Beer Articles

Article / Updated 05-03-2023

Of the four main ingredients used in homebrewing beer (barley, hops, yeast, and water), barley makes the biggest contribution. Barley gives beer its color, underlying flavor, sweetness, body, head of foam, and mouthfeel. Barley also contributes the natural sugars that feed the yeast, which in turn converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation. Malting Before you can brew with barley, it must undergo a process known as malting. The malting process simulates the grain's natural germination cycle. Under closely monitored conditions, malting companies wet the barley kernels and allow them to sprout. As the seedlings begin sprouting, the starchy insides of the kernels (or endosperm) begin to change. This modification causes the hard, starchy endosperm to begin to break down into natural malt sugars (maltose) that brewers later liquefy, during the mashing process. One of the important features of this process is the production of the enzymes brewers later use in the mashing process. And the maltose sugars, along with proteins and dextrins, contribute the color, flavor, sweetness, body, mouthfeel, and foam in the beer. (Mouthfeel can be defined as the textural qualities of beer on your palate and in your throat — viscosity, or thickness; carbonation; alcohol warmth; and so on.) Only after the barley has undergone the malting process does it become malt, or barleymalt. Malted barley is an incredibly complete and convenient package, seemingly designed exclusively for brewing beer. Each grain kernel contains carbohydrates (which eventually convert to sugar), enzymes (which do the actual converting), proteins (which provide yeast nutrition, mouthfeel, and head stability), and a husk (which, when multiplied by thousands, acts as the perfect natural filter bed through which you can drain the unfermented beer). Very few commercial brewers — usually only the huge beer factories — do their own malting. Professional malting companies (also called maltsters) malt most of the grain for the brewing industry (including smaller commercial brewers and homebrew supply shops). Mashing In order to make beer from the malted grain, the starch within the kernels of malt must be made soluble. This liquefying process takes place during the mashing procedures in a vessel called a mash tun. The mashing process is where the natural enzymes found in grain break down the grain's starches; hot water then dissolves the starches so they leach out of the cracked grain. After you've rinsed all the malt sugars from the grain, you transfer the syrupy-sweet malt tea, called wort, over to the brew kettle, where you boil it. Homebrewers who make their beer with malt extract can avoid the mashing process altogether. Wort (rhymes with dirt) is the German word for unfermented beer. Some brewers also call wort green beer (and not just on St. Patrick's Day).

Article / Updated 04-25-2023

If you're interested in homebrewing, you're understandably concerned with how much time it takes to brew beer at home. In addition to the hands-on activities such as cooking and bottling, you also face a great deal of waiting around. Making beer at home requires patience. The hands-on part of the homebrewing process involves the Actual cooking of the wort (unfermented beer; rhymes with dirt) on the stovetop Fermentation (conversion of sugars to alcohol and CO2 by yeast) Aging (maturation) processes Bottling of the beer What most homebrewing beginners aren't aware of is the hands-off part of brewing — the stage when the brewer does nothing but wait patiently. This part not only constitutes the longest segment of the timeline, but it also represents a test of the brewer's patience and self-restraint. At the beginner level, you need at least two or three hours on brewing day to properly sanitize the equipment, brew and cool the wort, pitch the yeast (add it to your wort), seal the fermenter, and clean up whatever mess you made. You need to set aside the same amount of time on the day you bottle the beer. In between the brewing and bottling days, however, you face the little matter of fermentation. The yeast needs at least seven days to complete the fermentation cycle — sometimes more, depending on extenuating circumstances. You need do nothing more than wait patiently for the yeast to complete its task. Even after you've bottled your beer, you still need to wait patiently while your brew conditions in the bottles — two weeks is the recommended minimum length of this conditioning process. At the beginner level, if you brew on a Saturday your brewing timeline may look something like the following: 1. Brew day (S). Ferment the beer Su-M-T-W-Th-F. (That's 7 days.) 2. Bottle day (S). Condition the beer Su-M-T-W-Th-F-S-Su-M-T-W-Th-F. (That's 14 more days.) 3. Drink the beer! As you begin to employ different ingredients, equipment, and processes in your beer-making repertoire, expect the timeline to expand. Secondary fermentation (a helpful extra aging) adds another two weeks to the timeline, and advanced brewers, for example, may spend as many as eight to ten hours in a single day brewing their beer from grain. Homebrewing is a pursuit that requires a higher degree of dedication than, say, doing crossword puzzles in ink, but the rewards are considerable (and tasty!) In addition to personal gratification, quality homebrew can inspire a certain respect from your fellow brewers, awe in nonbrewers, and other intangibles that make all the effort worthwhile.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-10-2023

Quality beer is widely available and relatively inexpensive, but choosing among all the various styles can be a little confusing without some help. A little beer knowledge can turn a daunting experience into an enjoyable one. Start with a list of handy beer descriptors, along with some great beer styles and brands to try. Then check out some pointers for buying, serving, tasting, evaluating, and dining with beer.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-05-2022

When you’re brewing your own beer at home, get to know the abbreviated versions of homebrewing terms to help read your recipes and directions, keep a basic measurement conversion chart handy, and check out the hierarchy of beers chart so you know what category and type of beer you want to homebrew and possibly enter into competition.

