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Brewing beer is a time- consuming process that involves a controlled environment, selective ingredients, and plenty of patience. Commercial brewing operations start out with boiled malted barley and water, which is then infused with hops and fermented.
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At the very least, a brewer must have the basic ingredients to brew beer. This includes malted barley, water, yeast, and hops. Sometimes, brewers will introduce other ingredients into the process, like wheat, rice, corn, even fruit flavoring and other additives. But there has to be at least the four basics- barley, water, yeast, and hops- to brew beer.
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 Beer begins its path to production in the mash tub- a vessel where the grains are infused. The mixture is then sent to a brew kettle where it is boiled for roughly ninety minutes along with hops.
Brewers can choose among many different types of hops, and the selection they make, along with the quantity used, will greatly affect the taste of the final product. It is common for brewers to use one type of hops throughout the boiling process and then add another type of hop at the end of the process, for added flavor.
Once the mixture, or wort has been boiled and then cooled, yeast is added to begin the fermentation process. Like with hops, there are many different strains of yeast and they each impart unique taste characteristics to the beer. Yeast is divided into two broad categories: ale yeast, which is top- fermenting and used to produce pale ale, stout, porter, and other products; and lager yeast, which is bottom- fermenting and used to produce pilsner, bock, etc.
Fermentation usually takes between three and seven days. The yeast attacks the malt sugars, converting them into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The more malt sugar present, the more alcoholic the final beer will be.
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Once the beer is completely fermented, it is left to age for a short period of time. For most beer styles, maturation is reached in a matter of days. It doesn't take long for beer to reach its peak of maturity and since most beer is perishable, it tastes best if it is consumed sooner rather than later. There are a few exceptions to this rule. One exception are Belgian lambics, where the aging process can take several months. There are even some styles of beer that have active, living yeast in the bottle and can be aged for more than a year, like a fine wine. Unlike the majority of beer products, these yeast- fortified brews can actually inprove in taste over an extended period of time.
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 Making beer at home can prove to be an enjoyable and rewarding hobby, and most homebrewers take up this art as a way to enjoy the creativity that comes with brewing ones own product. With homebrewing, the brewer follows a formula similar to that of a commercial brewer with some differences. The aging process has to be altered slightly for homebrewing. Once the mixture has been boiled, cooled, and fermented, it has to be bottled. But in order to get the carbonation one expects in a bottle of beer, a small amount of additional yeast must be added. This is accomplished by drawing out a small amount of the fermented wort, adding yeast and dissolving, then pouring the mixture back into the wort and stirring it well. The added yeast at the end of the process causes the yeast cells to reactivate for a short time, producing just as little more alcohol and carbon dioxide.
One of the many great things about homebrewing is the limitless variations that the homebrewer can create. All sorts of different grains, extracts, and other ingredients can be added to enhance the complexity and the taste of the final product. One is limited only by his/her imagination. I have tasted homebrew made with melted chocolate, almond extract, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and countless other ingredients.
Homebrewing clubs exist all over the nation, in many different locales both small and large. There is also a homebrewing organization that exists on a national scale. Its called, appropriately, the American Homebrewers Association, a division of the Association of Brewers. The organization was founded by Charlie Papazian and it hosts many events and competitions throughout the year. For more information, visit the AHA web site, www.beertown.org.
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