Making Beer
©2006, Bob Ostrander

Beer is the most exacting alcoholic drink to make simply because there’s more to go wrong than with any other drink.

• Wine is sugar from grapes fermented by yeast.
• Cider is sugar from apples (or pears) fermented by yeast.
• Mead is sugar from honey fermented by yeast.
• Liquors are sugars from many sources (including potatoes, beets, and sugar cane) fermented by yeast that is then distilled and flavored.

Beer has sugar from barley fermented by yeast and flavored with hops. Doesn’t sound much different but it is. Mainly because barley isn’t inherently sweet. It must be malted, then the sugars are extracted, it's boiled, cooled, fermented, and then finally aged until it's ready to drink. Quite a long process.

Malt goes into a Mash Tun with hot water. The mixture is steeped and percolated (sparged) until the right amount of sugar has been picked up by the water. The end result is called wort (pronounced wert).

The wort is boiled for a while and cooled (sometimes in stages) and yeast added. The yeast eats the sugars over the next few days and excretes alcohol and CO₂. Yep, excretes is the right word.

After fermentation is done we have beer which must be matured by aging at the proper temperature and may be filtered, clarified, pasteurized, and may even have more yeast added before bottling or kegging.

Below, we'll explore the delicate balancing act it takes to choose the proper malt, water, yeast, and hops. Read on.

Malt

Barley is a grain (genus Hordeum) much like wheat (genus Triticum) but somewhat different because it has more nutrients. It is used widely as animal feed.

But the sugar in barley (maltose) cannot be eaten by yeast and converted into alcohol. It must first be malted to convert the sugar to dextrose.

In nature, the maltose naturally converts to dextrose when the barleycorn sprouts to make a new barley plant. Triggered by enzymes, the endosperm (starch) feeds the germ of the grain in the middle of the kernel. This starch makes up about 80% of the barleycorn.

Maltsters accomplish this artificially by moistening the grain in a controlled environment until it sprouts. Heat is used to then stop the process before it's finished. During brewing the rest of the sugars are converted in the mashing process.

There are texts from Sumeria about 4500 years ago that describe the malting process and a kiln used for malting. A building used for malting is often called an oast house - a useful word if you're working crossword puzzles. To make malt:

1. Store the barley for six weeks or more after cutting because it won't germinate until then. Be sure to keep it away from mold and mice during this process.
2. Air-dry the raw barley until there is less than 14% moisture.
3. Screen the barley to get even sized corns.
4. Immerse it in water 2 or 3 times, resting for a day or two in between baths. This steeping gets the moisture content back up to about 46%. Germination starts sometime before that point.
5. Spread it on a floor in a thin layer to allow air infiltration. Turn it often during the next 4 to 6 days to avoid heat build-up. Often air is blown up through holes in the floor. Hand-turning with shovels has been largely replaced by mechanical means.
6. At this point the malt has sufficient enzymes to allow the cell walls of the starch to break down into sugars for the yeast.
7. Stop the germination and starch modification by applying heat in a kiln at least until the moisture content is back down to about 5%.
8. Finally deculm the corns. At germination, a small root shoot (culm) emerges from the kernel. This is removed by, viola, a deculmer.

Variations in this whole process allows the maltster to produce many different styles of malt (see table below).

Most barley is called "2-row" because there are 2 rows of corns on the stalk. Some 6-row barley is grown but many brewers don't like it as much since it has a thicker husk which complicates mashing and clean-up.

Time for a short word about Lovibond. It's a measure of the color of beer. Lovibond numbers are given by maltsters to help brewers determine how dark their beer will end up - nothing about the color itself (ie yellow, red, or brown). Calculations needed include the quantities and proportions of various malts, the mashing time, the boiling time, and of course the amount of water used. To read the table below, just figure the higher the number, the darker the beer.

Dark malts have tannins which are slightly acidic and balance alkaline water caused by bicarbonates in the brewing water.

Water

Water may just be water to most people but a brewer is far more critical. It's not just that water makes up 90 to 95% of beer (and beer drinker), water also affects the brewing process both in the mashing and in the fermentation stages.

It's not just H₂O. There are lots of minerals and other compounds dissolved in water. Notably metallics including Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Sodium, as well as non-metallics like Bicarbonate, Chlorine and Sulphur are found in well water and the proper amount of these minerals is prized by breweries. Actually, pure distilled H₂O makes pretty bad beer. Let's look at some of the more usual stuff you find in water (besides fish).

