Off-topic: The Art Of Brewing Beer

Monday, January 14, 2008 -

I'm an avid brewer and have been for the last 16 years. My good friend John Kirk brewed up a batch of beer in our kitchen when we were just out of college and sharing a house in Berkeley, CA. I was utterly fascinated by it - chemistry, artistry, craftsmanship and history all wrapped up in an amber glass of beauty... I was hooked. He showed me how to make a simple Amber Ale, and then handed me the brewer's bible (which I read cover to cover), and I've never looked back.

For this off-topic post, I thought I'd write a bit more about my weekend hobby, and maybe inspire you to check out a new hobby. (note: this post, as with other off-topic posts, was supposed to appear on Sunday. But I had to deal with a crashing server to it appears today:)

A long time ago, way back in history
When all there was to drink was nothin' but cups of tea,
Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mopps
And he invented the wonderful drink, and he made it out of hops.

Brewing beer is the ultimate geek hobby. Brewer's lean heavily on science (chemistry and math), process, imagination, and obsessiveness. It's rigorous, detailed, and the finished product is completely within your control. You can shape it, tweak it, "refactor" it, love it and ultimately share it with friends. If you do it right and use "Best Practices" - your beer will taste so good it will blow your socks off. Do it wrong and you throw it out.

Some people believe that you can save the world through beer...

The History Of Beer In 500 Words Or Less
Beer is an ancient drink and transcends just about every culture from the Middle East to Asia, Europe to America. Beer was thought to have been made the first time in Mesopotamia as the result of spontaneous fermentation of soaked grains - this would put beer's age (at least) up there with that of Civilization itself.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, people drank beer instead of water as they had no concept of sanitation. Beer was boiled and hopped (a preservative) so was safe to drink. It also made you feel good too :).

Monks drank beer quite often back in the day:

In the Middle Ages, the Church, with a certain opportunism, adopted beer, a popular and profitable drink. This was to attract moneyless pilgrims, and also provide a healthy drink to the tenants of its abbeys, the monks. Indeed, it was not unusual that water, even coming from a source, became contaminated in various ways. Beer, needing the water to be boiled, constituted a drink which was easy to manufacture and rather healthy from a biological point of view.

Over the centuries, the quality of beer improved so much so that it brought fame to the convents which manufactured it. It is estimated that in the year 1000, there were approximately 500 monastic breweries.

Monastic beer is the fruit of a long transmission of father brewer to father brewer, and of continuous improvement, rigorously cited in the writings of the monks.

Indeed monastic beer is quite good, and has spawned a bit of a beer subculture with a pretty fun "quest": "The Trappist Test" - which is a beer-lover's quest to find and drink each of the seven "authentic" Trappist beers (the Trappists were a particularly gifted monastic sect) of the world (ordering online is cheating!). In fact, you may already be on this quest if you've had a Chimay.

All but one of the founding fathers of the Unites States was a brewer, and each horded his family's recipe as any other family jewel. The revolution was planned over some of Ben Franklin's best - he was purported to be quite the brewer and is credited with the ultimate beer lover's statement of purpose:

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy

If you live near Philadelphia, head over to The City Tavern you can taste the beers that Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson brewed (recipes pulled together by Yards Brewing Company):

Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale - Yards Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale is a strong golden ale brewed with honey and other ingredients specified by Jefferson for semiannual brewing at his Monticello estate. This multi-grain ale boasts a smooth body and a long finish. Alcohol by Volume is 8%

General Washington Tavern Porter - Yards General Washington's Tavern Porter is a dark beer brewed with molasses. Washington's admiration of Philadelphia-style porter is reflected in his recipe for this ale, which was brewed to satisfy the thirsts of his field officers. Tavern Porter is rich and warming with a deep garnet hue. Alcohol by Volume is 7%

Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce - Based on Benjamin Franklin's original recipe for a Spruce Beer; Yards Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce is a dark, mild ale brewed with molasses and organic spruce tips. Although Franklin recorded this recipe during his time in France, spruce and molasses had become a common brewing ingredient for American colonists. This was driven by the lack of availability and cost of hops and barley. At the time, Britain restricted and unfairly taxed the trade of hops and barley imported to the colonies forcing colonists to produce ales from readily available ingredients - Spruce was the favored choice. Alcohol by Volume is 4.5%

I find beer history amazingly ripe with culture and anecdote and can easily lose an entire day to it. I won't do this to you...

