The Craft Brewing Handbook

A Practical Guide to Running a Successful Craft Brewery

Chris Smart

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780081020791
• eBook ISBN: 9780081020906
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The Craft Brewing Handbook: A Practical Guide to Running a Successful Craft Brewery covers the practical and technical aspects required to set up and grow a successful craft brewing business. With coverage of equipment options, raw material choice, the brewing process, recipe development and beer styles, packaging, quality assurance and quality control, sensory evaluation, common faults in beer, basic analyses, and strategies to minimize utilities, such as water and energy, this book is a one-stop shop for the aspiring brewer.The craft brewing sector has grown significantly around the world over the past decade. Many new breweries are technically naïve and have a thirst for knowledge. This book not only covers how to maximize the chances of getting production right the first time, it also deals with the inevitable problems that arise and what to do about them.- Focuses on the practical aspects of craft brewing- Features chapters on equipment choice, QA/QC and analyses, and beer styles- Provides insights into successful breweries around the globe

Chapter 1

Raw materials

Stuart Howe, Howe Brewing Consultancy, United Kingdom

Abstract

The raw materials you use, make the beer. Understanding what a “good” ingredient is, is a key skill of the successful brewer. The production and specification of malt, adjuncts, yeast, water and hops are discussed and related to performance in the brewery and glass. How, where and why to buy certain raw materials is also described. This chapter is designed to acquaint you with some of the science behind your ingredients viewed through the lens of practical brewing experience. Hopefully after reading, you will be more confident in applying it to benefit your brewery and beer.

Keywords

Malt; Malting barley; Hops; Water; Sugars

Contents

Outline

• 1.1 Introduction 2
  • 1.1.1. The importance and unimportance of ingredients 2
• 1.2 Malted carbohydrate sources 3
  • 1.2.1. The malting process 3
  • 1.2.2. Malt specification 8
  • 1.2.3. Production and attributes of special malts 16
  • 1.2.4. Other significant malt types 18
  • 1.2.5. Barley varieties 19
• 1.3 Unmalted carbohydrate sources 19
  • 1.3.1. Why use them? 19
  • 1.3.2. Pre-gelatinized cereal products 20
  • 1.3.3. Grits 20
  • 1.3.4. Oats - malted and otherwise 20
  • 1.3.5. Sugars – syrups and dry 21
• 1.4 Water 22
  • 1.4.1. The criticality of water 22
  • 1.4.2. Water analyses 23
  • 1.4.3. Salts, ions and theories 25
  • 1.4.4. Salts calculations 28
  • 1.4.5. pH, alkalinity and hardness 28
  • 1.4.6. Additions and adjustments 30
• 1.5 Hops 30
  • 1.5.1. Background 31
  • 1.5.2. The bitter stuff 32
  • 1.5.3. The aromatic stuff 35
  • 1.5.4. Polyphenolic materials 37
  • 1.5.5. Hop products 38
  • 1.5.6. Varieties 43
• 1.6 Commercially available yeast and bacteria 43
• 1.7 Recommendations for Procurement of Raw Materials 44
• Helpful Definitions 46

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 The importance and unimportance of ingredients

At one time it seemed every advert or package of beer featured the phrase brewed with the finest ingredients, some still do. That of course should go without saying and the marketing executive who coined the strapline ‘brewed with cheap malt and hop extract’ had a gloriously short career. Ingredients are also in the forefront of the mind of the consumer. Few would get excited about your wort separation system but most can identify with great malt or hops.

Without wanting to undermine the importance of this chapter, the truth is, it is eminently possible to make good beer using low cost ingredients and even easier to make awful beer from the very best ingredients. When it comes to ingredients the success of the brewer depends on knowing the difference between good and bad (suitable and unsuitable) ingredients and then simply knowing how to get the best out of them.

At this point I would like to introduce the truest phrase in brewing. Nothing is true until it happens in your brewery. You will read a great deal on internet forums or brewing guides from largely self-appointed experts about how certain malts give the best flavor for particular styles or how you can’t make a decent pilsner without a particular hop. Some of this I’m sure is true but there is also a lot of urban legend passed on by brewers and enthusiasts who want to appear knowledgeable without ever empirically demonstrating it. I was once in a German brewery discussing how to make an ESB (extra special bitter) with a group of young Russian brewers. They told me with burning conviction that you can’t make a decent ESB without using Maris Otter. This was news to the guy sitting next to me who happened to be a brewer from the brewery in London which makes the architype of the style and had never used Maris Otter to brew it! When reading information about ingredients look for the proper scientific evidence to back it up. Claims should be supported or supportable by work undertaken using scientific rigor and be published in a peer reviewed publication. Your online “global brewing expert” could be the bloke with the shakes who no one wants to sit next to from your local home brew club. If you want to know if something is true about an ingredient, ultimately you need to prove it in your brewery by doing identical side by side brews with and without it before analysing and evaluating the resultant brews, blind and without prejudice. Fact always trumps theory and opinion.