• Calcium (Ca) - This is what makes "hard" water. Mashing needs calcium - 80 or more ppm (parts per million). Can't be done well without it. Has to do with the chemistry of the starch. Details are what you learn in professional brewing classes, not here.

• Iron (Fe) - Not good. Adds a metallic flavor (also stains white laundry). Less than 1/2 ppm should be in present.

• Magnesium (Mg) - Also involved in hard water. Also necessary to facilitate fermentation - yeast like it. It also tastes pleasantly bitter when present in small quantities (under 40 pmm). At double that level that it is a diuretic.

• Sodium (Na) - A quandary. With Chloride, salt makes beer taste better - and helps corn on the cob as well. With Sulfur it doesn't taste as good. Also, yeast doesn't like it very much. Brewers keep it way under 100 ppm.

• Copper (Cu) - Even at low levels it kills yeast. Fortunately there's usually not much in well, ground, or tap water.

• Manganese (Mn) and Zinc (Zn) - Yeast likes a little of it and water usually has a little of it.

• Potassium (K) - Yeast likes a little of it. It can add a little salty taste. Potassium bicarbonate is an antacid. But there's generally not enough potassium in brewery water to affect anything.

• Bicarbonate (CO₃) - Adds to alkalitiy (high numbers on the PH scale and opposite of acidity). Helps hops taste bitter. Also helps extract tannins from grains making beer darker.

• Chloride (Cl) - Actually a touch of chorine helps the tongue perceive sweetness. It also helps clarify beer and increases the shelf life. Brewers may allow 100 ppm in light beers and twice that in strong beers.
• Chlorine (HOCl) - Chlorine is the stuff you smell in swimming pools and many municipal water supplies. Not only does it make beer really really bad but it also corrodes stainless steel. Beers made form chlorinated water can also taste medicinal or plastic. Brewers get rid of it by charcoal filtering or boiling in a "hot liquor tank".
• Sulfur (usually Sulfate, SO₄) - Increases sharpness or dryness of the beer's taste. Noticeable above 400 ppm. The most famous water might be that from the Burton-on-Trent area in England where brewing was being done by Benedictine monks back in 1000AD. This water contains lots of sulphur that many people feel is necessary to make true British Ale.

Local water can produce a very distinctive taste that is found in all beers from an area. In fact, the great historic European brewing centers evolved because of the water as the brewers of the time didn't have the knowledge or equipment to fix bad water.

Here's some famous brewing cities (thanks to All About Beer magazine for the data).

Munich water is hard but low in bicarbonates. Best for making dark beers.
Pilsen water has soft alkaline water. This contributes to good light-colored beer.
Vienna's water is high in minerals and sulfates. Stronger light beer results.

To treat water, brewers may add Salt (NaCl), Gypsum (CaSO₄), Chalk, (CaCO₃), Epsom salts (MgSO₄), or Calcium Cloride (CaCl₂). Just a pinch or two in each gallon makes a big difference.

Brewers may also filter incoming water to remove particulates and may need to boil the water to kill bacteria or remove calcium or magnesium. It's quite common to have a "hot liquor" tank that can be filled with water for the next brew cycle and heated overnight. This allows a quicker time to boil in the morning and a more complete mixture of additives.

Yeast

Huh? OK, it really is a fungus. Yep, it really eats sugar, pisses alcohol, and farts carbon dioxide. We'd show you a picture of a slurry of yeast but it looks like, well, slime. Or maybe semen. Tasty result though.

Yeast is neat. It's virtually free in that you can pitch a small amount and let it grow, reproduce, and become more yeast. It works without salary, holidays, sleep, or even union representation. The only things that can kill yeast are starvation (running out of sugars), extreme temperature ranges, or alcohol poisoning. Yep, yeast will only produce beers of so much ABV. After a certain point the yeast dies. But be assured it died happy. As happy as a one-celled organism can be.

Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895) was the great hero of brewers. He should be made a patron saint. Before him, you needed to leave your wort out in the open for wild yeast to land on it and start eating. They still do this with Lambics in Belgium, of course, but stray bacteria used to get into the mix and turn beer sour all the time. Because of Pasteur we know yeast is a living organism, we can buy or grow what we need for a batch of beer, and we can keep the tight sanitary conditions needed for a good brew. Oh, he also figured out how to preserve milk, cure anthrax, and prevent rabies. Hip hip horray.

