All About Beer
An impossible task really, to try and convey everything there is to know about beer. Consider this….
For beer to exist there must be a brewer. The first beer was likely a fortuitous result of some gathered grain getting damp in a clay pot and spontaneously fermenting from the wild yeast floating in the air. Imagine how happy the first drinker was on its discovery! Since then countless brewers and scientists, including the likes of Louis Pasteur, have dedicated themselves to unravelling the mysteries of the brewing process. However hard they try to rationalise and document they are yet to fully understand the alchemy, the magic. We hope they never figure it out but for a progress report and if you’re interested in furthering your understanding of what’s involved, open up the file on the left.
Beer has been purposefully brewed and enjoyed for millennia, making it the oldest alcoholic beverage. It persuaded our hunter gatherer ancestors to settle down and start farming. Archaeological evidence proves the Chinese were brewing beer as early as 7000BC. The earliest written records of mankind are Sumerian tax and wage lists, in which there is a dedicated symbol for beer. The story of beer is therefore intricately woven with the fabric of civilisation. If you’re interested in reading a concise history of beer, open up the file on the right.
So, beer is just beer, right? If beer was a person it would answer ‘yes’ because it is neither pretentious nor arrogant and possesses a wonderful self confidence.
There are only three types of beer; Ale, Lager and Lambics, determined by the source and action of the yeast (the microbe that converts sugar to alcohol). Within each category there are many unique yeast strains that all impart a different character to the final beer. But yeast is only one of four ingredients.
The starch that provides the fermentable sugars for the yeast to convert can be derived from numerous sources; barley, wheat, rye, rice, sorghum to name a few. Where it is grown and of what particular variety (there are many different barleys for example) impacts on its chemical and biological composition. Each can be malted (roasted) to varying degrees from very pale to intensely dark. How it is milled and finally processed in the brewhouse all lead to the development of different characteristics in the final beer.
Water isn’t just water either. Its chemical and ionic composition differs between water sources. The subterranean water in chalky Burton-on-Trent is hard and ideal for brewing ales, the water in mountainous Plzen in the Czech Republic is soft and ideal for brewing lager. There are myriad variables in between.
Hops come in hundreds of varieties too and are grown in many different parts of the World. Commonly referred to as ‘the grape of the beer World’ the choice of hop or blend of hops, whether whole flower, pellets or liquid, when and how much are added during the process all add character. There is a strong theme emerging…
With these four ingredients beer can be brewed. Often nowadays many adjuncts, orange peel, coriander, oysters etc. are added to further extend the boundaries of beer. The brewing equipment used be it wood, copper or stainless steel vessels, gas, electric, wood or steam heating…yes, you’ve got it, all add character!
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We once tried to calculate the maximum number of different beers that could be brewed based on all the options available to the brewer, but we gave up. Once you recognise the brewer as a variable themselves the variety of beer becomes infinite.
At Mitchell Krause Brewing we started by brewing three beers, a Czech Pilsner, an American Pale Ale and a Bavarian Hefe Weiss. We are looking forward to brewing more and will probably choose the next from the list in the file on the right. Why not let us know which you’d prefer…
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