Beer has been known for centuries to be one of the favorite beverages for people across the world. The first beer breweries were founded in Ancient Egypt and kept on being there till today. Later on, Celts and Germans learned how to brew their beer easier and started having it as their premium beverage.
Today we will talk more about the ingredients used to make a beer. Even though every brewery has its special tradition and recipe, some of them are common to all. Let’s elaborate more on that so that you are more knowledgeable in the future.
Beer Is Primarily a Water Solution
You need to understand that beer is almost 95% water and 5% alcohol most of the time. That watery substance gives it a great and refreshing taste. On the other hand, you should always consume it with care, especially when driving.
Even though you can find beers with no alcohol today, they still don’t have the original taste you would always expect to have.
Water
First, you need to have high-quality freshwater to start brewing your beer. It’s not pure luck that most of the breweries are close to some of the best freshwater springs.
To start the fermentation and maturation process, you need to have that water coming to your barrels. That’s why the water needs to be clean from other residues and as fresh as possible.
Yeast
Yeast is the most complex and important thing you need to add to the beer mixture. It can come from several microbes that provide enzymes for the fermentation process. You need to have the highest yeast quality to have the most impressive results when you brew a beer.
According to the yeast type, you will add to your beer mixture; you can accelerate or stop the fermentation process. It’s important to have the right portion of yeast in your beer to ensure that you can have the best proportion of alcohol in your beer. That is the general rule, but your dedicated chemist can give you the exact analogies.
Malt
Many people use malt as their primary ingredient to increase the fermentation process. Malt is present in almost all countries in the world, and it’s a cereal that many people cannot eat in its primary type.
Cleaning it and passing the malt seeds into the beer mixture would give it a great taste and start the fermentation process to produce some alcohol.
Barley
Other breweries, especially the ones in England and Western Europe, use barley as their primary cereal. It is a mild cereal with a moderate taste but has some explicit qualities that accelerate the fermentation process.
It is the one that can give you the best possible foam for your beer, so you better have the best quality barley you can find from the countryside near the brewery.
Wheat
If you want your beer to smell like bread, it would be better to add some wheat to the mixture. People who use wheat did so because it was in great abundance in the places close to the beer brewery.
However, it’s a clever and affordable solution to have as a fermenting factor for your beer mixture with a great final taste.
Corn, Rice
Americans used to have corn and rice in great quantities. That gives them the right to use it for fermenting their beers, and you will know it when you taste them. For instance, the famous Corona beer is made with rice and corn having this particular Pale Ale color and taste.
Oats
You can find oats coming from oatmeal to beers that are made in the New England region. Their oats are in great quantities and give a profound and interesting taste or flavor to your beer.
People who used to have oatmeal for their breakfast will find the beer interesting to have since it will remind them of their early childhood years.
Rye
If you like spice in your beer mixture, then rye is the best type of crop to use for the fermentation process. You can add rye and have your beer take a spicy and earthy flavor that others will love to have.
Hops
As mentioned in other articles, hops are the flowers of the Humulus plant that have come across the world. They are cultivated everywhere, and today you can find more than one thousand varieties of the traditional hops plant.
However, you only need to add a specific type of hop to produce the beer you like to consume. As you understand, hops contain the aromatic and flavor factor that will make your beer different than anything else you can find.
For instance, with beer hope, you can adjust the bitterness and the aromatic qualities. That’s why beer hops come in pellets or whole form. You can keep them in a sterile and safe place for a long time and add some of them to your beer barrels.
They will secrete their aromas and flavors into your beer, making it special and different than any other beer you have tasted. Each brewery has its own recipe and uses different types of beer hops. It is the best thing you can do to grow your own beer hops and have the best possible outcome when you finally drink your beer.
Bitter
Most beer hops give bitterness to your beer. That happens because they are rich in alpha acids that will make your beer taste bitter. An acidity that is close to 20% will give you a strong and bitter beer.
However, most lager beers that we all know and love have a beer hop inside that is not more than 4% to 7% alpha acids concentration. It takes years to have the right proportion of beer hops, and once you find it, you cannot change it.
Aromatic
Finally, you can find some aromatic hops that are available for breweries across the world. These hops work the same way as others, and they have a small proportion of acidity.
