New Brewers Guide to Beer Terms

When you first get into home brewing you get a lot of new words and term thrown out at you.  Many of them you may already know, but some may be a mystery to you.  There is nothing better than talking about beer with another home brewer and actually knowing what they are talking about.  Read through these hand full of terms and start your way up the beer education ladder.

ABV: This stands for alcohol by volume.  This is a measure of the total level of alcohol in your brew.  This is calculated by taking the starting gravity level minus the finishing gravity and then multiplying this number by 131.  So here is an example (1.054-1.012)*131 = 5.5% ABV

Wort:  The sugary liquid that you get from drawing the sugars out of the malted grains you are using.  Once you have your wort you will boil it for 1 hour and add your hops in as you see fit.  It is only wort until you add yeast.  The addition of yeast now creates this into a beer once fermentation is complete.

Gravity:  The measure of the sugar level in your wort.  You usually take at least two measurements one right before you add the yeast to your wort, and then one once it is completely done fermenting.  This is used to calculate your ABV.  Some abbreviations for this is SG (Starting Gravity), OG (Original Gravity) & FG (Final Gravity).

IBU:  (International Bitterness Units) The addition of hops is what gives you the bitterness to your beer.  The majority of the bitterness comes from the alpha acids in the hops.  The longer the hops are in the boil the more of the bitterness you get out of them, and the less aroma you will have.  When making beer you add your bittering hops at the beginning of the boil and your aroma hops the last 15 to 1 minute of the boil.  The late additions will only give you a small amount of IBU’s, so if you want your beer bitter like an IPA add a lot right at the start of the boil.

SRM:  (Standard Reference Method) When looking at the color of your beer you can rate this on the SRM scale.  Lighter colored beers like and Pale Lager rate as low from 1-5 and the darker beers such as a stout that appear black will be as high as a 70.  All styles of beers have a target range you want to be in hit to meet the style guidelines.

Hydrometer:  This is a simple thermometer type tool that is used to measure the sugar level in your beer.  The higher the sugar levels the higher up the hydrometer floats.  You use this to take your gravity readings.

Brewer’s yeast:  This refers to standard yeast that has been used throughout the years to brew beer.  This is usually dry yeast that comes in packet form.  This yeast should only be used by new brewers.  The reason for this is that there are many style specific liquid yeast strains on the market that you should be using to make the most style specific beer.  With that being said if you just want to make a standard beer and are not worried about style, but are worried about cost you can use this on all of your brews. 

Malt:  This is the backbone to your beer.  The majority of malt is barley malt, but wheat and rye are also used in beer making.  The malt is created by taking barley and adding water until the seed starts to germinate.  Once this happens the barley is kiln-dried to remove the moisture and in some cases change the flavor profile of the malt.  The reason for the grain to be malted is to allow you to easily extract the maltose sugar from the grains during mashing.  The picture in this post is of base pale malt.  

Crystal/caramel malt:  This refers to different malts that you add to your brew to give is a distinct color and flavor.  A crystal malt such as a 10L give a slight caramel flavor and adds a little golden color to you beer, where as a 120L will give a strong caramel/raisin type flavor and darken your beers substantially to a deep dark brown color.

Mash Tun:  This is the vessel that you use to soak your milled grain in water to convert the starches into sugars.  You normally combine your grain bill (recipe) in with a proportion of water in a ratio such as 2 qtrs. Heated water to 1 lb. grain, and let this soak at 154 degrees for about an hour.  Make sure when doing this you account for temperate loss from the coolness of the grain.  So most times to get the 154 degrees you need to add 167 degree water.  There are many calculations on the web on how to get the exact temp make sure to check them out.

Brew Kettle:  The prize of all brewers.  This is the pot that you boil your wort in and add your hops.  Most people boil the wort for an hour to arrive at the right hop bitterness they are looking for and this also completely sanitizes your wort.  After the boil you need to make sure you are super clean to avoid contaminating the wort before it goes into your primary fermenter.

