Craft Beer Ingredients: Exploring Brewing Materials

The main raw materials of craft beer are malt, hops, water, and yeast. Different types of raw materials can be used to brew beer with different flavors. If we use the same malt, water, and hops. But using different yeasts, the aroma and flavor of the brewed beer are also different.
Also, the fermentation process is particularly important when brewing craft beer. So the choice of brewery equipment is also very important. Contact us to get the best beer brewing equipment quotation.

Malt

Malt is an indispensable ingredient for craft beer. To determine the flavor of a craft beer, you need to look at what kind of malt you choose. Malt affects the taste, aroma, and color of beer. It is also an important raw material for obtaining ethanol. The enzymes present in malt can hydrolyze the starch in barley or wheat into maltose. In this way, yeast can progress to break it down into ethanol and carbon dioxide.

Classification of malt

Malt is divided into light-colored malt and dark-colored malt. The color, taste, and aroma of beer brewed with different malts will be different. Generally, pale malt contains a large amount of amylase. So it can convert its starch into maltose. This means that light-colored malts can be used with other special malts. Also, common malts include Pilsen malt, Vienna malt, Munich malt, and caramelized wheat malt.

How to judge the quality of malt?

To judge the quality of malt, you can distinguish it from four aspects: its color, fragrance, grain, and inclusions. The light-colored malt of good quality should be light yellow and shiny, without any qualitative change. Moldy malt is green or black and has no luster. Light-colored malt has a malt aroma. Dark malt should not only have a malt aroma but also a burnt aroma. If there are other smells, it has likely gone bad. This malt cannot be used to brew beer.
Characteristics of different malts:

Light color malt: light yellow, shiny, with malt aroma, no peculiar smell.
Burnt malt: It has a strong burnt aroma and no peculiar smell.
Strong color malt and black malt: with malt aroma and burnt aroma, no peculiar smell.

How is malt made?

The production process of malt is also very simple, just let the barley soaked in water germinate. After germination, the enzymes in the seeds will convert protein into sugar. Then put the germinated seeds in the oven to stop the effect of the enzyme. The degree of toasting depends on how much you want. After baking, it is what we call various types of malt.

Hops

Hops are also called hops. It belongs to the genus Humulus in the Cannabis family of the order Urticaria. It is a climbing herb, dioecious. Hops can give the beer a rich aroma, and people who like beer pay more attention to hops as a raw material. Only unfertilized female flowers can be used to brew beer. The granular hop glands in the hops can give beer aroma, increase bitterness, and form foam. Many wineries have unique recipes. They brew different styles of beer by mixing different hops. Of course, the mixed-use of different hops will also produce a variety of flavors of beer.
Hops give the beer a characteristic. This characteristic is the bitterness of the beer. Most of the beer we drink is also bitter. This bitterness is brought about by hops. Because the hop itself contains a substance called alpha acid. This substance becomes very bitter under the action of high temperature.

Classification of hops

Hops are divided into fragrant hops and bitter hops. The fragrant hops have poor disease resistance and low yield. Also, its oil content is lower than that of bitter hops. Bitter hops have strong disease resistance and high yield.

How to judge the quality of hops?

For judging the quality of hops, you can roughly judge from two points.
The first is “look”. The appearance of fresh hops must be bright, and the appearance should have a layer of shiny and shiny feeling. Also, its particle size is uniform.
The second is “smell”. The aroma of hops does not show any unacceptable smell. If its aroma changes, the brewed beer may produce some bad smell. This also shows that such hops have quality problems.

When brewing beer, few people don’t put hops. Because before pasteurization, people used to add hops to beer. Hops can make beer storage longer. As an important ingredient in beer ingredients, hops cannot be replaced.

Beer Yeast

Yeast exists in two forms: dry yeast and liquid yeast. There are few types of dry yeast, usually Ales yeast, and almost no Lagers dry yeast. Liquid yeast is also called fresh yeast. There are many kinds of it.

Types of yeast

Beer yeast refers to the yeast used for brewing beer. Yeast is a kind of microorganism, which can decompose bud sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Choosing the right yeast is the essence of brewing beer. Ales yeast floats in the upper layer of the wine during fermentation. It can make the liquor have a rich aroma and mellow taste. Lagers yeast settles to the bottom of the wine during fermentation. It can make the liquor have a refreshing taste. Yeast is crucial in determining the aroma of beer.

What kind of yeast should I choose for brewing beer?

The yeast used for brewing beer depends on three conditions. These are the yeast’s fermentation degree, the yeast’s precipitation effect, and the yeast’s fermentation temperature.
The degree of yeast fermentation will affect the alcohol content of beer. Yeast with a high degree of fermentation consumes more sugar and has a high alcohol content. The precipitation effect indicates the effect of the yeast clumping and precipitation. When brewing beer at home, if the effect of yeast precipitation is not good. You need to extend the storage time and lower the temperature to make the yeast sink as much as possible.
The quality of beer fermentation depends on the yeast fermentation temperature and the state of the yeast. The state of yeast can be understood as the yeast is alive. The brewer’s yeast used for fermentation needs to be young, vigorous, and not contaminated by other bacteria, and in large numbers.

The characteristics of a good brewer’s yeast:

The physiological characteristics of the strain should be ideal. For example, the fermentation performance is good, the reproduction speed is fast, the stress resistance is strong, and the finished beer has a good flavor and taste.
The strain has high purity. Also, bacteria and wild yeast must not be mixed.
Yeast must be strong. Only with strong vitality can the fermentation process be completed well. This is exactly the state of the yeast mentioned above.

Water

85%—90% of beer is water. The quality of water affects the quality of beer. So, when brewing beer, the water need is high. The content of various substances in the water affects beer. Also to meeting the standards of domestic water, the brewing water must adjust the corresponding pH and so on according to the beer style.
Because the water quality of the water source used is different. So, the flavors of beer consumed in different countries and regions are different. It is said, that water that contains minerals such as calcium and magnesium is most suitable for brewing beer. In the early days, everyone used local natural water sources. In an era when chemistry and biology were underdeveloped, because of the difference in water quality, different types of beer appeared everywhere. The golden and transparent Pilsner beer is brewed by relying on the ultra-soft water unique to Pilsen, Czech Republic. And Munich, which has higher water hardness, has made great achievements in black beer.

Type of water

According to different hardness, water can be divided into hard water and soft water. Hard water is difficult to use to brew light beer. Of course, soft water is also difficult to use to brew dark beer. Water quality plays a key role in determining beer style.
Modern scientific research shows that in addition to hardness, residual alkalinity in water is a more important reference data. The lower the residual alkalinity, the more suitable for pale beer. After entering modern industrialization, the water used for brewing is no longer a fate. We have various methods for water treatment. With the development of technology, each brewery has a way to control the mineral content in the water according to the type of beer produced. This can ensure the stable production of various types of beer.

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These are the raw materials used in brewing beer and how to choose high-quality raw materials. If you plan to start your craft brewery, please contact us. Micet Craft’s engineers will provide you with a complete brewery turnkey solution. If you are a novice brewer, we will also provide you with brewing instructions. Let’s start brewing our craft beer!

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