Brewing beer requires only four ingredients: barley malt, water, hops and yeast. But each comes in a multitude of varieties with their own characteristics — enough to vary your beers endlessly.
1. Water
Water is used for brewing, but also for cleaning and rinsing equipment. Tap water works; spring or well water is preferable because it’s low in mineral salts, but it calls for regular checks of its purity. The chemical make-up of the water is a decisive factor in the final quality of the beer.
2. Malt
Malt is obtained from cereals — most often barley. At the maltings, the grains are made to germinate then dried: this is malting. By varying the temperatures, the maltster obtains malts that are more or less coloured, caramelised or roasted: this is kilning. By combining these malts in varying proportions, the brewer achieves the colour and flavour they’re after.
Malt is essential because it holds the starch, the proteins and the enzymes. During the mash, the enzymes turn the starch into sugars; these sugars are then converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide by the yeast during fermentation.
3. Yeast
Yeasts are single-celled microscopic fungi that live and multiply by consuming sugars. In the absence of air, they turn these sugars into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide: this is fermentation, the basis of every alcoholic drink. Along the way, they also produce a host of aromatic substances that give beer its character.
4. Hops
Hops are a climbing plant of the Cannabaceae family. The female plants produce flowers shaped like little cones; beneath their leaflets hide tiny yellow glands of lupulin, which hold bitter resins and aromatic essential oils. Hops bring the bitterness and the characteristic aromas of beer. Thanks to their tannins, they also act as a natural preservative and clarifier.
