Brew beer with a coffee maker and a modest amount of ingredients

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Al

What if you’re at sea for months at a time on a research vessel, and you really want some beer, but there isn’t a port in your future?

Southern Fried Science: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science. Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This could really come in handy in other situations too, like, say, you’re trapped in a hotel by zombie hordes.

(via Boing Boing (via Southern Fried Science))

Good Read on a Better Brew

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Ron

A friend of mine gave me a great article from the New Yorker on beer called A Better Brew. It was about Dogfish Head Brewing, their founder Sam Calagione, and extreme beers. But it was more than that… it was an extremely well written story that really gives you a good picture of Dogfish Head and what they are about. I highly suggest taking the time to read the full article. Here is one of the ways the author, Calvin Trillin, discovered what Sam Calagione believes about extreme beer,

Extreme beer is a return to normality, too, Calagione believes. It’s just the normality of a thousand years ago, or several thousand, rather than a hundred. If the Reinheitsgebot is still the touchstone for most American brewers, Calagione’s is a bronze bowl from King Midas’ tomb.

One of the things I found most interesting was the lengths Dogfish Head would go through just to try something different. For example, they brewed with heated rocks because when sahti was first brewed in the middle ages they used wooden kettles; so hot rocks was the method of choice.

The online New Yorker also has an audio discussion about the article with additional insight. Again, this is some high quality stuff (not like you would find on just some beer blog). It is also worth a listen.

Beer on TV

Posted on July 17, 2008 by Al

Premiering tonight (July 17) on CNBC is “American Originals: Budweiser“. (check your local listings)

They’re losing marketshare to microbreweries and facing a change in ownership. Join CNBC inside Anheuser-Busch for an unparalleled look at how the King of Beers plans to meet the challenges of an ever changing marketplace and stay on top.

Very timely, I’d say. The information on the CNBC website also has a bunch of other goodies, like some photo slideshows, illustrated history, and related video news segments.

Further, I ran into this interesting blurb from National Geographic about the brewing of beer.

National Geographic: The Perfect Beer

How Brewers Measure Alcohol in Beer (Part 7)

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Ron

Brewers measure the amount of alcohol in beer by comparing the density of the wort (liquid before fermentation) to the density of the beer (liquid after fermentation). The difference between the two is the result of the creation of CO₂ and alcohol during the fermentation process.

To measure density, brewers use a measurement known as “specific gravity.” Wikipedia defines specific gravity well, as:

Specific gravity (SG) is a special case of relative density defined as the ratio of the density of a given substance, to the density of water when both substances are at the same temperature. Substances with a specific gravity greater than 1 are more dense than water, and those with a specific gravity of less than 1 are less dense than water.

To measure this, brewers use a hydrometer. A hydrometer, which contains a weight to float upright, works by floating and displacing some of the liquid it its container (usually a cylinder). The level of the surface of the liquid is noted where it falls on the scale of the hydrometer.

A hydrometer in water should read about 1.000, depending on temperature and mineral content. A hydrometer in wort will read higher because of the increased density due to all of the dissolved sugars. A hydrometer in beer, will be higher than 1.000, but lower than the initial reading (original gravity) because some of the sugar has been turned into ethyl alcohol (final gravity).

How Stuff Works goes on to explain the details of how to calculate the amount of alcohol present by weight. I will let you read all about molecular weight and chemical equations of sugar getting split into alcohol and CO₂ on your own. For the brewer, the hydrometer not only has the scale for specific gravity, but also includes the scale for percent of potential alcohol by volume, already calculated out for you. (the conversion of alcohol by mass to alcohol by volume is already considered on the potential alcohol scale of a hydrometer) Potential alcohol is the amount of alcohol that would be produced if all of the sugar present in the wort is fermented into alcohol, but not all will be.

For an example using approximations with a custom photo of my hydrometer, a wort with an original specific gravity of 1.069 has the potential alcohol of about 9%. If the beer then has a final gravity of 1.032, measuring a potential alcohol of about 4%, the difference gives us a result of 5% alcohol by volume.

How Alcohol is Created in Beer (Part 6)

Posted on March 5, 2008 by Ron

Back in Packs a Punch, I withheld from my friend that my Guinness was less potent in alcohol than his Bud Light. If I didn’t, he would then have asked me how can that be? … No, actually he wouldn’t care, or wouldn’t believe me. But why is it that the darker, thicker, sweeter, stronger tasting beer has less alcohol?

To understand how alcohol is made in beer, you have to understand a little bit about yeast. I ask you… how much do you currently know about yeast? Try this yeast trivia questionnaire by A.B. first and see how you do…

Well, you don’t have to know all of the details about how yeast works, as yeast is a very complicated critter. Basically, yeast eats sugars, divides (and thus multiplies), and produces in turn carbon dioxide and ethanol (alcohol).

So, the amount of alcohol content in beer is dependent on the amount of fermentable sugars available in the wort. Those sugars are present from the mash process of the malted barely during brewing. But wait, there’s more! There are other factors, too, which make it more complicated than just that. For example, the more roasted a malt is, the less fermentable sugars it will produce during the mash. Plus, the environment needed for fermentation to take place has to be just right. For instance, there are enzymes needed as a catalyst for the process. Temperature, oxygen, and other things contribute to how efficient the yeast works.

Fermentable sugars are key. Remember back in Part 3 that specialty grains do not contain all, or as much, of the enzymes needed for fermentation. Also, specialty grains do not contain as much potentially fermentable sugars, but they certainly bring a lot of flavor and color to the party. (ok, I admit, I’ve been watching too much Good Eats)

Bud Light uses rice (genetically engineered) to create more fermentable sugars without adding any taste, but still provide alcohol. Guinness uses lots of roasted malts for taste and color, much of which does not ferment and, thus, produces less alcohol while still packing a punch of flavor.

More from How Stuff Works…
How Beer works
Fermentation

How Beer is Made (Part 2)

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Ron

Before I start to drone on about color, calories and alcohol in beer, I should start with a 101 on how beer is made. I am going to try and summarize the process in as few words as possible…

A starch source, primarily made up of cracked malted barley, is heated in water along with certain enzymes which starts a chemical reaction converting the starches into sugar. This process, called the mash, results in a thick, sugary, liquid called (shockingly) the mash.

The mash is then boiled along with hops, a conical flower from the hop plant (Humulus lupulus), which acts as both a flavoring and a preservative. Hops added at the beginning of the boil produce a bitterness from the alpha acids in the hops. Hop added later in the boil contribute less to the bitterness and more to the aroma. Brewers typically add some in the beginning, and some at the end. The result of this step is not yet beer, it is called the wort. (pronounced “wert”)

Once the wort is cooled and moved to a clean vessel, yeast is added and the process of fermentation takes place, converting the sugars into both alcohol and carbon dioxide. After fermentation is completed, the liquid is now called beer. This whole process is called brewing.

The amount of each ingredient, the type of each ingredient, the length and handling of this process can all be done in a multitude of ways each producing a unique result. With this, the wonderful world of beers is created.

For other great and more detailed references on brewing, check out these below:

Or watch this video from Iron Hill Brewing…

Hop Talk

Beer. Life. Blog.

Tag Archives: brewing