As a brewer, the more you can understand the science behind the process, the easier it is to sniff out the urban legends and waste less time and money pursuing them. This chapter is designed to acquaint you with some of the science behind your ingredients viewed through the lens of practical brewing experience. Hopefully after reading, you will be more confident in applying it to benefit your brewery and beer and know brewing bullshit when you smell it.

1.2 Malted carbohydrate sources

1.2.1 The malting process

The main malt used in breweries is barley so I will dedicate most of the discussion of malting to that of barley. Barley (Hordeum vulgare six row, Hordeum distichon 2 row) is a member of the grass family. The malted barley we use in beer is from a domesticated descendent of a wild grass which is abundant in northeast Africa and Western Asia. The grain we use is the seed of the grass plant. Two principal types are grown, one with six rows of seeds on the ear and one with two rows. Use of two row barley for malting and brewing is much more prevalent as it has a higher brewhouse yield and lower protein content. A cross section of a barley grain illustrating the key parts of its anatomy is shown in Fig. 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Anatomy of a barley grain.

Some beers are made with unmalted barley but this requires specialist equipment, the addition of enzymes and a greater degree of processing than that of malted barley. In short, the type of process which is only feasible in very large breweries.

The malting process is divided into 3 stages, steeping, germination and kilning, although processing the barley on receipt is often as significant in terms of the time and effort taken to achieve it. The maltster is charged with the responsibility of taking a fairly flavorless, unfriable (difficult to breakdown during milling) seed in which any fermentable material is sealed in a matrix of proteins and gums and transforming it into an easily milled, readily converted grain with, for want of a better word, a malty aroma. During malting, the storage materials in the grain are unlocked by the biological systems which the grain uses to grow into a barley plant. The grain is then dried to enable stability in storage and economy in transportation. Most craft brewers a start with malt as opposed to buying barley and malting it themselves, the economies of scale, capital investment required to set up a small maltings and concerns over quality/consistency of the final product make this proposition far from attractive. Fig. 1.2 shows the stages from barley to malt in a commercial maltings. (courtesy of Simpsons Malt).

Figure 1.2 The modern malting process.

Steeping

Water is critical to the germination process. Almost all of the reactions important for the freeing up of extract are hydrolysis (splitting with water) reactions. The steeping process involves providing the grain with the water and oxygen required to kickstart the growth of the seed. The barley delivered to the maltings will have less than 15% moisture. Through the steeping process this will typically increase to 42–44% for pale or pilsner malt and 44–47% for darker grains. There is some variation between varieties in terms of water requirement and effective management of the right conditions for germination is what the maltster is paid for! Steeping is the equivalent to a rain shower over the soil triggering the seed to start to grow.

There are a range of steeping vessels in use in maltings but the basic principle of operation is the same. The grains are immersed in water to allow for the rapid uptake required for germination and the water is then drained off and an air rest is performed. During the air rest the CO₂ produced by the respiring grain is driven off by aeration of the steep vessel. Air/rest steep time ratios vary from plant to plant but as a rule the more modern maltings tend to emphasize the air rest element. The critical aspect of steeping is that every grain experiences the same conditions and therefore is given the greatest opportunity to take up water and kick on with germination. Fig. 1.3 shows a steeping vessel being roused with air. This ensures even hydration of the grains and increases the oxygen level in the vessel.

Figure 1.3 Rousing the steep.

Germination

The signal which switches on germination is the rise in hydration of the embryo to above 30% moisture. The architecture of the equipment used to undertake germination is even more diverse than that of steeping but all must achieve control of the elements of germination which impact on the quality of the malt. These are:

1. 1. Water content of grain
2. 2. Grain temperature
3. 3. Availability of oxygen

It is vital to ensure the moisture level in the grain does not drop or it will stop germinating. Germination produces a great deal of heat and this heat must be kept in check. Failure to do so will result in a loss of extract to excessive root growth and a reduction in the formation of enzymes which are required in the brewhouse to convert the mash. Without sufficient oxygen germination can cease and in extreme cases the grains become non-viable. To achieve the above, germination equipment features a means of applying moisture, aerating and ventilating the grains as well as a method of turning the grains.

Malt suppliers are very friendly people and warmly welcome interested brewers. A visit to your local maltings provides an excellent overview of the mechanics and scale of the malting process and is well worthwhile.

So that’s what goes on at a macro level, next we drill down to a micro level. During germination it is possible to roll grains between your finger and thumb and feel the extent to which the process has proceeded. Straight out of the steep, although moist the grain is hard and squeezing it will only succeed in bruising your thumb. Towards the end of germination as you rub, the grain will collapse and coat your thumb in barley paste. The processes which affect this change are termed ‘modification’. In response to the uptake of water the embryo sends a chemical message in the form of gibberellic acid to the aleurone layer which surrounds the endosperm. The gibberellic acid causes the aleurone layer to start manufacturing enzymes and β-amylase which is already...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Raw materials
• Chapter 2. Beer styles and recipe development: what should I brew?
• Chapter 3. Brewhouse operations
• Chapter 4. Fermentation
• Chapter 5. Quality assurance and control, product safety and testing
• Chapter 6. Sensory evaluation of beer
• Chapter 7. Common faults in beer
• Index