Yeast & Yeast Starter

So you think the most important part of your brewing recipe is the grain and hops?  You spend hours thinking of different ways to combine all of the different types out there to create the perfect style.  You go through the whole brewing process and then open up a dry packet of brewer’s yeast and just dump it into the wort.  What are you thinking!  In today’s market there are tens of different types of liquid yeast you can use to meet the style you are targeting.  Want it fruitier with a good mouth feel; English Ale yeast is great for that.  Want it drier with a higher alcohol level; California Ale yeast is your go to.  Each type of yeast is unique and will help you create a unique beer.  I am no expert on yeast, but I do know if you want to make a specific style and meet the BJCP guidelines make sure you pick the right yeast. 

Once you have your yeast selected it is always a good idea to create a starter.  Many of the commercial yeast companies out there say that if you are only doing a 5 gallon batch you do not need to do a yeast starter, but I will leave that up to you. If you want to extend one vial of White Labs yeast for ten gallons of wort then I would suggest a yeast starter instead of buying two vials from the vendor.  The process is simple and you should plan on doing the starter 2-3 days before you brew.  The recipe is simple…

What You Need

Erlenmeyer flask (500-1000ml)

Rubber stopper for the top

Bubbler (Air Stop)

1 cup DME (light dry malt extract)

1 Tbsp. Yeast Nutrient

Water

Your favorite Yeast

Combine the DME and yeast nutrients in the flask with enough water to get it to the 500 ml line.  Heat this to at least 180 degrees for 20 minutes.  Take off burner and let this cool until it reaches 75 degrees.  At this time add your yeast and the rubber stopper and shake for 1 minute.  Put the bubbler on top to seal off the beaker from the outside.  About every 6 hours or so give the flask a light shake just to keep the yeast suspended.  You will notice the fermentation of the DME to start to take place.  Let this go for 2-3 days and then add it to the wort once you are ready for it.  I would not recommend letting this sit for over 5 days since the yeast will run out of food and go dormant again.  In doing a yeast starter you should notice an increased level of fermentation and a reduction in the wait time for the fermentation to start.     

My Top Hops!

Here are the top three types of hops I like to use.

1) Cascade - A descended of the English fuggle, but all American.  This is considered by most to be an aroma hop, but many brewers used it as a bittering hop also.  This has an alpha acid range of 4.5-7% which allows for using for flavor or aroma.  It produces a flowery, spicy and citrus like flavor with the hit of grapefruit flavor.  You can use this in many American style beers such as Pale Ales and IPAs.

2) Fuggles -  This is the British staple for beers.  This hop has been around since the late 1800's and at one time made up the majority of the English hop crop.  It gives off earthy taste and it low of the sweet side. Contains alpha acids from 3.8-5.5%.  This is also used mainly for aroma.  It can be used in pretty much any type of English style beer.

3) Northern Brewer - A very predominate hop from the West Coast.  Mainly used as a bittering hop.  This produces a more earthy, evergreen and mint-like flavor.  This hop would be on the exact opposite end of the spectrum compared to Cascade hops.  This hop provides a alpha acid level of 8-10%.  For a good example of this beer try a Steam Beer or a California Common Ale.  A commercial example of this would be Anchor Steam Ale.

The 1st Beer You Should Brew

Let’s say you are not sure you like craft beer.  Some on the market are just too hoppy for your taste.  You want to try brewing though, and want to make a beer your Bud Light taste buds can tolerate.  I recommend a basic pale ale that is on the low end of the hop intensity spectrum.  I am going to give you a list of ingredients that you can get from either Midwestsupplies.com or any local homebrew shop. All of the recipe ingredients are links so you know exactly what to get.

Convert Pale Ale

Ingredients:

6 lbs       Golden/Light LME (liquid malt extract)

1 lbs       Crystal 10L (actual crushed grain in a cheese cloth bag)

2 oz        Cascade pellet hops

1            Dry Ale Yeast

1tsp       Irish Moss

4 gal       Spring Water (1 gal jugs from Wal-Mart.  Get these as cold as possible without freezing)

First off be CLEAN! Use a sterilizer like Star San to clean you primary fermenter and anything else that touches the beer after the boil.