There are two major types of yeast used by brewers: top-fermenting (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and bottom fermenting (Saccharomyces uvarum). These make, respectively, ale and lager. Top-fermenting clusters together as it reproduces and tiny bubbles of CO2 lift it to the top of the vat. Bottom-fermenting stays in smaller clumps and falls to the bottom.

Yeast must have the proper temperature during fermentation in order to work and reproduce at its best. Top-fermenting yeast will work at higher temperatures (60°F-70°F) than bottom-fermenting yeast (45°F-60°F). Since the fermentation action creates heat on its own, lager brewing usually involves plenty of refrigeration - one reason lagers were invented long after ales - and one reason early lager brewing was conducted in caves or in the winter.

Within these two families thousands of variations have been developed, each favored for use in a particular style of beer. Here's some examples:

Notice how specialized the yeast strains are. There are many more available than those listed here. Some have been bred for just one brand of beer. A special home-made yeast for Belgian beers is used by Unibroue in Canada.

Hops

Hops are what keep beer from being cloyingly sweet. They give the sharp aroma and bitter taste that keeps us drinking more. Only a few dozen of the tens of thousands of beers in the world are made without hops. Even Budweiser, Corona, Coors, and Fosters have hops. Miller beers use a hybrid hop they spent a lot of money developing.

Hops are grown in almost every country outside the tropics. The U.S., England, Germany, Czech Republic, and New Zealand are the major producers. Only flowers (also called buds or cones) from female plants are used in beer making since they are chemically stronger. In fact, male hops are only grown in controlled conditions and only used to artificial pollinate female plants to produce seeds for the fields.

Basically beer (or more properly, wort) steeps in hops which give up their acids very like tea leaves. Usually the papery whole hop buds are used by the professional brewer. Sometimes they are pressed into pellets which allow better storage away from oxygen. Either way, they are usually sold in vacuum-packs. Hops can also be frozen to further extend their shelf life.

The variety and amount of hops used are extremely important to the final product. For example Cascade hops from the northwest U.S. have a fruity grapefruit flavor and aroma while Fuggles have an earthier nature - this is the major difference between an American Pale Ale and a British Pale Ale. Similarly the amount of hops used separates a Pale Ale from an IPA.

Not surprisingly, the powers that be have divided hop varieties into two categories

• Bittering hops: Characterized by high alpha acid levels (it isn't really important to this discussion just what alpha acid is, or if there is a beta acid). These are put into the brew right after the malt sugars are extracted and before the wort is boiled. They add bitterness and crispness and balance the inherent sweetness of the beer. You don't smell these hops because all that goes up in steam.
• Aroma hops: With less alpha acids and, you guessed it, higher beta acid levels (and also more oils). They are added after the boil to give a hop aroma to the beer. These are usually more fragile and should be used fresher than bittering hops.

We also need to mention "dry hopping", which involves adding aroma hops very late in the process - during fermentation or aging. Consider it supercharging the IBU.

IBU? That stands for International Bittering Units. It's a measure of the alpha acids that will be absorbed into the beer, hence it measures bitterness. It runs from 0 up to infinity but most experts contend anything past 80 or 100 IBU can't be discerned by mere mortals. IBU values are calculated rather than tested. This involves using Alpha Acid percentages of the hops involved, the amount of hops, the boil time, dry-hopping, etc.

Fun Facts:

Also see: The History of Hops in Beer

Homulus lupulus is Latin for "grows wild in the willows" which was a phrase for "wolf among sheep".

Early un-hopped ale and beer was made much stronger so it wouldn't go bad quickly. Hops protect the beer from oxygenation and musty smells and beer could be made weaker and more accessible to the masses with hops. Which was very good because beer is boiled and much safer to drink than the bacteria-laden water that killed people throughout the middle ages.

And finally, yes, the rumors you've heard are true, hops are a distant cousin of cannabis. They are also a distant cousin of the stinging nettle.

Other Grains

Barley malt is, of course, the essence of beer. You could ferment the starch in corn, rice, or even potatoes but they just wouldn't taste the same. You can ferment the sugars in fruits and end up with cider (apples), perry (pears), wine (grapes, elderberries, etc) but it just isn't beer. That said, a lot of beers use starch from grains other than barley.

Wheat is the second most-used grain. Wheat beers such as German Weizens and Belgian Wits use up to 60% wheat with the rest being barley. Wheat can be malted or un-malted - either way, wheat doesn't ferment nearly as well as barley and a all-wheat beer is practically impossible to make. Also, a small amount of malted wheat can produce a longer-lasting head on beers and is often used by British brewers.
 

