At Freewheel Brewing, we think that making great craft beer is a form of art that infuses history, inspiration, and innovation. Every batch of beer is a rich and proud testimony to our steadfast commitment, craftsmanship, and love that brewers put into their refined craft. In this blog, we encourage you to peek into the craft beer brewing process: including the choice of raw materials, the techniques used during brewing, and the rich history that has shaped the industry.
The Roots of Craft Beer
Brewery stretches its long arm of origins thousands of years back. Some of the earliest known cultures to engage in beer brewing include the Ancient Sumerians and Egyptians, who used crude implements and organic compounds. The brewing process gradually changed, and beer started to be a part of many societies and civilizations worldwide.
The craft beer movement started in the 1970s in America, where homebrewers and microbreweries aimed at reinventing conventional processes and techniques to produce beers with distinct tastes and characteristics. This movement has since gone international, with thousands of craft breweries offering varieties of beers that embrace locality and creativity by means of their indigenous creative brewing processes.
The Brewing Process: A Labor of Love
Making craft beer is not just a scientific process that involves multiple stages and procedures, but also an art. We will peak into the various stages of the brewing process:
Malt Selection and Milling: The process starts with choosing malted barley that complies with the highest quality standards. The malt is then milled, which leads to opening up the grains, which later get converted into fermentable sugars.
Mashing: The milled malt is mixed with hot water in a process known as mashing, where it forms the mash required for the next stage. This accelerates the synthesis of enzymes used in the production of wort, which is a sweet liquid produced after starchy foods have been enzymatically degraded.
Boiling and Hopping: After the wort has been boiled, the hops are also introduced at this stage. Hops are also used to provide bite, scent, taste, and flavor to the beer and to balance the sweet malts. The specific type and timing of these varieties of hops used also influence the taste of the beer to be produced.
Fermentation: Wort is then boiled, cooled, and sent to a vessel used for fermentation, and the fermentation process begins with the addition of yeast. These remain at the bottom of the fermenter and transform the contents of the wort, which is a sugary solution, into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Depending on the kind of beer that is being brewed, this stage can take anything from days to even weeks.
Conditioning: It is then allowed to condition, this is where the formation of the flavor and the fizz are achieved. This can be done in tanks, barrels, or bottles and may thus include other components such as fruits, spices, or oak aging.
Packaging: Once conditioning is complete, if the brewer so desires, the beer may be filtered; the product is then placed in kegs, bottles, or cans for consumption by beer enthusiasts.
Ingredients: The Building Blocks of Flavor
Craft beer is characterized by the type of ingredients used since these aspects significantly influence the outcome of the beer in terms of taste, smell, and texture. The four fundamental components of beer include water, malt, hops, and yeast, though most small-scale brewers incorporate many other ingredients in the process of brewing the beer.
Water: Beer is made mostly from water, and the mineral content of the water can significantly affect the brewing of beer and beer flavor. The brewers often intervene and alter the level of minerals to match the beer type in question.
Malt: A variety of grains is used in preparing beer, but the most popular one is barley malt; nevertheless, wheat, rye, or oat can also be used. The type and quantity of malt used influence the color, the level of residual sugar in the beer, and the viscosity.
Hops: In beers, hops contain a bittering agent besides other flavoring and aroma components. Today many hop varieties, each with somewhat different characteristics, are known. Hops can contribute such tastes as citrus, pine, flower, herb, and many others.
Yeast: The yeast assists in the fermentation process and can introduce various flavors to the beer, including fruity, spicy, or crisp flavors. A specific type of yeast is used for distinct styles of beers.
Adjuncts: Examples of adjuncts are fruits, spices, herbs, and honey, among others; these additional ingredients are incorporated into the basic ingredients. They use them in specialty beers into bring about a change or to improve the taste of the beer produced.
Craft Beer Styles: A World of Possibilities
Craft beer utilizes multiple and complex recipes, and it is difficult to count all the beer styles the world of craft beer contains.
IPAs (India Pale Ales): IPAs are highly bitter and contain a strong flavor of hops, additional flavors may include; pine, fruit, and tropical fruits.
Stouts and Porters: They are rather dark beers with a pronounced roasted malt taste with notes of coffee, chocolate, and caramel.
Sours: Sour beers themselves are produced with wild yeast or bacteria, which give the beer a sour taste. They sometimes use fruits and spices for further layers of flavor.
Lagers: Lagers are light, sharp, and pleasant with no bitter aftertaste. They are styles such as Pilsners, Märzens, and Bocks.
Wheat Beers: Characterized by a high wheat content, these beers are light and hazy, and they have tones of orange and spices.
Conclusion
We at Freewheel Brewing Company are dedicated to producing world-class beers that are reflective of our love for brewing. Whether you are already an enthusiast of craft beer or just a beginner, it will be timely to check out our wide array of beer options and learn more about their taste profiles and backgrounds. Let us celebrate the art, passion, and camaraderie that are the essence of the craft beer movement.
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