Article / Updated 07-26-2022

Although vintage wines and aged spirits can boast of a long companionship with haute cuisine, beer — until recently in some places — is often relegated to the backyard barbecue. But that’s wrong. Beer is only for thirst quenching as much as computers are only for number crunching and sports are only for boys. Get with it, folks; beer is for dining, too! Although it may have taken restaurateurs, gourmands, and culinary artistes forever to catch on to the concept of beer and food pairings, now that they have, it’s a hot ticket. And why not? Beer is considered the world’s most popular beverage, with craft beer increasing in popularity every day. After far too many years, the outlook for beer drinkers is rosé, or... rosy. Thanks to the enthusiasm of brewers, restaurateurs, and consumers of flavorful craft-brews, beer has reclaimed its rightful place on our dinner tables. Good craft-brewed beer can be much more interesting than wine. It’s cool and refreshing and, depending on the style, can be much richer, more complex, and more flavorful than wine. Plus, if you have an average person’s budget and capacity, you’ll find that tasting several different beers during a meal is preferable to tasting several different wines. Guessing at general guidelines Within the sometimes intimidating world of wine and food, even the neophytes can lean on the old red meat–red wine axiom in a pinch. But beer drinkers have no such axiomatic, general guideline to fall back on, because none exists. And few people have a good enough grasp on the various beer styles and flavor profiles to easily make choices. Actually, you’ll find it hard to go wrong when matching beer and food. What’s fun is trying to do better than not going wrong. Every kind of food, conceivably, has an appropriate beer to accompany it. The beauty of beer is in its versatility. You can usually find a beer style that’s a natural match for a given food. Beer even works better than wine with some dishes, such as especially spicy or sour ones. And slightly acidic beers are great foils for rich foods. Substituting beer for wine The lager beer category is the white wine equivalent. When compared with ales, lagers have the following characteristics: Generally lighter in body and color Narrower flavor profile and a high degree of drinkability (that is, tend to appeal to a wider audience) The ale category is the red wine equivalent. When compared with lagers, ales have these qualities: Typically darker Rounder, more robust and expressive Wider flavor profile and, thus, a lower drinkability (that is, tend to appeal to those with a more experienced beer palate) Just to keep you on your toes, keep in mind that these guidelines are really general — dark and full-bodied lagers exist just as surely as do light and mild ales. Next time you’re about to go grape out of habit, consider a brew instead. This table offers a few good ideas. Beer Substitutions for Wine Wine Suggested Beer Substitute Dry white wine Blonde Ale, Kölsch, or German Pils Dry red wine Fruit Lambic or Flanders Red Beer Champagne Light and spritzy Witbier, Lambic, or Berliner Weisse Brandy Spirituous Barleywine or Old Ale Port wine Intensely flavored Russian Imperial Stout Keep in mind that these suggested substitutions aren’t trading taste for taste but style for style. In other words, don’t expect the Imperial Stout to taste like a port wine; it’s simply serving the same enjoyable purpose as a rich and spirited after-dinner libation.

Article / Updated 05-04-2022

Most beer drinkers tend to drink just a couple different beer styles without straying too far off the beaten path. But to fully understand and appreciate the wider spectrum of beer styles, here are a few types of beers that every beer drinker should taste at least once: Belgian Fruit Lambic: Well-aged ale with surprising, effusive fruit aroma and taste; intoxicating fragrance Doppelbock: Strong, dark, and caramel-like Bock Beer with two times the flavor and body of Bock (doppel your pleasure, doppel your fun) Imperial Stout: Dark, rich, and creamy Stout with complex grain flavors; a brew to chew Rauchbier: Oktoberfest beer made with a portion of beechwood-smoked malt; delicious and unique but takes somewhat of an acquired taste (great with smoked cheese or sausage) Witbier: Perfumy Belgian Wheat Beer made with orange rind and coriander seed; like nothing else in the beer world Certain brands of beer have become synonymous with distinctly different flavor profiles. The following short list includes some of the more famous brands along with a couple others that are still cultivating a following. True beer lovers should taste all of them at least once. Guinness Stout (Ireland): Dark, dry, smooth, and roasty, with a creamy head; the perfect sipping pint Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic): Crisp and hoppy with a touch of malty sweetness; the original, classic Pilsner beer Rodenbach Grand Cru (Belgium): Sharply sour but refreshing, with fresh fruity notes; beer masquerading as Burgundy wine Samichlaus (Austria): Incredibly malty-rich and spirited; a terrific tipple for the Christmas holidays Samuel Adams Utopias (United States): Throat-warming malt complexity with hints of oak, like no beer you’ve ever had; that’s why you sip it like a brandy