Rye is used in a very similar manner to wheat and has many of the same characteristics to the brewer. The flavor of Roggen (rye) beers is also similar to Wheat beers but with a dryer flavor that is more or less similar to rye bread. Rye also adds a nice red color to beer.

Flaked Barley is not malted and is added to stouts to increase head retention and body.
 

Flaked Oats are used in Oatmeal Stouts to increase the body. Oat doesn't ferment very well so the sugars and semi-solids remain in the finished beer. It contributes less to a specific taste than wheat but makes the beer more dry.

Some brewers use alternative sources of starch like buckwheat and spelt. Buckwheat and spelt contribute to the body like malt but are less sweet and sticky and more aromatic. The most commonly used alternative is wheat, which is why its classified as an own style.
 

Then there's the "bad" grains - stuff that adds fermentables without adding pleasing flavors. Flaked Maize (corn) is used in many mass-marketed American Lagers. It adds to the alcohol content without adding any color or body. It is cheaper than barley malt which makes it popular with Coors, Miller, Corona, etc. This is nothing new, corn was also used widely in American Lagers before Prohibition.

Many craft breweries in the United States use corn in "Pre-Prohibition Lagers" and the "Malt Liquor" strong lager category is also fueled by corn.
 

Flaked Rice is famously used by Anheuser Busch for the same reason as Flaked Maize by other giant breweries. AB has even won awards from Rice Producer's organizations. A penny saved. . .
 

Adjuncts

There are other substances that add sugars to the wort and add flavors. Some of these have been used for a long time and are invaluable in the manufacture of specific styles of beer.

Belgian Candi Sugar - Crystallized beet sugar. Dissolves in the wort to add fermentables and a bit of distinctive taste. Comes in light and dark varieties but they give identical results. Very similar to the rock candy sugar you used to love to suck on when you were a kid.

Honey - Added for distinctive flavor, fermentables, and a touch of sweetness in the beer.

Molasses - Gives a darker, earthier result than Honey.

Lactose - Milk sugar. Not fermentable. Sometimes added at bottling or kegging for sweetness and mouthfeel.

Other sugar additives are less noticable in the final product. Corn Sugar just adds dextrose to become alcohol. Similarly Invert Sugar is a mixture of glucose and fructose. Adds fermentables, just like corn sugar but without any taste at all. Maltodextrin is not fermentable and just adds sweetness.

Spices

Many spices and herbs are common additions to beer recipes. These don't affect the alcoholic content, just the flavor or aroma of the beer. By the way, a herb is a plant without a woody stem, a spice comes from a variety of other sources such as nut shells, bark, etc.

Anise - Licorice-like. Used in Winter Ales and some dark Belgian beers.

Bog Myrtle - Also called Sweet Gale, this is a shrub from the Scottish moors that was used before hops became known in Britain. It is reportedly still used occasionally in Yorkshire to make "Gale Beer". Has a sweet aroma similar to bayberry candles.

Cardamom Seed - Spicy cola flavor somewhat reminiscent of ginger. Used in some Belgian Beers and Christmas Ales. Very expensive, it's had the reputation since Babylonian times of being an aphrodisiac.

Cinnamon - The ground bark of an Asian tree. Used in Christmas and Pumpkin Ales.

Coriander - An Asian herb with small green leaves that look like parsley. Sometimes called cilantro. One of the essential flavors in curry. The seeds are where the flavor resides. When used in Belgian Wits and other beers it is somewhat like a strong orange.

Curaçao Orange Peel - Bitter orange flavor from an orange found in the Dutch Antilles around 1500. This is the basic flavor of Curaçao Liquor of course. Used in Belgian Wit beers along with Coriander. The fruit itself is really ugly; it's bluish green with white splotches that look like mold. Thankfully we just drink it, not eat it.

Ginger Root - Most often used in specialty Christmas beers. Thought by many to have medicinal properties and thus sometimes used as a sales gimmick.

Heather - Flowers and leaves are both used for their aromatic and bitter properties. Foach Ale is an old Scottish style accenting heather.

Juniper - The essence of Gin. Sometimes added to beer in small amounts.

Licorice Root - Different than Anise - if you taste the two side-by-side you'll immediately see that.. Very sweet.

Nutmeg - Shavings from the nut. Used in some Barleywines and even then one nut per batch is plenty.

