Beer, Cider Flashcards
Bavarian Purity Law
“Reinheitsgebot” allowed these ingredients for beer production:
Water
Barley
Hops
the action of yeast was undiscovered when the Act passed in 1516
What are the major steps in the beer making process?
- grain is malted - it is steeped in water, and allowed to germinate / sprout. this is “green malt”
- as it is germinated, an enzyme called amylase is produced, which converts the starch into fermentable sugars - this green malt is roated in a kiln, to stop further growth
- the malt is ground or cracked in a mill to produce grist
- the grist is combined with hot water in a mash tun, converting and extracting sugar from the malt, resulting in the wort, which is rich in flavor, sugar, and color.
- wort + sparge + hops added to copper and boiled for 1-2 hours
- wort is cooled to appropriate temperature for desired style, yeast is added, fermentation starts.
- final product may be pasteurized, filtered before bottling
What is sparge in beer production?
Sparging is the rinsing of the mash grain to extract sugars, can also extract bitterness. the water used to rinse is the “sparge” and is added back to the wort
What effect does boiling the wort have?
Boiling the wort stabilizes and sterilizes the brew, darkens the color, and causes excess water to evaporate.
Define Lambic beer
Belgian beer spontaneously fermented in open-top containers with native wild yeasts, such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus. Classic lambics are distinctively sour, and aged prior to release—often up to three years in cask. Aged hops are used, resulting in a final brew that contains little hop flavor and aroma. Generally, lambics are blended before release.
Traditionally from Belgium, from the area around Brussels and the Zenne River Valley.
Producers: Lindemann’s Framboise, Drie Fonteinen [Oude] Gueuze , Brasserie Cantillon
Define Gueuze
Gueuze is a style produced by mixing one-year-old lambics with beers that have aged for two to three years. The blend, which contains fermentable sugars from the young lambic, is then refermented in the bottle, giving the beer its sparkle and the moniker Brussels Champagne.
List at least 5 styles of Ale
Brown
Pale
Scotch
Mild
Burton
Old
Belgian
Trappist
Abbey
Stout
Porter
List at least 5 styles of Lager
Pilsner
Bock (including Doppelbock, Eisbock, Maibock)
Märzen/Fest
Vienna Style
Dortmunder
Black/Schwartz
Munich Helles
Pale Lager
What is a California Common?
lager fermented at warmer than normal temperatures (i.e. Anchor Steam)
What is a kolsch?
ale from Cologne (Germany) fermented at cooler than normal temperatures
around 24 IBU
What is a Kvass?
rye-based Russian beer usually fermented with fruit juices
What is a Rauchbier?
smoked beer, famously produced in Bamberg (Franken, Germany)
made with a large portion of malt that’s been smoked over the flames of a beechwood-fueled fire.
Where did saison beer originate?
Hainaut Province in Belgium
Name 2 Austrian beers
Gösser (Leoben, Styria)
Ottakringer (Vienna)
Schloss Eggenberg (Vorchdorf, Upper Austria)
Stiegl (Salzburg)
Name 2 German beer brands
Weihenstaphaner
Ayinger
Bitburger
Erdinger
Paulaner
Name 2 Belgian beer brands
Bavik
Chimay
Delirium Tremens
Duchesse de Bourgogne
Porter vs Stout- what’s the difference?
Porters are made with malted barley to achieve their signature flavors (chocolate, coffee), while stouts often use roasted un-malted barley. Porters are typically lighter in body than stouts
stouts were originally called Stout Porters- a heavier style of porter. the porter part was eventually dropped
List 3 common hop varieties
Citra
Cascade
Mosaic
Magnum
Amarillo
Centennial
Simcoe
Saaz
Spanish cider appellation?
Sidra de Asturaias DO
French cider appellations?
Poire Domfront AOP
Pays d’Auge AOP
Contentin AOP
Cournouaille (Cornwall) AOP
Why is perry typically off dry?
Compared to cider apples, pears for perry have a relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, so perry tends to have more residual sugar than cider produced from the fermentation of apples
What is the French term for perry? What is the sole AOC for it?
Poire
Poire Domfront AOC
min 40% “white” varieties
Coolship
or koelschip - exposes beer to ambient yeasts
Essentially large, shallow troughs that brewers use to cool down beer, coolships have been used way before lambic beer became a style.
For centuries, brewers built crude coolships to cool down beer. People understood the fundamentals of making beer at the time but didn’t understand yeast yet. Eventually, various discoveries around yeast allowed people to understand the nature of bacteria. They introduced new methods to control cooling down beer and fermentation in a closed system with a single yeast strain
sometimes used to denote a lambic style beer made outside of Belgium
Framboise
a lambic beer flavored with raspberry
Kriek
a lambic beer flavored with sour morello cherries
SRM
Standard Reference Method- a color chart for beer.
