Beer Flashcards
What is the enzyme that converts starchy carbohydrates of grain to fermentable sugars?
The enzyme amylase.
What is the wort?
A sugar-rich liquid from malted grain.
What are the names of the fermentable sugars produced from the enzyme amylase?
Maltrose and dextrin
What is the name of the top-fermenting yeast added to wort to produce ale?
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
What are hops and why are they used?
A flower that adds flavor and bitterness, and has both preservative and antiseptic qualities that prohibit bacterial growth.
How does barley become malt?
Steeped in water for approx 2 days to promote germination of the grain. Once grain germinates, or sprouts, it is transferred to place with controlled temps and moisture levels. As sprout grows to an inch, the enzyme AMYLASE is produced which will convert starchy carbs into fermentable sugars MALTOSE and DEXTRIN. This “green malt” is then roasted in a kiln to halt further growth. Style of beer will determine length and degree of roasting, heavy-roasted black malts are used for porter style beers while pale malts are dries at low temps very light in color.
What is the process of malted barley becoming wort?
Malted grain is ground or cracked in a mill to produce grist. Grist is combined with water in a mash tun. The “mashing” process lasts 1-2 hours, converting and extracting sugar from the malt resulting in the flavor, sugar and color rich wort. The wort liquid is drawn off grains and filtered into brew kettle or “copper”.
What is sparging the wort?
Sparging is rinsing with fresh water the spent grains of the wort extracting additional sugar and flavor–can extract more bitterness, also.
Explain process of beer brewing from boiling the wort and adding hops–
Boil wort and sparge and hops for at least one hour-this sterilizes and darkens the color causing excess water to evaporate. Wort then strained, leaving spent hops behind chilling to appropriate temp for fermentation.
Difference between lager and ale production—temperatures and yeasts.
Lager–cool temps, ferments slower, bottom-fermenting yeast–saccharomyces pastorianus, resulting in delicate, cleaner beer;
Ales–warmer temperatures , top-fermenting yeast added to wort resulting in fruity and richly flavored beers.
Yeasts used to produce Lambic beers?
Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Brettanomyces lambicus
What is a Geuze?
A style of Lambic beer produced by mixing one year old lambics with beers that have aged for 2 or 3 years. The blend is then refermented with aged hops in bottle, giving beer it’s sparkle. Geuze and uncarbonated lambics are a rarity outside of Belgium.
What is Kriek?
A dry lambic refermented with fruit, such as morello cherries for Kriek styles or raspberries for Framboise styles. Lindemans and Cantillon are noteworthy producers.
Describe style of classic Lambics.
Classic lambics are almost vinous in character, distinctly sour, and aged prior to release-often up to 3 years in cask.
What temperature should lagers be served?
48-52 degrees
