The lager mellowed
substantially over the cool 21-day storage. It clarified nicely, and
produced an aromatic lager style beer with a robust head and a strong
bitterness; perhaps a tad too sharp but very refreshing. It was crisp,
light, and turned out to be a great companion to a pizza.
The “grocery malt”
beer was darker than expected and pleasantly sweeter. It was
heavy-bodied, more so than the lager but smooth, with a nice malty flavor.
It produced a frothy light head and was superb
alongside a steak dinner.
I will definitely
brew from both of these recipes again.
The kit shown in the
picture is one I bought for my next brewing experiment. With a name like
Headcracker Ale, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Then it came in the mail.
“Oh Lordy,” said I, “it looks awful strong.” so I prayed for some
heavenly guidance to brew this one. After opening the box and upon deeper
reflection on the nature of this brew I added to my prayer. . .
“Perhaps Lord, you’ll give me the sense not to even try this!”
The Very End
Everything is in
moderation. You can only cheat the government so much. If you sell home
brew or produce over 200 gallons a year, you may be visited by Elliot Ness
or one of his revenuer grandkids, those barrel-chested fools with heads
that look like inverted pails wearing hideous suits bought from a poorly
lit garage sale in Chicago.
Elliot will arrive
even sooner and a great deal madder if you decide to distill your beer.
And lastly, should you
garner the strength of conviction to attack something like Headcracker
Ale, have fun but please, be responsible.