1 is lightest, pale straw
40+ is basically black
measures how much light passes through 1 cm of beer
vom fass
on tap (beer)
Flasche = in a bottle
dunkeles
darker colored beer (german)
abtei
german for abbey
noble hops varieties
Noble hops are classic European varieties that are responsible for the signature flavors of pilsner and other Continental lagers. The four noble varieties are:
Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Bavaria
Tettnang, Lake Constance, Germany
Spalt, Spalter, Germany
Saaz, Zatec, Czech Republic
what is lagering?
lagering is a process that happens after fermentation and before filtration and/or packaging of the beer. storing beer with the yeast at or near freezing temperatures for weeks to months. results in a clean, fresh profile. by doing the following:
- reduces any acetic and lactic acids, for instance, to fruity-tasting esters
- reduces acetaldehyde and diacetyl flavors
- total residual sugar drops by up to 50%
- yeast consumes the remaining oxygen
- slowly dissipating carbon dioxide scrubs several unpleasant-tasting compounds out of the beer, including sulfur dioxide, which contributes green-beer flavors; dimethyl sulfide, which gives beer vegetal notes; and hop-derived mercaptan, which is partially responsible for skunk-like off-aromas, especially in beer exposed to light.
what is Krausening?
German brewing technique that involves adding fermenting wort to finished beer to create carbonation and refine flavor. It’s often used for lagers
- provides carbonation
- can start or restart fermentation
- cleans up green / off flavors
what is a hopback?
A hopback is a device used in brewing to add a strong hop aroma to beer by passing the wort through a bed of whole hops just before it enters the fermenter, allowing the extraction of delicate hop oils and aromas that would otherwise be boiled off during the brewing process, resulting in a more pronounced hoppy character without significant added bitterness; it’s particularly useful for styles that prioritize hop aroma like IPAs and pale ales.
what is dry hopping?
hops are added to beer during or after fermentation, allowing for a stronger infusion of hop aroma and flavor without extracting additional bitterness, typically used to enhance the character of beers like IPAs and pale ales; essentially, it’s adding hops late in the brewing process to primarily impact the beer’s smell rather than taste.
downside- hops are not sanitized, meaning it could theoretically contaminate the beer, but there’s not a ton of evidence for this
German styles of lager
Pilsner/ Helles
Maibock / Traditional Bock
Oktoberfest/Märzen/Dunkel
Rauchbier
Doppelbock / Eisbock
Schwarzbier
from lightest to darkest
German styles of ale
Wheat Ales: Hefeweizen/Dunkelweizen/Weizenbock
Altbier
Kolsch
Berliner Weisse and Gose
Berliner weisse
Berliner weisse is a tart wheat beer that is soured through a fermentation with the bacteria Lactobacillus. This bacteria produces lactic acid—the same acid that gives yogurt and sour cream their signature tang.
around 5 IBU
Gose
soured with the aid of Lactobacillus, but has a couple other ingredients that make it quite unusual: coriander and salt. The final product is cloudy, tart, and spicy
around 5 IBU
Altbier
top fermented lagered beer
specialty hailing from Düsseldorf. fermented cooler than most ales with a yeast that operates best just above the temperatures that are usually reserved for lagers. This process allows rich, nutty, bready malt character to shine alongside a firm, spicy, floral hop bitterness.
Belgian styles of Ale
Dubbel (21 IBU)
Tripel (31 IBU)
Quadrupel
Farmhouse Ales (Saison, Biere de Garde)
Belgian Strong Ale/ Strong Pale Ale
Belgian Blonde Ale
Belgian Pale Ale (darker than the strong ale)
Witbier
Sour Ales (Lambic, Gueuze)
Belgian Witbier
Brewed with unmalted wheat, coriander and orange peel, witbier is ultra-refreshing—tart, light in body, moderate in alcohol (think 4.5-5.5% ABV), and with a pleasant balance of citrusy and spicy flavors from the yeast used to ferment it.
deep golden color
Saison
style originated in Belgium out of a need to provide safe hydration for workers in warm months, use extra grain from fall harvest.
pale, highly-carbonated, and super-dry, defined by citrusy aromatics, an assertive peppery yeast character, and a level of floral, earthy hoppiness rarely seen in Belgium
26 IBU
Biere de Garde
Belgian style, also made in France. arose out of necessity like Saisons, but different in style - stronger and maltier. comes in blonde, amber, and brune varieties
bottle conditioned
English bitter - styles
Standard/ordinary bitters are the weakest of the bunch—most weigh in around 3 to 4% ABV.
best/special/premium bitter is a bit stronger, tipping the scales in the low to high 4%s.
