Cicerone - Beer Ingredients

- Starch: Will be converted into sugars that the yeast will ferment

- Enzymes: Has plenty of enzymes that will convert those starches in the grain merely by the addition of hotel water. Proteins assist in the chemical reaction conversion

- Husks: Barley husk material makes for a great filter bed during mashing. Without them, the mash bed will be a gluey mass (i.e. stuck mash)

- Dextrins & proteins: Other compounds give beer body and the ability to form a good head

- Has larger kernels that contain more carbohydrates and provide a fuller, maltier flavor

- Some of the more famous varietals include Britain's Maris Otter and Halcyon, America's Klages, Czech's Hana (and Moravian?)

- Native to North America

- Produces a grainier flavor. Contains more proteins and enzymes and can be used in a mash to convert more starchy adjuncts (i.e. corn, rice) that don't have their own enzymes than is possible for 2-Row

1) After harvesting, the barley is dried to ≈16% water content

2) When it's time for malting, the dried barley is soaked until it's ≈46% water by weight

3) The germination process begins, enzymes are activated which break down cell walls releasing the starches

4) The moist malt is then laid out for several days and allowed to sprout. When the acrospire grows to the length of the kernel, the malt is "fully modified"

5) The "green malt" is then kilned, stewed or roasted to the color desired by the maltster. This halts the germination process, dries the malt and adds color by producing melanoidins (via Maillard reactions)

- Applying heat to the malt while providing ventilation to all the malt to dry out. Adjustment options include time, temperature and ventilation. Depending on how those factors are adjusted, the malt will either remain extremely pale or will gain color and flavor via Maillard process

- All of the common base malts are kilned but there are specialty malts that are kilned, as well

- Kilned at ≈150ºF in an extremely moist environment, which results in stewing. The enzymes in the malt are activated and convert the starches in the kernel into fermentable sugars. Although some un-fermentable sugars will be created that will contribute to the beer's sweetness

- Crystal/caramelized malt is stewed

- Roasted malts are put in a drum or barrel roast and heated to create lots of dark color and roasty flavor

- Roasted malts range from chocolate malt on the low end to roasted barley on the high end. They range from 200-650L, although essentially they're all black

- The primary malt used in the recipe. These are kilned and contain all the necessary enzymes for converting the remaining starches during the mash

- Pilsner malt: the palest base malt (1.5-2L). Used to make pale lagers and other Euro beers

- Pale malt: Usually ≈2L. Typically used for ales and is the most common base malt

- Maris Otter: British varietal used for most British ales. Similar to Pale malt but has a richer malt profile

- Vienna malt: German base malt. Typically ≈4L. Usually used to make gold to orange-amber beers like Vienna Lager

- Munich malt: Another German base malt. The darkest base malt, will make a deep amber beer that's sweet & mellow, caramelly and has hints of toast (i.e. Oktoberfest). Similar to Vienna but darker, 7-10L, but can be up to 20L

- Can be light to deeply colored. May or may not have any enzymes left depending on how they were prepared during the malting process. Typically used in small quantities, in addition to base malt, to add flavor and color and body to the beer

- Aromatic (10-20L), Like a darker Munich. Low levels of enzymes but can self-convert. Slightly sweet, toasty, smooth, intensely malty. Although finishes somewhat dry

- Melanoidin (20-35L), Almost the same thing as Aromatic but produced by different company

- Victory (30L), Provides increased color and a toasted flavor sometimes described as "warm"

- Biscuit (20L), Very lightly roasted malt. Provides a slightly burned, dry, biscuit-like flavor. No enzymes

- Brown malt (60-70L), Rarely produced. Roasted. Mostly seen in traditional British styles. Dry, biscuit-like. No enzymes

- Pale chocolate (200-250L), Less intense than chocolate malt. Mild, soft chocolate/coffee flavor

- On the lower end, these malts tend to be caramel, nutty, biscuity and toasty and give the beer an amber color. At the high end, these can give the beer roasty bitterness and a very dark color

- Crystal/Caramel malts (10-120L), Lighter versions give beer a sweet, caramel flavor while darker versions provide a dried fruit character of raisin, fig, and plum. They also add body

- Honey malt (20-30L), Intense sweetness, honey-like flavor and golden color

- CaraPils (1.5L), Contributes non-fermentable sugars that add foam stability and fullness of body without adding color

