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Shenks Beer Basics
by Greg Buckwalter of Brewsource, LLC
Making beer is similar to cooking; essentially you have ingredients and a process.
The hobby of making beer at home is known as “Homebrewing”, no kidding huh… Homebrewing is a hobby
that many people enjoy. It is not hard to catch the Homebrewing bug. Why? Well, because you can make
beer as good or better than some of those you can buy. Really you say? Yes, because the big commercial
brewers are trying to make beer at the lowest possible cost and the ingredient selection is 'sometimes'
driven by economics. Homebrewers do not have these kinds of constraints a little extra here and there
and you can make some of the best beer possible. Disclaimer: This does not include all commercial
breweries. There are Micro-Breweries out there that we wish we could duplicate. But that’s one of
the many fun parts of Homebrewing – comparing your brew to others and learning what you like and dislike in beer.
Beer is comprised of four basic ingredients: malted barley, hops, yeast, and water. These basics are the
same for Homebrewers and Professionals. There really are not any real ‘secrets’ to Homebrewing. It is mostly
a matter of selecting the right choice of ingredients, blended in the right proportions and utilized in the
best way. A brief, non-scientific description of each of the basic ingredients is listed below.
Malted Barley – home brewers and professional brewers begin every batch with malted barley (malt).
Barley is a grain grown in most parts of the world it is similar to wheat. It is ‘malted’ by allowing the seeds
to sprout then quickly stopping the sprouting process by heating the grains. This begins the process of converting
the grain’s starches to sugar. Malted Barley provides the fermentable sugars which the yeast later uses as food.
The temperature and length of time the grain is heated will determine the color (Lovibond) and flavor of the grain.
You can break malts into the following categories: Pale Malts or your base malts, Light Colored Malts, Dark Colored Malts,
Caramelized Malts, Roasted Malts and Other Grains sometimes called Adjuncts. Malts add caramel flavor, nutty flavors,
roast flavors, etc. to beers. Most recipes will have a base malt and added specialty malts for flavor and color. See
below for more detail on Base Malt vs. Specialty Malts.
The malt is mashed during the brewing process (soaking the barley in water at a specific temperature and time). Mashing
converts the starches to fermentable and unfermentable sugars. The yeast “eats” the sugars created by mashing and two
byproducts are made – carbon dioxide and alcohol. Hmm can you see it now…
Lovibond – This is the color rating of the grain, the higher the number, and the darker the grain – i.e. 20 vs.
120-crystal malt. Dark grains provide different flavors and performance than lighter grains. A complete description of
all our grains is on the Shenks.com web site.
Base Malt vs. Specialty Malts – base malt is the type of barley used to provide most of the fermentable
sugars and the backbone of every recipe. You can substitute base malts with malt extract using the alternate, and
shorter, method of extract brewing with a Partial mash. Specialty grains (malts) are malted barley that have been kilned,
or cooked, usually at higher temperatures and different lengths of time than Base Malts, which gives them color, and flavor.
The higher the temperature and the longer the grain is cooked, the darker the resulting grain. It’s like making toast,
darken it lightly and you have a grain similar to 20 lovibond crystal malt; let the bread in the toaster too long, and you
have a very dark grain like roasted barley, which is in the 450 – 500 lovibond range.
Malt Extract – the homebrewer’s shortcut to mashing; this product comes in the form of a syrup or dried malt
extract (DME). It is malted barley that has been mashed and most of the water has been removed. More water remains in the
syrup form than in the dried (powder) form. This leads to a question that is asked and debated in many homebrewer circles.
Can you make as good of a beer with extract as you can with “All-Grain”. In our opinion, it is possible to make excellent
beer with malt extract. You can also look at the extract recipe award winners at the Great American Beer Festival. Which
includes the folks at Pacific Coast Brewing Company in Oakland, California who have won nine medals. Matter of fact they
won medals seven years in a row, which in itself is a record for a brewpub.
Adjuncts, Sugars, Spices and Fruits - additional materials are sometimes added to the beer depending on the
recipe and style. Things like Belgian candi sugar to Belgian-style beer, and fruit to fruit-flavored beers; spices to
holiday beers, Oats to Oatmeal Stouts, Rye to Rye beer, etc. The bottom line is you can put almost anything in beer –
if you dare. Once again this is part of the fun of making your own beer, you get to determine what the beer will taste
like by selecting what goes into the beer.
Hops – hops are cone-shaped flowers that grow on vines, they add bitterness, flavor and aroma to beer.
When added to the boiling wort, the amount of hops added, how long the hops are boiled, and the alpha acid percentage
of a particular hop will determine the amount of bitterness, flavor or aroma that is derived from the hops. Generally,
hops added in the beginning of the boil (60 to 90 minutes boiling time) will add bitterness; hops added in the middle
of the boil – 30 minutes boiling time - will add some bitterness, but will also contribute to the flavor; hops boiled
for 10 minutes or less contribute to the wonderful aroma of quality beer. The bitterness balances the sweet flavor of
the malt. Hops also provide a preservative effect to the finished beer – nice versatile little flower.
Alpha Acids – percentages above 10% are considered high, 5.5 to 9 medium, and 5 and below are low alpha
acid ratings. High alpha hops are typically used for bittering, and lower alpha acid hops are used for flavoring and
aroma. However, there are a number of hops that are considered dual-purpose for their bittering and aroma qualities.
Complete descriptions for all our hops are located on BrewSoure.com's Hop section.
Water – If you can drink it you can brew with it. However, using bottled spring water can produce a
better beer depending on the quality of your local water. If you’re comfortable with your tap water – use it.
Soft
verses hard water: As a rule of thumb, Pilsners and dark beers should have Soft water. Hoppy beers like the British
styles require hard water. You can harden your water by adding calcium carbonate (gypsum).
Yeast – arguably the most important ingredient in beer; yeast is a single cell microorganism that feasts
on sugars thus producing alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbles in beer). Different strains of yeast have different
flavor characteristics; they are available in dry or liquid form. Dry yeast is considered to be of lower quality (and
price) than liquid yeast, but fine beer can be made with dry yeast. Liquid yeast is sold in a variety of forms and types
– check them out on the web site. Generally, ale yeasts perform best at room temperature (60 – 77 degrees) and lager
yeast perform best at refrigerated temperatures (48 – 58 degrees).
That’s the Basics of Beer – are you ready to start brewing your own yet?
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