HopHead Brew Blog

We offer information on just about anything related to beer.
Subscribe

Brewing Beer

July 30, 2007 By: CarpetGuy Category: Articles by others, Beer and wine making No Comments →

Brewing Beer
by Gary DeWitt

Brewing beer at home requires 4 basic ingredients. They are malt, hops, yeast, and water. Yet brewing beer is almost as much of an art as a science. The malt for brewing beer is the grain. The hops you use for brewing beer adds bitterness. The water makes it work. The yeast processes the sugar in the malt and affects the flavor.

You can use many malts for brewing beer. Barley malt is one of the most common. Other malts for brewing beer include wheat, rye, and oats. The malt will affect the final color of the brewed beer. Some even use oatmeal for brewing beer.

Hops create the bittering when brewing beer. Just like the grapes in wine, where hops are raised can affect the flavor.

Yeast will add flavor and aroma to the beer. Different strains of yeast are used depending on the level of alcohol wanted in the final product. There are top fermenting and bottom fermenting yeasts. Top fermenting yeast floats to the top during the fermenting process. Bottom fermenting yeast settles to the bottom.

When brewing beer, you can control all the ingredients and amounts. This will give your beer a distinct flavor that is all your own. You control the aroma, bitterness, sweetness, and alcohol content.

There are several main styles of beer. When brewing beer, then main styles are ale and lager. Ale is brewed with a top brewing yeast and a higher temperature. Lager is brewed with a bottom brewing yeast and a lower temperature.

Click here to start brewing beer today

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_DeWitt

Powered by ScribeFire.