Article / Updated 06-18-2019

The first beer brewed by American colonists was at Sir Walter Raleigh’s Roanoke colony in 1587. The beer must not have been very good, though, because Colonists continued to request shipments of beer from England. (Unfortunately, most of the ships’ consignments of beer were drunk on the transatlantic crossing by thirsty sailors.) And in 1609, colonists placed America’s first help-wanted ad in a London paper, asking for brewers to come to America. Rather than continue on to their destination in Virginia, the pilgrims on the Mayflower made their landing at Plymouth Rock for lack of beer. A December 19, 1620, entry in the diary of a Mayflower passenger tells the story: “We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beere.” Beer was far more healthful than the impure water sources available to American colonists. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a noted physician and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, “Beer is a wholesome liquor compared with spirits. It abounds with nourishment. . . . While I wish to see a law imposing the heaviest taxes on whiskey distilleries, I should be glad to see breweries wholly exempt from taxation.” (Amen!) Breweries in the New World were among the first businesses established. American breweries preexisted American government; some of the breweries’ staunchest supporters were also the leaders of the new nation. In colonial America, the alehouse was second only to the church in importance. Aside from being where the brewer plied his trade, the tavern also served as the unofficial town hall and the social and political focal point of every town. It was here that the townsfolk gathered to deliberate and debate, to socialize and share news and information with the community. To the colonists, the alehouses were cradles of liberty; while to the British, the alehouses were hotbeds of sedition. As early as 1768, the Sons of Liberty were holding meetings at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Providence; the Green Dragon Inn in Boston was called the headquarters for the revolution. George Washington made his headquarters at Fraunces Tavern in New York, where it still stands and serves beer, now in the heart of the financial district. Most of the early breweries were small, house-based operations. Traditional ingredients, hard to come by in the New World, were often replaced with maize, molasses, bran, persimmons, potatoes, spruce twigs, birch bark, ginger, and allspice. The first real brewery in the New World was founded in New Amsterdam (New York) in 1633. Boston’s first brewery debuted in 1637 and was a favorite among colonial leaders, who believed that beer was a moderate alternative to distilled spirits. The city of Philadelphia got its first brewery in 1685 (but made up for lost time, as Philadelphia has had more breweries in its history than any other U.S. city). This date is confirmed by an entry in the diary of William Penn, who was a brewer himself. Historians have studied Penn’s ledgers and concluded that he ran malt and brewhouses at his Pennsbury mansion in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County. As the United States became an instant magnet for people looking to start a new life, breweries opened as quickly as each ethnic enclave settled. Throughout the 1800s, most of the arrivals came from the beer belt countries of northern Europe (Ireland, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands — the majority of brewers were of Irish and German origin), and with them came the knowledge of brewing and an appreciation for the craft. In 1840, about 140 breweries were operating in the United States, at least 1 in each of the 13 original colonies. Annual output totaled about 200,000 barrels. The American brewing industry boasted as many as 1,400 breweries by 1914 and employed more than 75,000 people.

