| When learning ,how to brew beer, you'll find there | | | | This is a microorganism classified as fungi. Basically, |
| are essentially 4 main ingredients, water, hops, | | | | they consume the liquid mix of steeped grains and |
| fermentable sugars (usually malted barley) and yeast. | | | | produce CO2 and alcohol as a by product. There are |
| For hundreds of years in Germany before the | | | | 2 types of yeasts: ales (top-fermenting) and lagers |
| addition of yeast, the Reinheitsgebot (purity law) | | | | (bottom-fermenting). Ale yeasts ferment at warmer |
| decreed that only the first 3 ingredients were to be | | | | temperatures between 15-24deg C (60-75°F) |
| used. | | | | and form a foam on the surface of the fermenting |
| Malted Grain. | | | | beer. Lager yeasts ferment at around 10dg C (50 |
| Although usually barley, wheat and sometimes rye | | | | deg F) and tend to collect around the bottom of the |
| can be used. The grain is allowed to germinate and | | | | fermenter. |
| then it is dried in a kiln, and sometimes roasted. This | | | | Ever since Louis Pasteur's discovery of the yeast |
| process creates sugar and soluble starches, | | | | microorganism, it is almost always added as a specific |
| necessary for the creation of the beer. The amount | | | | yeast culture. You can actually wait around for |
| of drying and roasting will have an impact on the | | | | airborne or "wild" yeasts to find their way into your |
| color and flavor of the final product. | | | | brew (as happens in traditional "Lambic" brewing"), |
| Hops. | | | | but you may also allow the introduction of other |
| The hops flower is from a type of climbing vine | | | | undesire-ables. |
| which is a relative of cannabis. Its main role in the | | | | Water, |
| brewing process is to contribute to the aroma and | | | | Obviously the purer the better. It is recommended |
| add bitterness to counteract the sweetness of the | | | | that water be boiled before it is used in any brewing |
| malted grain. Hops are also a natural preservative | | | | process. Hard water, which is water high in dissolved |
| (essential to the beer making process in the years | | | | minerals and salts is better for producing ales, whilst |
| before refrigeration) that assists in head retention | | | | lagers are more suited to soft water. Remember |
| and provide an antibiotic effect that favors the | | | | that learning how to brew beer is not always an |
| activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable | | | | exact science. Thus, the softness or hardness of |
| microorganisms. | | | | water will not necessarily stop you from brewing any |
| Yeast | | | | particular style of beer. |
