Zymurgy Beer Brewing

What is Beer? Beer is a beverage made my fermenting a mixture of malt, hops and yeast Malt is made by germinating cereal grains (barley or wheat) then drying the grains and making them into a flour Germination creates enzymes that break down the starches into sugars Fermentation by yeast causes the glucose to break down into ethanol Enzymes Starch (a polysaccharide) Maltose (a disaccharide)

Brewing Beer making (Brewing) is a process involving 4 steps Mashing: infusion of malt water, crushed grains, at temperatures which encourage the conversion of starches to sugars Boiling: Concentrates the “wort”, kills of any bacteria, hops are added Fermentation: Yeast is added and fermentation occurs causing the breakdown of sugars to create ethanol and carbon dioxide Aging: Proteins (yeast cells) settle out of the beer or a digested by enzymatic action. This process may be anywhere from 2-24 weeks

Types of Beer Lagers: Originally made in central Europe. Uses a bottom fermenting yeast that operates at 7-12oC, and a secondary fermentation period at 0-4oC! The relatively cold conditions mean that byproducts of fermentation such as esters are not produced in the same concentrations making a cleaner beer Pilzner, Heineken, Stella Artois, Budweiser, Coors, Pale Ale (Amber Ale): Uses a top fermenting yeast that operates at high temperatures than lager yeasts. Pales ales use malted barley exclusively, and hops Samual Adams, Sierra Nevada, English Bitter, Newcastle Brown, IPAs Stouts and Porters: Dark beers that use roasted barley and a slow fermenting yeast Guinness, Murphy’s Wheat Beer or hefeweisen: Uses a top fermenting yeast and wheat instead of barley Spaten Hefeweisen, Pyramid Hefeweisen

Determining % Alcohol in your Beer Measure the density before brewing (original gravity) OG Measure the density after fermenting (final gravity) FG The difference is due to the CO2 that left per mL Knowing this we can figure out the % by volume ethanol % Alcohol = (OG – FG) * 132.7 (mL/g)

Destructions Sterilize fermentor/lock Boil water then turn off bunsen add 15-30 g malt Sterilize fermentor/lock 500 mL deionized water in 600 mL beaker Take 15 ml in a beaker let it cool and Pipette 5 mL wort into a weighed small beaker get density Simmer 10-15 mins CAREFUL Add 15 – 30 g Dextrose and fruit if wanted And reheat carefully Add 0.1 – 0.2 g hops Simmer for 30 mins (top up volume with H2O when necessary) Add 0.1 g hops and boil 5 mins uncovered Cool wort in ice bath At 30oC add pinch yeast Wait 2 weeks Warm up the fermenter Transfer wort