IN MINUTES

How to make beer

Making beer is just like cooking. Each recipe requires di erent ingredients and techniques. Beer is made from four basic ingredients:

News and events visually

Whats your type?

12.69%
High
Oldest type of beer Uses top fermenting yeast, which oats on surface for rst few days then settles to bottom 60-75F (Temperatures above 75F produce secondary avours and aromas, usually fruity) A few weeks at 40-55F Sweet and fruity taste Usually higher

Beer sub-types
Amber Reddishbrown; ranges from pale to dark with hints of caramel Amber ale with a dry, sharp avour produced from hops Dark brown; nutty and malty with avour ranging from dry to sweet Dark brown; strong ale with roasty malt avours

Bitter

best if your tap water doesnt taste good neither will your beer. Dont use distilled water as it has been depleted of oxygen.

Water Filtered water is Malt is dried barley

lager, ale or specialty.

Specialty beers are either ales, lagers, or a hybrid of the two.

Beer can be categorized as a

15.66%
High

Brown ale Burton

grain that has been carefully soaked in water until it sprouts. It is then mashed, which extracts sugars and starches from the grain. Advanced homebrewers can do this at home, but if youre new at it look for a product called malt extract. owers that look similar to pine cones. Malt causes beer to be really sweet, so hops are used to balance it out with bitterness. It also adds a distinctive aroma to the nished brew. organism that feeds o the sugars in malt, which it converts to alcohol and carbon dioxide (fermentation). Look for specially cultured beer yeast, usually called brewers yeast.

Developed Fermenting style Fermenting temperature Aging Taste Alcohol content

In Germany Bottom fermenting yeast that tends to be more aggressive (leaves less sugars) 4655F

Hefeweizen Frothy wheat beer;

light in body, avour and alcohol content

Hops are green

A few months at 32-45F Crisp, dry taste Usually less than ales

Yeast is a living

%
Low

Typical alcohol

Examples:

A beers shelf life is about three months

Examples:
Best se rved cold

%
Low

Typical hoppy alcohol Malt liquor Pale, malty lager;

over 5% alcohol

India Pale Ale Pale and profusely

Dry in avour; contains high-quality malt and high levels of hops Very pale ale; dry, hoppy avour and aroma brown; full-bodied and bittersweet or chocolately in avour

Pale ale Pilsner

4.02% Porter Dark

ed Best serv room at ure temperat

2.92%

The strongest beer ever created in terms of alcohol by volume is the lager Schorschbrau Schorschbock 57% Finis Coronat Opus with a whopping

57.7%

The process
1
Malt, hops, and water are boiled into a mixture called wort (pronounced wert).

ALE
The wort is poured into a fermenter and allowed to cool.

Beer quality is a ected by both temperature and light

Stout Dark brown;

rich, slightly burnt taste; sometimes made with caramel sugar and high levels of hops

Laying beer bottles on their side can create a yeast ring that wont settle

LAGER
5

Wheat beer with Pale colour; made

wheat malt; mediumbodied texture and slightly tart

Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available beer in the world

Yeast is pitched into the fermenter and sealed.

Usually in 7 to 10 days the yeast will have eaten all the sugar it can and fall to the bottom of the fermenter.

Beer is bottled and set aside for a couple of weeks to mature and carbonate.

Sources: beertutor.com; Indiana University; thebeerstore.ca; 2basnob.com; drinkingbeer.net; beer.about.com; typesofbeer.biz; Wikipedia

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1; INFOGRAPHIC BY MEGAN DINNER/QMI AGENCY