In a large stainless steel pot that holds at least 3.5 gallons of water bring 2.5 gallons of tap water to a temperature of about 155 degrees.  Add the 1lb of Crystal 10 that is in a cheese cloth bag to the water and let it soak for 20 minutes.  Make sure you ordered you grain crushed otherwise you will need to do it.  Remove the bag of grain after the 20 minutes and let it drip as much of the liquid as possible back into the pot, and then discard.  Take the pot off of the heat and add the 6lbs of LME and make sure to stir it into the water so that it is all dissolved and nothing is going to be on the bottom of the pot.  Put back onto heat and bring to a boil.  Once the boil starts at 1 oz of the Cascade hops to the pot (just dump them in).  Start a timer for 60 minutes.  At the 15 min remaining mark at 1 tsp of Irish Moss, at the 5 minute mark at the last 1 oz of Cascade hops.  Take this off the heat and add it to your primary fermenter.  Then add in the almost freezing gallons of spring water until you get about 5.5 gallons of liquid in your primary fermenter.  Make sure the temperature is below 80 degrees before you dump in the yeast.  Once the yeast is in close up the fermenter and give it a shake for about 2 minutes. This will help oxygenate the water.  There are other ways to do this so do what works best for you.  Leave this in the primary for 2 weeks and bottle with 5 oz of priming sugar added to a second bottling bucket that you siphon off the beer to leaving the trub (bottom junk behind).  You can also move the liquid to a secondary fermenter to clarify your beer before bottling.  For this you can leave the beer in the primary fermenter for a week and then move to the secondary for 2 weeks.  If using a glass carboy as the secondary fermenter you will see the beer settle out and know when to move it to the bottling bucket and bottle as normal. 

I hope you enjoy this simple starter recipe and continue to homebrew.  Below are the technical spec and results you should get out of this recipe.  Email me with any questions you may have.

Starting Gravity 1.049

Finishing Gravity 1.012

IBU 20.5

SRM 6.2

ABV 4.9%

Why Even Bother Homebrewing???

   Most of us that homebrew do it as a hobby or a passion close to our hearts.  Many of us are introduced to it by family, friend or co-workers.  You can decide pretty quickly if you like it or not.  Some people like to do woodworking as a hobby; I make beer.  There are so many beers for consumers to choose from these days that it could make your head spin.  Most of us will never try more than 20 or 30 different types of beers, and it is a shame because there are thousands of tasty brews out there that are not coming from the big 3 (Bud, Miller, Coors).  So if you only want the end product and not the knowledge and understanding of how beer is made you maybe a lost cause.  Wait!  What if I told you making your own beer is rewarding (you will be the coolest guy/gal at a party) and also having known what is actually in your beer is very important to me.  Still nothing….okay one more try.  What if I told you it is cheaper in the long run to make your beer then buy it?  That is right let’s say you love Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  How much do you think it would cost to purchase 5 gallons of it?  I have a clone recipe that only cost me $25 bucks!  That is right premium beer made at home by you for a low low low price.  I think I am preaching to the tight asses now.  Here is what I recommend go to a site like Midwestsupplies.com or Northernbrewer.com and buy a starter kit for $60, and an extract recipe kit for $25.  Follow the directions and give brewing a try.  Don’t worry about testing your water or even taking a sugar reading…just brew, let ferment, bottle or keg and enjoy.  Your first batch may or may not turn out well, but did you enjoy it?  Did you learn something new?  Do you feel cooler? Grow from that.  If you want to start diving into home brewing read "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian, you should be able to pick it up on Amazon for little to nothing.  You will find beer brewing becomes more than a hobby.  It becomes a way of life, and a great one at that.  Feel free to email me with any question you may have.  I am not expert, but have a pretty good working knowledge of brewing…I am on my 9^th year as a Homebrewer.  Enjoy every minute of it!