Beer: What's In It Exactly?
To purists, beer is 4 things:

1. Water
2. Hops
3. Grains
4. Yeast

The Germans actually made a law for how to brew "pure" beer, and it's one of the standards that has kept German and Bavarian beers at the top of the world's beer list every year.

Making beer is pretty simple:

1. Boil some water
2. Add some crushed grains (barley)
3. Add some hops (flower buds)
4. Cool it and add yeast
5. Let sit for two weeks
6. Bottle and drink

I keep telling friends that beer is basically "grain tea" that you add yeast to. This is a radical simplification, but it really captures the idea. If you're still interested and want to know more about how to start brewing, read on! If not - you won't hurt my feelings :). But the rest of this post is how to get started brewing.

How To Get Started Brewing
There are beer kits everywhere that make it easy to brew up your first batch. It's insanely fun, but very, very messy. Using one of these kits is much like handing someone a book entitled "Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours" - sort of ridiculous. While you will be able to drink what you've made (and your friends will say "ooh? you made this" as they dump it in the planter) - better beer is in your reach and you can get started on a better footing. If you follow these steps, you will blow your friend's minds with the quality of your beer. I promise.

The Concept
When you start brewing, you're usually handed a kit called "an extract" kit that contains all the things you'll need: Malt Syrup, Yeast, and Hops. They've done the hard work for you (steeping the grains) but in that, made your beer taste like... well nothing really. Steeping the grains (also known as "mashing") is what gives beer character and body (also color) - you'll want to do this from the get-go as the Extract Kits only use the common-denominator grains to build flavor. Using 60% extract and 40% grains is just fine, and it will improve the taste of your beer drastically.

Find a Good Brew Supply Store
Beer, Beer and More Beer (3B) is the best brew store on the West Coast and they have a great website and consistently have the freshest ingredients.

Financials
It will cost some money to get going, and I'll be honest with you - it can get expensive. I've plunked down about $1500 total since I started - but considering my "technology habit" - this is nothing.

You should plan on spending about $500 to get going - the good news is you won't have to spend anything else for a very long time. If that sounds expensive, consider how much each of your XBox's cost, and how much fun they are at a party.

The Goods
The first thing to get is the starter kit, and this one is perfect.

The key with this kit is the glass "carbouy" (the big glass bottle) - this is where you'll ferment your beer and nothing is better than glass.

Next, and I know how this is going to sound, but trust me, you'll want to get a keg setup. Don't mess with bottles - this has deterred more brewers than I can tell you. Washing/sanitizing bottle sucks - do yourself a favor and either buy a keg fridge or convert an old one. This one is ideal:

You don't get a fridge with this one, but those usually cost $80 at Home Depot for a small soda fridge.

Finally, you'll need a good book to get started with, and nothing beats the brewer's bible:

You are ALL SET!

Your First Recipe
For your first recipe I strongly recommend one of my all-time favorites: Morebeer's IPA II Mini Mash. A "mini mash" is basically 60% extract (they've steeped the grains for you) and 40% grains. You almost can't screw it up (though I have :).

This IPA has the best flavor of (almost) any beer that I've brewed, and is incredibly simple to make. All the directions you need are part of the recipe - but I'll give you a run-through here so you'll know what you're getting into.

Make sure to leave yourself about 5 hours on the day you start this recipe...

The Mash
"Mashing" is the term for soaking the grains in hot water, converting the grain starches to sugars and "leeching" them to the water. These sugars will be consumed by the yeast to make CO2 and alcohol.

Heat three gallons of water to 165 degrees and dump the grains into your Grain Bag (make sure you pick one of these up with the recipe), then into your mash bucket (the big white bucket you get as part of your kit), making sure the final temperature is 152 degrees. Turn on the timer and let it sit for 1 hour while you open your favorite beer and kick back, watching Sportscenter.

At 45 minutes into the Mash, heat 1.5 gallons of water to 17 degrees. You want it to be 170 when the Mashing hour is complete.

