beachbum,
2 words you've written have made me an instant fan.
please tell us more on how to start. the book too.
Just like cooking, probably the best way to start is by doing a heap of reading to get your head round the subject first.
Beer has been made the same way for centuries and even today many breweries in the UK still operate the same as they did in Victorian times, some even have all the original equipment, for example Hook Norton
So there's plenty of literature out there.
Basically beer is made from barley, which is sprouted then dried (malt). The malt is then crushed and steeped in hot water at around 65 degrees for an hour or so (mashed) to provide a sweet liquid (wort). The wort is drained off and typically boiled with hops to give much of the flavour and bitterness. Think of hops as being methi or coriander leaves ;D ;D.
The resulting liquid (hopped wort) is strained off and allowed to cool, then fermented with yeast in a special vessel for around a week or so, then allowed to clear and condition. You end up with typically 20 litres of a clear alcoholic sparkling liquid called BEER. woot.
Now you can do the entire process yourself (best) or you can buy concentrated wort in the form of malt extract and boil your hops with that (not quite as good) or buy concentrated
hopped wort in the form of a beer kit from the home brew shop or many supermarkets (most basic method).
Now the concentrated forms have been put through basically the identical process to making tins of condensed milk. As you will appreciate that can never be reconstituted to give the flavour of fresh milk, similarly with malt, so it's always a compromise between convenience and quality. However whatever method you will still end up with a drinkable hooch, provided you follow the all important sanitary procedures.
Good starter is the free e book "how to brew" by John Palmer
http://www.howtobrew.com/although there's a lot of technical detail that you can probably skip first time around.
That English book "Brewing Beers Like those you buy" is good, but it's a sequel to an earlier book "the big book of brewing" by Dave Line - which is a good intro to all grain brewing. It's very old but much of the equipment is identical to what we use today so it's still current. Poor old Dave is long deceased. The book should be available for peanuts at the Book Depository online.
cheers
Michael
Topic: Brewing beers like those you buy (Read 19882 times)