Article / Updated 06-06-2016

Fermentation problems occur frequently to homebrewers, and a common one is that the would-be beer just never started fermenting. Before you pour your homebrew down the sink, make sure the process actually hasn't started — judging fermentation by the bubbles (or lack thereof) coming out of the airlock can sometimes be deceiving. Check for signs of fermentation: Look at the beer (if it's in a glass fermenter) or peek through the airlock hole in the lid (if it's in a plastic fermenter). Do you see any foam or a ring of brownish scum around the fermenter? If so, the beer is fermenting or has fermented. Use your hydrometer to check the gravity. The beer is typically done fermenting if the final gravity is 1/3 to 1/4 of the original gravity. For example: A 1.045 beer ferments down to 1.015 to 1.012 or below. If after 24 to 48 hours fermentation has truly not begun — or you're just not sure — try adding more yeast. (Situations like this one give you good reason to keep a packet of dry yeast in the fridge for emergencies.) If fermentation still hasn't begun after you add more yeast, you may have made one of the following mistakes: You didn't rinse the sanitizer from the fermenter. Sanitizer residue can kill yeast, too. Be mindful of sanitary practices — how or when the beer ferments doesn't mean a thing if you contaminate the whole batch in the process. You put the fermenter in a place that's too cold. Leave it at 64 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit for Ales. You used old or dead yeast. The yeast contained in ingredient kits is often so old that it's useless — always buy fresh yeast that has been kept refrigerated. You rehydrated the yeast improperly by using water that was too hot (more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit).Also, don't leave the yeast in the rehydration water too long; 30 minutes is plenty. You used good yeast but shocked it with sudden changes in temperature or by adding it to wort that was too cold (under 70 degrees Fahrenheit) or too hot (over 110 degrees Fahrenheit). (Wort is unfermented beer; rhymes with dirt.) You didn't use enough yeast. Pitch 10 to 15 grams of dry yeast, or use 1 package of ready-to-pitch liquid yeast per 5 gallons of beer. Slow-starting or stuck fermentations usually mean under-pitching of yeast, underaerated wort, or both. To correct these problems in the future, pitch a larger volume of yeast and make sure you properly aerate the wort before pitching. High-gravity worts (those with a specific gravity of 1.056 or higher) need even more yeast and aeration for proper fermentation.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The following list has been compiled by the Beer Judge Certification Program and is used by the American Homebrewers Association for competitive purposes. This hierarchical list presents an overview of all the world's beer styles (along with Cider and Mead). All beers are categorized as Ale, Lager or Mixed Style; under each of these headings are listed all of the major beer styles (in capital letters) and their sub-styles. ALE ENGLISH PALE ALE Standard Ordinary Bitter Special / Best Bitter Extra Special / Strong Bitter SCOTTISH AND IRISH ALE Scottish Light 60 Scottish Heavy 70 Scottish Export 80 Irish Red Ale Scotch Strong Ale AMERICAN ALE American Pale Ale American Amber Ale American Brown Ale ENGLISH BROWN ALE Mild Southern English Brown Ale Northern English Brown Ale PORTER Brown Porter English Porter Baltic Porter STOUT Dry Stout Sweet Stout Oatmeal Stout Foreign Extra Stout American Stout Russian Imperial Stout INDIA PALE ALE English IPA American IPA Imperial IPA BELGIAN AND FRENCH ALE Witbier Belgian Pale Ale Saison Biere de Garde SOUR ALE Berliner Weisse Flanders Red Ale Straight (unblended) Lambic Gueuze Fruit Lambic BELGIAN STRONG ALE Belgian Blonde Ale Belgian Dubbel Belgian Tripel Belgian Golden Strong Ale Belgian Dark Strong Ale STRONG ALE Old Ale English Barley Wine American Barley Wine LAGER LIGHT LAGER Lite American Lager Standard American Lager Premium American Lager Munich Helles Dortmunder Export PILSENER German Pilsener (Pils) Bohemian Pilsener Classic American Pilsener EUROPEAN AMBER LAGER Vienna Lager Oktoberfest / Märzen DARK LAGER Dark American Lager Munich Dunkel Schwarzbier (black beer) BOCK Maibock / Helles Bock Traditional Bock Doppelbock Eisbock MIXED STYLE LIGHT HYBRID BEER Cream Ale Blonde Ale Kölsch American Wheat or Rye AMBER HYBRID BEER Northern German Altbier California Common Beer Dusseldorf Altbier GERMAN WHEAT AND RYE BEER Weizen / Weiss bier Dunkelweizen Weizenbock Roggenbier (Rye beer) FRUIT BEER SPICE / HERB / SPECIALTY BEER Spice / Herb / Vegetable beer Christmas / Winter / Specialty Spiced Beer SMOKE FLAVORED and WOOD AGED BEER Classic Rauchbier Other Smoked Beer Wood Aged Beer SPECIALTY BEER MEAD AND CIDER TRADITIONAL MEAD Dry Mead Semi-sweet Mead Sweet Mead MELOMEL (FRUIT MEAD) Cyser (apple Melomel) Pyment (grape Melomel) Other Fruit Melomel OTHER MEAD Metheglin (spiced Mead) Braggot (barley Mead) Open Category Mead STANDARD CIDER and PERRY Common Cider English Cider French Cider Common Perry Traditional Perry SPECIALTY CIDER and PERRY New England Cider Fruit Cider Apple Wine Other Specialty Cider and Perry

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

In case you need the metric equivalents of basic measurements, keep this simple conversions guide close by when you’re brewing your own beer at home: Liquid Conversions Mass Conversions 1 teaspoon (tsp.) = 5 milliliters 1 ounce (oz.) = 28 grams 1 tablespoon (Tbsp.) = 15 milliliters 1 pound (lb.) = 0.45 kilogram 1 ounce (oz.) = 29.6 milliliters 1 cup (c.) = 237 milliliters