Category: microbrews

Beer Culture

Social context
Many social traditions and activities are very
associated with drinking beer, such as playing cards,
darts, or other games. The consumption of beer in
isolation and excess may be associated with people
drinking away their troubles, while drinking in
excess with company may be associated with binge
drinking.

Around the world
All over the world, beer is consumed. There are
several breweries in the Middle East countries as
well, such as Iraq and Syria. There is also
breweries in African countries and other remote
countries such as Mongolia as well.

Glassware serving
Getting an appropriate beer glass is considered
desirable by some drinkers. There are some drinkers
of beer that may sometimes drink out of the bottle
or can, while others may choose to pour their
beer into a glass. Drinking from a bottle picks
up aromas by the nose, so if a drinker wishes to
appreciate the aroma of a beer, the beer is first
poured into a mug, glass, or stein.

Similar to wine, there is specialized styles of
glasses for some types of beer, with some breweries
producing glassware intended for their own styles
of beer.

Temperature
The conditions for serving beer have a big influence
on a drinker’s experiences. An important factor
when drinking is the temperature – as colder
temperatures will start to inhibit the chemical
senses of the tongue and throat, which will narrow
down the flavor profile of beer, allow certain
lagers to release their crispness.

Pouring
The process of pouring will have an influence on
the presentation of beer. The flow rate from the
tap, titling of the glass, and position of the
pour into the glass will all affect the outcome,
such as the size and longevity of the head and the
turbulence of the bar as it begins to release the
carbonation.

The more heavily carbonated beers such as German
pilseners will need settling time before they are
served, although many of them are served with the
addition of the remaining yeast at the bottom to
add extra color and flavor.

Beer rating
The rating of beer is a craze that combines the
enjoyment of drinking beer with the hobby of
collecting it. Those that drink beer sometimes
tend to record their scores and comments on various
internet websites.

This is a worldwide activity, as people in the
United States will swap bottles of beer with those
living in New Zealand and Russia. The scores may
then be tallied together to create lists of the
most popular beers in each country as well as
those throughout the world.

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Intro To Microbrews

With their varying flavor intensities and alcohol
contents, microbrews are here because beer
distributors noticed a market demand and took a
gamble on imports like Corona in the 70s. This
type of flavorful beer sold to a limited yet very
enthusiastic crowd.

Beer manufacturers create what sells, therefore
they didn’t believe there would be a significant
maket with those types of beers. Consumer studies
and sales showed that the biggest part of the
American audiences enjoyed watery brew.

Then, out of nowhere, microbrews popped up after
the first successful brew, Samuel Adams, fought
with import distributors to try and convince them
that a flavorful American beer would sell. Now,
we have more microbrews than ever before with more
coming out each and every day.

Microbrews really hit when distributors really
believed that at least some people would buy them.
On the other hand, home brewers and brewpubs had
legal wars. In 1968, home brewing was legalized
and home brewers now had the support and assistance
of supply and advice stores.

Until 1983, brewpubs were illegal in all states.
Late in 1983, California first began to allow
brewpubs to brew and distribute their brands of
beer on site. These charming, yet small batch
breweries experienced high sales, especially in
restaurants.

Around a century ago, the United States had more
than 2,000 breweries making many different styles
and variations. By the 80’s, there were only 40
brewing companies that offered a brand of American
Pilsner.

Today, there are over 500 microbreweries and brewpubs
in the United States. Over the past few years,
brewpubs have been popping up all over th e place,
even in bars that used to only carry the top beers.

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Microbrewing With Fruit

Adding fruit to beers will add a new and unique
twist of complexity to the beverage. A raspberry
wheat for example, would add a tart flavor as peach
would add the smooth sweet taste that we all
associate with peaches in your brew.

If you plan to add fruit to your brew, it’s highly
recommended that your fruit is fresh. The longer
fruit is allowed to ripen from the time it has
been picked, the greater the chance that airborne
bacteria can infect your batch.

Although the fruit will most likely be boiled with
the wort, the precaution above is still highly
recommended. Alternately, you may decide to use
fruit puree, which will offer homebrewers the
chance to brew with fruit without having the fear
of contamination. Regardless of your style of
brew, you can normally add fruit to it.

The process of adding fruit is simple. Crush,
chop, or break up the fruit that you are planning
to use. Next, place the processed fruit into a
sparging bag then let it steep in the hot wort
for five to ten minutes after the boiling has
been finished.

