Most of the time when we order up some beers, we're just happy to put that life-giving elixir into our bellies, especially after a rough work week. But it isn't often that we actually consider how the delicious beer is created.
Sure, we know that you need hops, whatever those are, and water, and some other stuff, and then you put it in a pot and ... then ... beer happens? Not quite.
Dave McLean details the science of brewing, from the perspective of a craft brewer.
Bio
Dave McLean
Dave McLean has a degree in brewing science from UC Davis and is the owner and brewmaster at San Francisco's Magnolia Pub & Brewery.
Alcoholic beverage made usually from malted barley, flavoured with hops, and brewed by slow fermentation. Known from ancient times, beer was especially common in northern climates not conducive to grape cultivation for wine. It is produced by employing either a bottom-fermenting yeast, which falls to the bottom of the container when fermentation is completed, or a top-fermenting yeast, which rises to the surface. Lager beers (from lagern, to store), of German origin, are bottom-fermented and stored at a low temperature for several months; most are light in colour, with high carbonation, medium hop flavor, and alcohol content of 35% by volume. Top-fermented beers, popular in Britain, include ale, stout, and porter; they are characterized by a prominent head of released carbon dioxide, a sharper and more strongly hopped flavour than lagers, and an alcohol content of 46.5% by volume. See alsomalt.
@pokerandwine Oh, definitely. And it works the other way around too. Many glasses can help hold the volatiles within the glass. Beer Advocate has a pretty comprehensive glassware guide for beer. Check it out. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glassware
9 February 1996, the Herald-Sun reported that 'Tutankhamon Ale' will be based on sediment from jars found in a brewery housed in the Sun Temple of Nefertiti, and the team involved has gathered enough of the correct raw materials to produce "just 1000 bottles of the ale".
"We are about to unveil a great Tutankhamen secret," said Jim Merrington, commercial director at Newcastle Breweries, "The liquid gold of the pharaohs. It's a really amazing inheritance they have left us, the origins of beer itself."
-- Pharaoh's beer a shout from the grave, Melbourne Herald-Sun, 9th February 1996
Whoever is holding the mic seems to be encrowding on Dave's space. He keeps shoving the mic into his face. Is there not a better way to record the sound?
He should be chugging the beer while describing it to us.