Beer has been brewed for over 7,000 years, by individual households, from locally available ingredients:
- Sugar sources would have consisted of honey and fruits.
- Starch sources were grains and vegetables.
- Gruit, or mixtures of herbs, leaves, spices, oyster shells and even narcotics, were added for flavorings according to private recipes.
- Tree bark, as used in making leather, was used as a preservative before hops.
- Until Louis Pasteur discovered yeast in 1857, wild yeasts present in the air settled in the open cauldron of beer to begin fermentation.
Cleanliness and sanitation worked against successful brewing then. Carbonation merely dissipated from the brew vats, leaving no head on finished beer. Strength was between 1% and 4% alcohol by volume (abv), which was served at room temperature.
By 350 BC, wooden barrels, or casks, were the universal storage container, including for beer. People who wanted to take some home, rather than drink it in the tavern, would carry it in buckets, known as growlers.
Ancient beer was actually more a food than an intoxicating beverage. Many Pagan, Greek or Roman beer-drinking holidays were re-purposed by Christian monks, rather than attempt to suppress sacred feasting. Beer was such a primary food source, it became necessary to control price gouging in 1516. Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria signed the Reinheitsgebot, a proclamation attempting to standardize both pricing and ingredients in beer, and penalties for failure to follow his rules.
There are Basic Tenets that Remain True to all Beers
- Beer is 90% Water. Its characteristics influence the flavors in the beer. Hard water is more suited to dark beers, while soft water is more suited to the light varieties. Minerals in the water of different regions contribute to the ability to brew regional beers.
- Hops contribute a bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malts, and impart an aroma ranging from citrus to herbal.
- Yeast is the microorganism responsible for fermentation. Simple bakers yeast will work, although not as well as specific strains bred for brewing. The two main strains that work best with the type of beers are ale yeast and lager yeast. They both die off when the alcohol content by volume (ABV) approaches 15%. Pitching with champagne yeasts will produce to around 20% abv. Before yeast was discovered, beer was fermented using the wild yeasts floating the atmosphere.
- Barley is the most widely used malted grain, because of its high amylase content and an enzyme that speeds the conversion of starches to sugars. But, depending on what is cultivated locally, other specialty malts and unmalted grains, such as wheat, corn oats, rye or rice can be substituted. Flavorings and sugar is commonly added, much as in the earliest days of brewing.
Prepare the Grains the Ancient Way
Malting is done by soaking a grain in water, then spreading it onto a shaded floor. The grain is kept moist and turned constantly until it germinates. After about 5 days, rootlets begin to show. The green malt has properly converted the starches into sugars. It is dried and partly cooked in a 131° F malting kiln, then further roasted to the color and specification that will impart the desired flavor to the finished beer. Malts range from very pale, to crystal, to amber, to chocolate to black malts. In the old days, the malt would absorb smoke from the kilning fires, creating bad smoke-flavors in the beer.
One can purchase complete kits for making beer at home. Pre-prepared ingredients and all equipment is available for the beginning brewer. Books and articles revealing the most minute detail of the craft are available from many outlets. Alternatively, the advanced brewer can choose from standard ingredients and special additives.
Sanitation in Beer Making is Important Today
Clean every tool or vessel that will come in contact with the beer well. Follow the standard recipe in the beginning, and then try new ingredients and methods as you become a more advanced brewer. The first hour of a brew is rather busy, then it becomes a matter of watching the beer ferment and clarify.
Clarifying agents help to settle the solids floating in a batch of beer. Time and careful racking (the siphoning of the clearer liquid from above the settled lees on the bottom of a fermentation vessel into a new vessel) will create nearly clear beer. Brewers who can’t wait, or don’t want to rack so many times will add clarifying agents to settle the specks of yeast, hops and grains. Isinglass finings (obtained from swim bladders of fish) or Irish moss (a type of red algae), or crushed egg shells are all useful. Running a finished batch of beer through a filter is most effective.
It should be tasted when freshly brewed, and at each racking. This allows the developing flavors to be appreciated. Siphon the finished beer into clean bottles and cap all but one. This is the prize by which you may compare commercial beers. Drink your prize while you enjoy your status as a brewer.
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