When you are transfering your brew mixture to
your primary fermenter, you may choose to sparge
your fruit with some added water to extract every
last drop of essence from the fruit. Always
keep in mind that when you add fruit, you are
adding additional sugar to your wort. This added
sugar concentration will effect your original
and final specific gravity when you measure it
with a hydrometer.

Some fruits that you use are actually easier to
work with than others. Raspberries for example,
may leave seeds in your primary fermenter if they
aren’t properly filtered. The basic object to
achieve a quality fruit beer is to capture the
essence from the fruit then remove all that
remains before you start the primary fermentation.

Adding fruit to your microbrew will give your
brew a unique taste. There are many brews out
there that take full advantage of fruit, many of
which are extremely popular. Fruit can bring
a very refreshing taste, especially when it is
brewed the right way.

For homebrewers all over the world, fruit is a
nice addition to any microbrew. You can use
virtually any type of fruit you can think of,
which is one of the reasons why fruit brewing
is so very popular. Just like wine, fruit can
make any brew taste like a tropical paradise.

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Equipment For Microbrews

Before you can start brewing beer, you’ll need to
have the right equipment. If this is your first
time brewing, you should start simple. Before
you begin, the first thing that you’ll need is a
brewpot. Before you rush out and buy one, you
may already have one that will work just fine.

The pot should hold at least three gallons of
liquid. The next thing you’ll need is a fermenter.
For the average five gallon batch, the fermenter
should hold six gallons or more, allowing space
for a foam that will form during the vigorous
process of fermentation.

For this stage, a glass carboy or food grade
plastic bucket is often used. You’ll also need
an airlock for your fermenter to allow the C02
to escape while also keeping the air out. A
siphon hose is also needed to transfer beer from
the fermenter when it’s ready, without having
to mix air into it.

A bottling bucket will also help to make the
process much easier. Bottling buckets are
similiar to fermenters, except the fact that they
have a spigot at the bottom that allows you to
fill the bottles directly, which makes the
entire process less messy and gets things done
much quicker. You’ll also need a capper to
seal your bottles; as bottles and caps or even
a keg will be needed to store and serve your
brew.

If you look around, you may be able to find a
kit that will contain everything you need. You
can purchase kits on the internet, many of
which offer the top quality equipment you’ll
need to brew. All you have to do is look around
the net, as there are many different web sites
that offer equipment for microbrews.

If you don’t want to buy a kit, you can always
buy each piece of equipment seperately. This
tends to be a bit more expensive than buying
a kit, although you’ll be able to pick each
piece of equipment yourself, without having to
take what’s included in the kit.

Once you get all of the necessary equipment
together, you should know how to use it before
you get started. This way, you won’t run into
any problems once you start brewing. The
equipment needed for brewing is easy to use, so
you shouldn’t have any problems.

Brewing microbrews can be both fun and exciting,
especially when you start brewing your own
creations. You can drink the brew yourself,
or serve it to friends and family. Microbrews
are fun to drink and create – which makes having
the proper equipment all the more while.

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Wheat Beers

Wheat beers are beers that are brewed with both
malted barley and malted wheat, rather than using
just barley. The addition of wheat will lend wheat
beers a lighter flavor and somewhat paler color
than most all barley ales and beers. Wheat beer
is normally top fermented, which is fermentation
with ale yeast.

All types of wheat beers have become very popular
in the last several years, especially in warm
weather. In earlier centuries, the brewing of
wheat beer was illegal in many places, simply
because wheat was too important as both bread and
cereal to waste it with brewing beers.

The two most important varieties of wheat beers
are Belgian and German.

Belgian
Belgian wheat beers are easily the best known,
as they get their name from the suspended wheat
proteins which give it the whitish color. Belgian
white beers often have spices such as coriander
or orange peels added, which help to give them
a hint of fruity flavor.

German
German wheat beer is a well known variation through
the sourthern part of the country. The German
yeast wheat is a variety in which the yeast isn’t
filtered out. The filtration will take the yeast
out, and also strips wheat proteins which will
make it appear cloudy.

A lot of microbrewers in the United States as
well as Canada that make their own variations of
wheat beer, which is particularly popular in
Portland Oregon, which is considered to be the
beer capital.

In Europe, wheat beer is normally served in special
types of wheat beer glasses. In Belgium they are
normally solid glasses. Other countries will take
half a liter, in which the glasses are normally
tall and slim, tapering slightly towards the
base.

In the United States, wheat beer is normally served
with a slice of lemon.

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