Massive Articles / Food and Drink
Making Beer
Frequently Asked Questions About Making Beer
Bookmark this Article
WHERE DO I START... How do I make beer?
Beer is made with
basically, water, barley malt, hops and yeast. The water, malt
and hops are boiled to produce a wort. This wort is cooled, put
into a fermenting essel, and the yeast is added (pitched). This
vessel is sealed with an air lock, and the beer is allowed to
ferment (sugar and water is turned to alcohol, carbon dioxide, etc)
and age for a period of time. When the fermentation is over, a
bit of additional malt or other sugar is added (for carbonation),
and the beer is bottled or kegged. It is once again allowed to age
for a period of time, during which the additional sugars carbonate
the beer, and the taste of the beer developes and ages. The beer
is then consumed.
Where to find more information about making beer??
What other Internet resources are available? You can find more information
in the newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing, and rec.food.drink. There is a
mailing list, "The Homebrew Digest" sent out almost daily. There
is an archive of HBD items available via ftp at sierra.stanford.edu,
in the /pub/homebrew directory. There is also a mead-makers archive
in the /pub/mead directory.
What books are available on homebrewing?
The most popular is "The Complete
Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. This is the book that
made the phrase "Relax, Don't worry, Have a Homebrew" popular.
Where can I find recipes?
TCJOH by Papazian, "The Cats Meow" from the HBD, etc etc.
How should I store my homebrew?
The most common method is in bottles.
These can be either the Grolsh kind, that have a stopper that
is attached to the bottle, bottles that you put a crown cap on,
or bottles that you cork. How do I get the labels of the bottles
that I am going to use for my brew? The most effective method is
Commonly said to be by soaking them in a solution of water and
ammonia. Most labels will fall off after soaking overnight.
What does the "33" on the back of Rolling Rock bottles mean?
There are
several common answers. First, it is said to be the number of
words on the back label. The story goes that the Latrobe Brewing
Company was deciding on which slogan to use on the new bottles,
and had counted the number of words, and written it on the piece
of paper that went to the bottle supplier. The bottle supplier
mistakenly included the 33 on the printed bottles, and it has been
there since. Another explanation is that it is the year that
prohibition was repealed. One notable comment about the mysterious
33 from a Latrobe exec goes something like; "Who cares what it
means as, long as people continue to ponder it while drinking a
cold Rolling Rock.
What is this new thing that Guinness is test marketing? How does it work? Where can I get it?
The thing is a can that has a pouch of Nitrogen gas in it that is used to produce a creamy head as you pour the beer. Probably the closest thing to "draft beer in a can!"
What is CAMRA?
CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale was formed 21 years ago
in the UK to protect the rapidly disappearing cask ales from a
tide of bland keg beers which were being foisted on the public
by the large breweries. It was fantastically successful (the most
successful consumer movement in Europe) and now addresses other
issues such as licensing law and protecting the British pub.
It has now formed alliances with similar organisations througout
Europe to deal with impending Europe issues. There are branches
of CAMRA in several countries (eg Canada). As to Australia, I
think there is a local organisation - will check it out during
the break. However, you can get further details from the UK HQ at
34 Alma Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 3BW, UK.
Mark Enderby, enderby@daresbury.ac.uk (CAMRA Regional Director)
What is Jagermeister?
It is a German herbal liquor. It is NOT beer. Discussions about it should be held on rec.food.drink. The same holds for all other beverages... like Everclear...
How is the typical mass produced American beer like sex in a Canoe?
WHO CARES!!!! This is a lame joke that has been beat into the
ground! Enough already! For newcomers who haven't heard it,
the punch line is "Because they are both f*cking close to water."
YAWN! This joke has been attributed to Monty Python. I will
personally email 10 bottles of heavily skunked, over-primed
homebrew beer grenades to anyone who repeats it on the net.