Sweet Orange Peel - There's Curaçao Orange Peel and Sweet Orange Peel. The later is a special breed of sweet orange from Southeast Asia, not the typical stuff you find in Florida which often ends up giving a metallic taste.

Peppers - Chili peppers are used by a very few breweries to add hotness.

Seeds of Paradise - Peppery, citric, and piney.

Spruce - Piney, of course.

Wintergreen - Not to be confused with mint. Can't think of any beers styles that use wintergreen though. Strange that every homebrew shop has some. Actually the same can be said about Wormwood.

Woodruff - Gives a fresh hay flavor with a vanilla base. Also known as Sweet Woodruff.

Anise

Bog Myrtle

Cardamom

Cinnamon

Coriander

Fruit and Vegetable

Fruits add both flavor and fermentable sugars to beer. Fruits can be added before fermentation, after a first fermentation and before a secondary fermentation (as in Lambics), after fermentation, or even as a flavoring syrup at the time of serving. Wheat beers particularly end up with fruits added such as Raspberry Wheat so favored in American brewpubs.

Common fruits include Apple, Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Boysenberry, Cherry, Cranberry, Hazelnut, Lemon, Lime, Mango, Orange, Peach, Pumpkin, Raspberry, Strawberry, and even Watermelon.

Clarifiers

Clarifiers don't actually add anything to beer, they are just used to remove haziness, yeast, fruit pulp, excess grains, etc and make beer "bright". Usually solids will settle to the bottom of the fermentation tank and clarifiers aren't needed. In smaller breweries it's not unusual to filter the beer rather than use a clarifier.

Irish Moss - Actually a variety of  seaweed. Just a couple of teaspoons near the end of the boil.

Isinglass - Believe it or not made from swim bladders of fish. Beer using Isinglass finings is not considered vegetarian.

Gelatin - This will also attract the clumps of yeast and stuff.

Rice Hulls - Not really a clarifier but where else to mention it? Sometimes added to the mash by brewers to keep the wet grains from clogging up equipment. Doesn't have any other recognizable effect.

Aging

Once fermentation is over, beer must be aged to obtain a good flavor. Some beers need only a week of aging, some require years. Too little aging and it tastes raw and green. Too much and it becomes musty and will spoil. Unlike distilled spirits and like wines, beer will mature in bottles so don't keep beer too long.

Generally, Ales require a short aging period and Lagers a longer time. In fact "lager" comes from a High German word, "legar", that means to lie down, rest, bed, store, etc. (Stalag is a related word). Stronger beers and hoppier beers require longer aging periods than weak beers.

Some beer is aged in oak barrels, some in stainless steel tanks. Either way, oxygen is an enemy and none are aged in the open. Oak chips or shavings are sometimes used to substitute for aging in oak barrels. Some people swear by roasted oak, American oak, French oak, or even Hungarian oak. Similarly Beechwood chips are popular (see the label on Anheuser Busch's bottle for an example).
 

Pasteurization

Remember Louis Pasteur? We talked about this great genius back up there in the Yeast section. He also discovered that if a liquid is heated to the boiling point, even for a very short time, all the bacteria are killed and it will stay fresh longer. Thus, many of the mass-market brewers pasteurize their beer so it will have a longer shelf-life. Still, most microbreweries don't pasteurize their beer, expecting that it will be drunk before it goes bad. Many folks think unpasteurized beer is better - a matter of taste.
 

Conditioning

Once the beer is completely ready to be enjoyed, it must be transported to the end user, us. How to best do that? Maybe by can, bottle, keg, cask, or straight from the vat.

A small amount of yeast put into the final product will start a secondary fermentation, making carbon dioxide and keeping oxygen out of the beer. Sometimes a bit of extra sugar is added to help keep the yeast healthy.

This process is used by some smaller breweries in the U.S. but it is most widespread in Britain where ales are regularly treated this way. When served on tap in pubs, this is called Cask Conditioned beer or Real Ale. The CO₂ in the product comes mainly from this conditioning. They also treat bottled beer this way, calling it Bottle Conditioned.

Most beer, however, is conditioned by the direct addition of CO₂ as it is kegged, canned, or bottled. Additionally, kegs of beer are hooked to a tank of CO₂ as they are served. This not only forces oxygen out of the vessel, it also provides kegs with a self-dispensing mechanism due to the pressure of the gas.

There you have it, everything you need to know about beer. Well, not really, but I hope this chapter helps answer some questions about how beer is made. If I missed anything or got anything wrong, please drop me a line - bob@indianabeer.com . Thanks.