Update and a Beer-ey Top 10
So I skipped yesterday on account of the 4th and all and drank beer instead of writing about it. There really was not a great deal to report – on Wednesday evening there was a 1/4-inch of foam on the top as fermentation continued, down from Tuesday. Then on Thursday the foam was mostly dissipated. The fermentation was mostly complete.
That’s it?? Yep, that’s the whole report. You can see why I wasn’t worried about missing Wednesday. What I thought I’d do instead is share a few beer-related things that I’ve come across over the years – the odd trifle or two. That way combining this week’s beer subject with the Top 10. Here we go!
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9. Trust Make ‘zine to have something good about what to do with all the bottles once the beer is gone. How about a beer bottle solar-powered water heater? Link.
8. A good beer blog. I’m sorry, that’s actually A Good Beer Blog. What I write is that of a very amateur enthusiast. I have a lot of hobbies, and not enough time. So read that guy, and know more. You can also check out the US Brewers Association at Beertown.org.
7. So I think my dad and I will both confess to being more interested in seeing how beer comes about rather than actually making up recipes ourselves. Personally, I think that all those brewsters and monks over the ages have probably done the work just fine, and I am the happy beneficiary of millennia of beer wisdom. So we rely on fabulous books like Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers. No kidding, this book has the recipe for Chimay Red in it! I can’t guarantee yours will turn out the same, but hey, you can try!
And if you’re more of a domestic fan, check out North American Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for Your Favorite American and Canadian Beers.
6. Monastery Greetings is one of my favorite places to get all kinds of stuff. Probably many don’t think of nuns and monks as “indie” they do often hand-produce amazing things for sale to support themselves. Monastery Greetings sells it for them. And of course, they have beer stuff because monks make awesome beer. They can’t actually sell the beer, but this is stuff they DO sell.
5. Speaking of monks and brewing, Corsendonk Agnus Tripel is my favorite bier/beer. And you know what? Due to import taxes, it’s not sold in the great state of Texas. (To the right – the Corsendonk abbey where the bier was originally brewed. No longer an abbey.)
4. Just like with wine or any other alcoholic beverage, there particular glasses that go with particular types of beer. Alcohol appears to be picky. Most people have seen the common pint glass, but have you seen the one that’s a cross between a brandy snifter and a wine glass? For this, and other glasses that bear the logos of the beers that inspired them, try Pub Glasses.
3. No beer tale is complete without a nod to some sorta pub. Do places like this really exist in Ireland? Apparently yes, and they’re somewhere near Ballinloghig. Scanlan’s Pub. Source
2. Like wine corks, I also can’t seem to make myself throw beer bottle caps away. However, there may be hope yet, as this article attests…
“Bottle-cap art, long a poor cousin to tramp art, quilting and other established folk crafts, is finally achieving a measure of collectable respectability. Though still a scavenger art whose modest aspirations, rough edges and obscure origins baffle the uninitiated, it is no longer strictly a sideshow inspiring only hard- core aficionados.”
1. The #1 thing about beer really is that it’s really something good, to be enjoyed. And I’m lucky to have my dad, who I can enjoy making it with, too. Priceless!
Day 3 – Staring at Beer
So – what happens on Day 3 in the beer-making process? Mostly foam.
On Day 2 we “pitched the yeast,” and closed it up. Toward the end of the day foam began to appear, and by Day 3, there was thick foam all over the top.
So what is foam? It’s the sign of fermentation. The yeast is creating alcohol and CO2 as it munches on the sugars. During this first week the process will only retain the alcohol created and the wort vat will vent the CO2. Only in week 2 will the CO2 be retained, and create the fine bubbles of carbonation that are associated with beer.
That’s it for today’s update – easy? All I had to do was look at it! It’s really great having a semi-see-through wort vat to view the process. It’s about the transparency of a brown beer bottle, just plastic. The picture here to the left shows a considerably more complex set of beer-making equipment, more on the professional side. Link to source.
Cheers, Miriam
Day 2 – Makin’ Beer
Beer Fact O’ The Day: Hard cider is really a type of beer (a malt beverage) that may or may not have apple flavoring in it.
Instructions, Day Two:
Compared to day 1 (which wasn’t that hard), day 2 is just a piece of cake. So – are you ready to pitch your yeast?!
1. Prepare your wort vat – sterilizing it is probably a good idea, and companies make products for this. Your wort vat can’t just be any old barrel. During this first week your wort vat will need to be capable of (a) being dark enough that light can’t affect the process and (b) able to vent the CO2 created in the process. Read-made vats are available for purchase.
2. Pour in the cooled beer.
3. “Pitch your yeast.” Actually, you’re pretty much just going to dump in about 1/16 to 1/8 tsp of yeast. No stirring necessary – the yeast will be able to find the sugar to eat it. “Pitching” is a term from larger breweries, when brewers would sort of gently fling the yeast across the top of the barrels.
I should mention here we were using Coopers ale yeast. I think I mentioned before that using bread yeast isn’t a very good idea – my dad tried it (he tries everything) and it turned out poorly. Also you’ll need to make sure your yeast is still alive (e.g. active). Keeping it in the fridge is a must.
4. Screw on the top (or close it up however) and put it away in a place that’s out-of-the-way and doesn’t get too much sunlight.
What’s so hard about this anyway?
So far the process hasn’t been too complicated, and wait until you see the next few days… makes you wonder why you didn’t try this before! So far I haven’t seen much that’s really complicated. So what’s difficult about beer-making?
In a word: ingredients. There are a dizzying array of options for your beer-making pleasure. All different types of grains in different stages of the malt process, hops to use for three different purposes, different yeasts, additives, sugars. And you’ll get a different beer with each try.
Unfortunately, even if you come up with a recipe you like, it’s still possible that because beer-making is an uncertain process that you’ll get a different beer every time.
What Is Malt? This is my quick explanation of malt. Malt is the foundation of beer – it’s what you get when you take a bunch of grain and then let it sprout (you’ve seen bean sprouts – like that). Once it’s sprouted all the way and has used up all the “food” inside the grain, you roast it to capture all the sugar.You can buy plain malt like this, or you can begin to let the “experts” take it further for you. At this point you can go on and boil the malt, which dissolves all the grain sugar into water. Once dissolved, the grain husks can be strained out. If you’re doing all this malt preparation yourself, this is the point at which you can start hopping the malt. Everything’s dissolved – you just need to bring it to a boil. (Go to Step 2 from yesterday.)
This liquid state is a malt “tea.” You can also buy it as a syrup, which is the same thing as a tea except that it’s been boiled down. It’s just thick sugar in this state and is called “malt extract.” Finally, you can purchase “DME” or “dry malt extract.” This is made by spray drying the malt syrup – spray drying being literally spraying it with air until it dries. You end up with sugary powder that can be dissolved. (The picture to the left is 3 stages – barley roasted to varying degrees, the malt extract syrup it produces, and the resulting beer. Link.)
Malt with Hops. Some DME and presumably other malt types can be purchased pre-hopped. This means that the flavoring from hops is already in it. You can either add to this flavor or just go with it.
So given the many types of malt to choose from, I asked my dad…
Q: If you could only purchase one type of malt, what would it be?
A: DME. It’s easiest.
Cheers, Miriam