- Special B (120-140L), Darkest of Belgian crystal malts. Complex aroma & flavor. Heavy, dark caramel taste with more subtle notes of burnt sugar, raisin, and dark dried fruits such as cherries and plums. It can also deliver some of the softer roasty notes of a chocolate or black malt but without the astringency or bitterness

- Chocolate malt (350L+), Provides bittersweet chocolate and coffee character

- Black Patent (500L+), Lends a highly roasty, burnt, acrid, ashy, dry character. No enzymes

- Roasted barley. Not malted. Coffee-like roast character & dry bitterness. Imparts a dry-brown head. No enzymes

- 2.5-3L, although it contributes less color than other malts of the same color (possibly due to lack of husk)

- More protein adds body and creaminess and adds head retention

- Some malty spiciness, sweet, bread/doughy flavor

- Rice hulls can be used in the mash to help with lautering

- Contributes creaminess and oiliness in the beer's texture

- High oil & fat content make using oats in the mash a problem

- Can also counteract the use of hard water

- Light in color (2-4L)

- Helps head retention and can become oily when used in high quantities

- Lends a dryness to the beer with an earthy spiciness. In quantity, has an aroma/flavor of ripe apples or calvados (apple brandy)

- Like wheat and oats, high in beta glucans and pectins, it can cause problems in mashing and lautering when used in quantities over 20-30% of the grist (use of rice hulls can help)

- Serve to thin the beer's body out. They have very little protein and primarily provide pure fermentable sugars

- Rice provides the final beer with almost no flavor. Corn has a sweet residual flavor

- Unmalted grains like corn and rice need to be cooked to gelatinize their starches before they're used in the mash

- Found in the catkins (cones) of female hop plants. Lupulin glands contain alpha/beta acids, resins, and oils

- Provide the bitterness to counter wort sweetness

- Also have a mild antibiotic/anti-bacterial effect but favor brewing yeast

- Must be isomerized (in a rolling boil) in order to become soluble in liquid. The longer the hops are boiled in the wort, the more alpha acids will isomerize and more bitter the beer will be

- Acid levels range from 2-20% of the total weight of the hop cone

- Do not isomerize like Alpha Acids, rather they break down over time during fermentation and conditioning adding low amounts of bitterness

- Germany, primarily the Hallertau region. Famous for 3 of the 4 "Noble" hops (i.e. Spalt, Tettnager, Hallertau)

- Czech Republic. Famous for the "Noble" hop, Saaz

- Belgium, primarily in Poperinge in West Flanders. Challenger, Target, Admiral, Fuggles and Magnum

- Slovenia. Small amount of production, primarily in area around Lublin. Styrian Golding, Lublin, Lomic, Junga, and Marynka

- Poland. Small amount of production. Primarily Styrian Golding and related varietals

- France. Modest amount of production in Kochersberg and in northern Alsace

- Many of the well known British hops, like East Kent Goldings & Fuggle, are grown around Kent

- Often described as earthy & grassy

- Grows the second largest amount of hops, behind Germany. Most are grown in the Pacific NW

- American hops are typically considered to be citrusy and grapefruit (i.e. Cascade, Centennial, Colombus), or piney and woody (i.e. Chinook, Northern Brewer) or resiny (i.e. Nugget, Columbus, Liberty)

- WA's Yakima Valley is the US's primary hop growing area. Oregon's Willamette Valley is major area along with Western Canyon County in Idaho

- Relatively recently made an impact in the export market

- Often described as having tropical fruit characteristics. Nelson Sauvin is the most famous and is described as having the character of passion fruit

- Japan: Most famous varietal is Sorachi Ace, described as lemony, bubblegum-like, lavender-ish and similar to dill

- China: The third largest grower in the world, but little info is available

- The earlier in the boil that the hops are added, the more alpha acid is isomerize from them, therefore making the beer more bitter

- Commercial brewing typically do a 90 min boil (esp. for lighter-colored beers to fight SMM/DMS). Most hop additions made for bittering start at 60 min, but any addition made before the final 30 min are primarily for bittering

- Hops added between the final 30-15 minutes of the boil are primarily made for flavor. Also adds low levels of bitterness and some aroma

- Hops added during the final 15 minutes all the way to "flame out" are added primarily for aroma. The aromatic hop oils are volatile, so the less time they're boiled, the less of those compounds are boiled off and remain in the beer

- Realistically, these do add some bitterness, even if added at "flame out"

- When the brewer adds hops to the beer after primary fermentation has completed (The oils and acids are so volatile that the bubbling of fermentation can drive them off), allowing them to soak and give up their aromatic oils and beta acids

