First off, giving a congratulations to Rock Art Brewery in Vermont as they won their fight with Hansen Beverage Company for the right to continue to brew and market their brew called The Vermonster.
If you want to learn how to make beer at home, it is good to learn the history of beer making as well as source of the ingredients of all beer. Barley
is the principle source of fermentable sugar in making beer.
Other sugars derived from corn, rice and wheat are used but they are
considered to be adjuncts or additives to the barley base. The
barley plant comes in two types; two row and six row. These terms
refer to the number of individual grains on each barley stalk.
Two row barley tends to have plumper grains and less husk per weight of
starch. Six row barley, because of the lower starch to husk ratio
will yield less sweet extract per pound of grain, but is preferred for
some beer styles for technical reasons.
Want to know how to brew own beer? Then you must understand barley, malted barley, and how it is grown and processed. Malted barley is a
naturally processed form of barley. The grain is steeped in water
and allowed to begin sprouting. This germination creates enzymes
which are required to convert starch to fermentable sugar later in the
brewing process. The extent of germination is referred to as
modifying. The longer the germination the higher the
modification. Germination is stopped by drying the grain.
There are a variety of malting and drying methods used. Each
lends it’s own characteristics to the final malted barley. They
range from complete to light air dried to roasted. The combining
of different malt varieties into formulas or recipes is where brewing
begins. These formulas are called grain bills. The grain
bill will determine three important factors, for the finished beer
among others. Color, potential alcohol and sweetness.
Everyone who knows how to make homebrew knows that mashing
is the first step in brewing. The malted grains are crushed in a
mill which is designed to crack the hard starch center of the grain
while keeping the husk as whole as possible. The crushed grain is
called grist. The grain must be crushed in order to aid the
conversion of starch to sugar. The idea is to provide as much
surface area as possible for the enzymes, which were developed by
malting, to attack the starch. Mashing is a highly controlled
process of heat, time and moisture. The crushed grain is combined
with hot water and held at specific temperatures for set amounts of
time. There are three main types of mashing. Single
infusion, step infusion and decoction. Each method has its place
in brewing different beer styles.