When the mash is finished, put your bucket full of grains on a chair, and  put a big pot (this is your brew pot - should hold about 3 gallons or so) on the floor next to it, on top of a towel (you will make a mess). Make sure the spigot from your bucket is over the brew pot.

Gently pour the 1.5 gallons of heated water over the grains in the white bucket. This is "sparging" - or rinsing the grains. You're washing all the malty sweetness from them into your brew pot where you're going to boil it all into a wonderful beer.

The Boil
Once all of water is "sparged" and the grains are dry, put your brewpot on your stove and bring it to a boil. Once it's at a boil, turn off the heat and add the exrtract that came with the recipe. It's important to turn off the heat, or else it will burn on the bottom of the pan.

This sweet soup is called the "Wort", and it will boil over so watch it carefully as you bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to medium so it's rolling, but not too much, and add your bittering hops (the recipe will tell you which these are - they are called "Magnum") and set your timer for 50 minutes.

Go rinse out your white bucket and clean it, filling it to the top with water. Add your sanitizer to it - this is now your "clean bucket". Also, fill your fermenter (the glass bottle) with water and sanitizer - this needs to be super clean. Add your funnel, stopper, and airlock to the clean bucket (you'll know what these are from the kit description). Let them sit for now as you open another beer and go play your XBox.

When the timer goes off, add your final hop infusion (the recipe will tell you what you need to do in more detail). These are flavoring and aroma hops - what you taste in your "nose". Boil for 5 minutes more and remove from the heat.

The Cooldown
At this point you really to be careful with sanitation. Keep your Wort covered and don't breath over it or sneeze near it -you don't want bacteria in here as it's going to sit at Room Temperature for 2 weeks.

Grab all the ice in your freezer (or get a bag from the store) and dump it in the pot. If you don't have the capacity for this, then you can add it to your funnel.

Rinse our your fermenter and funnel, and bring into your kitchen, next to your pot. Pop your funnel onto your fermenter (and dump ice in the funnel if needed), and pour your Wort into your fermenter. If your ice melts - stop and add more. You want to cool this beer as quickly as possible.

Once all the wort is in the fermenter (it should be about 2.5 gallons or so) - add some clean, filtered water to fill it up to 5 gallons. The beer should be cooled down to about 90 degrees by now.

Making sure the beer's cool - dump in your yeast, pop the stopper and airlock on the fermenter, and shake vigorously for 5 minutes. This "aerates" your beer, re-adding oxygen to the oxygen-depleted wort (from boiling). Yeast needs this oxygen to get started.

Wrap the fermenter with a thick towel, place in a cool, dry place (like your garage) for two weeks. Ideally, the temperature of the beer should stay at around 65 degrees.

Fermentation
It's roiling, boiling crazy town in the fermenter as the beer gets going. The airlock plops away as CO2 escapes and you can smell your beer coming to life. This is a fun two weeks as you watch the mix go nuts, then slowly clarify.

After a week, fermentation should be finished. Some people "Rack" their beer at this point - moving it off of the "trub" (sediment) that accumulates at the bottom. You don't need to do this - it's up to you.

If you have a cold place in your house, "cold conditioning" your beer will add clarity to it. If you can get it down to about 45 degrees - that's optimal. You'll be greeted with a clear, amber love child when this last week is over.

Kegging
Siphon out your beer (siphon and tubing come with the kit) to your keg, cap the keg, put it on its side on the floor, and pressurize to 20psi. Shake it up for 10 minutes (with the CO2 still attached). The CO2 is taken up by the beer slowly, but it is absorbed and you want to shake it to expose as much surface area as you can. Your goal here is to shake until you can't hear it bubbling.

Put the beer in your "kegerator" and wait for 24 hours. This is why you got a keg setup - if you were bottling you would have just spent 4 hours cleaning and bottling your beer, then waiting another 2 weeks for it to carbonate. Way too much time!

Summary
I know, long post. But brewing beer is soooo much fun and I think I'd be remiss if I didn't add that you really need to be responsible with this hobby. Drinking too much beer is not a good thing - and if you're the type that may have issues that way, this isn't for you :).

In terms of a geek hobby, I can't think of many better things.