- Dry-hopping adds a large burst of hop aroma with adding the alpha acid-based bitterness. Realistically, it does add some polyphenols (tannins), so there is some pick up of a small amount of bitterness

- Too much dry-hopping can give the beer a grassy, vegetal character

- Saccharomyces cerevisiae. "Top fermenting," flocculates and traps buoyant CO2 and floats to the top. Prefers 65-75ºF for a working temperature, although some Belgian strains can get into the 90s

- Most strains are "characterful" in that they produce esters and phenols, although some are "clean" and neutral

- Fruity ester flavors include banana, orange, plum, etc

- Yeasts with the POF+ gene mutation produce spicy phenols often described as clove, nutmeg, or white pepper

- Weizen yeast produces lots of clove-like phenols and banana/bubblegum-like esters

- Saison yeast is likely related to red wine yeast. It produces a low amount of esters and high amount of phenols, giving saisons their spicy, black pepper character

- Saccharomyces pastorianus. "Bottom fermenting," more disperse and doesn't flocculate and trap CO2, like Ale yeast

- Likes to work at 40-55ºF. Due to the cooler temps, it works slower than Ale yeast (slower metabolism)

- Lager yeast makes very few phenols and esters (what little they do make are usually re-processed into flavorless compounds during lagering), they are very "clean" and allow the malt and hops to play the central role in the beer. Although, they do tend to produce more sulfur than ale yeast

- There are very strains of lager yeast, compared to the dozens of ale yeasts

- Slow-growing "wild" yeast used to ferment lambic, gueuze, American sours, and some saisons and old ales

- It typically has some bright fruit notes as well as interesting barnyard/horse blanket phenols (4-ethyl phenol)

- Brett can metabolize longer chain sugars than regular brewer's yeast, hence beers fermented with Brett tend to be very dry

- Bacteria that produces copious amounts of tart lactic acid, buttery diacetyl and funk

- It is almost exclusively used in combination with Brett, which can clean up the diacetyl and break down any "ropiness" that the Pedio causes

- Bacteria that produces tart lactic acid, which lends a crisp, dry acidity

- Lambic, Gueuze, American sours, Berliner Weisse

- Bacteria that produces harsh, vinegary acetic acid (essentially vinegar)

- Works by oxidizing alcohol into vinegar. To limit its effect, it's important to keep beer away from exposure to oxygen

- Gut bacteria (i.e. E.coli) that plays a minor but important role in creating the extremely funky, billious flavors of lambic & gueuze

- Since the early 1900s, public utilities have added chlorine (or in modern times, the less volatile chloramine) to drinking water to prevent bacteria growth

- If a brewer mashes in with chlorinated water, they'll often end up with chlorophenols in the beer, which can give nasty, medicinal, plastic phenol off-flavors

- Charcoal filters or reverse osmosis filters can remove the chlorine

- Bedrock material mostly composed of Calcium Carbonate. Makes the water "hard carbonate," slightly alkaline and taste chalky. Calcium carbonate gives hop bitterness an unpleasant astringency. Using acidic dark malts in the mash is required to bring the mash pH down so it's properly acidic

- Dark, malt-focused beers of Munich and Dublin developed because of the naturally occurring, hard carbonate water in the area. As well as London

- Has very few mineral ions dissolved in it

- The Czech town of Pilsen (Plzen) famously has extremely soft water. Worked well for making their famous pale ale with soft, rounded bitterness

- AKA Calcium Sulfate

- Found in high concentration in the water of Burton-on-Trent, England. Gives the water an aroma like plaster-drywall

- Perfect for brewing, what was in the early 1800s, a new, hoppy, dry pale ale. While the brewers in London had to deal more unsuccessfully with hard carbonate water

- White sugar, corn sugar, etc

- Fully fermentable sugars are chemically simple sugars that brewer's yeast can fully consume and convert to alcohol and CO2. They add no flavor and are regularly used to thin the body of the beer out (alcohol has a lower specific gravity than water)

- Corn sugar is pure glucose that is easily fully fermented. Regularly used for priming sugar in bottle-conditioned beers

- Honey, Candi sugar, Molasses, Piloncillo, etc

- Similar to fully fermentable sugars but they have some extra compounds that will add some flavor (caramel, dark fruit, brown sugar, toffee, maple) and color

- Derived from milk. Non-fermentable by brewer's yeast, although it is by bacteria & wild yeast

- Serves primarily to add body and fullness to a beer. Even though it doesn't have much of a flavor by itself, in beer, it gives an impression of sweetness