ESB/extra special/strong bitters go up from there, occasionally pushing 6% ABV, but living more commonly in the 5%s.
English vs American IPA
English-style IPAs bear very little resemblance to the hop-dominated, explosively citrusy American IPAs. The English hops typically used are less overtly fruity and bright.
American IPA are more bitter (around 55 IBU vs 49 English)
English Mild
most milds are brown in color and served on draft. They’re malty beers with little hoppiness and a fruity yeast flavor that can veer towards buttery in some examples.
3-4.5% abv
English Brown Ale
Generally similar to dark milds. caramel, nut, and dried fruit malt flavor.
4.0% to 5.5% abv (for Northern English brown ales).
styles of Porters
from lightest to strongest
Brown
Robust
Baltic
styles of Stouts
Irish Dry Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Milk Stout
Imperial Stout
Oatmeal Stout
english style, brewed with oats to provide a smooth texture alongside a nutty, chocolatey richness. These display varying levels of sweetness, but tend to be richer than dry stout. Their flavor is often likened to that of a coffee with cream.
Milk Stout
made with powdered lactose sugar. This stuff cannot be fermented by regular ale yeast, so it leaves behind sweetness and body that soften the roasty bitter edge common in other stouts.
Old Ale / Barleywine
english strong beers, sweeter with malty, chocolatey, caramel notes. both often aged
Scotch Ale
also known as “wee heavy.” These are rich, strong (6-10% ABV) amber or reddish-brown beers that boast some serious malt character. Expect a flavor that’s somewhat similar to barleywine—dense and caramelized with some fruitiness and sweetness.
International Trappis Association criteria
The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life.
The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
Belgian Trappist beers
Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle
Brouwerij Westvleteren (St Sixtus)
Bieres de Chimay
Brasserie de Rochefort
Brasserie d’Orval
Achel Abbey- lost its Trappist recognition in 2023 because it was sold to a private individual (no longer owned / operated by monks)
English Trappist beer
Mount St Bernard Abbey (Tynt Meadow)
Flanders Red Ale
or Flemish Red Brown, style of beer from West Flanders, Belgium
fermented with organisms other than Saccharomyces cerevisiae, especially Lactobacillus, which produces a sour character attributable to lactic acid. Long periods of aging are employed, a year or more, often in oak barrels, to impart a lactic acid character to the beer.[1] Red malt is used to give the beer its colour and the matured beer is often blended with a younger batch before bottling to balance and round the character.
Light colored beers
Pilsner - SRM 2-7
Witbier, Berliner Weisse
Belgian Stron Ale
Maibock
Vienna Lager
Octoberfest - SRM 4-12
Light - medium colored beers
American Pale Ale - SRM 6-14
Pale Ale
English Golden Ale
Bavarian Weizen
Bitter, ESB - SRM 8-14
Medium - dark colored beers
Märzen - SRM 7-15
Imperial Pale Ale
Biere de Garde
Dunkel Weizen
Amber Ale
English Brown Ale - SRM 12-22
Dark colored beers
Bock - SRM 15-30
Porter
Oatmeal Stout
Baltic Porter
Foreign Stout
Imperial Stout - SRM 50-80
non-belgian trappists
Koningshoeven (La Trappe, Netherlands)
Stift Engelszell (Austria)
Abdij Maria Toevlucht (Netherlands)
Tre Fontane (Rome, Italy)
Mount Saint Bernard (England)
beer barrel size
31 gallons
ale yeast
saccaromyces cerevisaie
lager yeast
Saccharomyces pastorianus
What is the max. production size for a brewery to be considered “Craft” by the Brewer’s Association?
6 million barrels or less per year
dry hop vs wet hop
Dry hopping is a process. Wet hop is an ingredient.
Dry hopping purpose is to add hops to the fermentation process to increase aroma but not increase bitterness (boiling the wort increases bitterness but does decrease aromatics).
Wet hopping is using hops fresh off the vine. Wet hops have more oil and resin than the dried hops typical for use. More grassy flavor.
gallons in a keg
15.5 US gallons
half a barrrel
Lauter Tun
Large vessel with a false slatted bottom and a spigot drain - mash settles and sweet wort drains off
(lautering = separating the pre-boil wort from spent grains)
Brewers Association definition of a microbrewery
15,000 barrels a year with 75% or more sold off-site
how is beer carbonated?
Naturally - through fermenation
Forcecd- CO2 or Nitrogen are added
Zymurgy
The branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation processes, as in brewing. Also the name of the American Homebrewers AssociationOpens in new window bi-monthly magazine
what type of beer is Dusseldorf known for?
Altbier
what type of beer is Cologne known for?
Kolsch
when are hops added for max bitterness?
at the beginning of the boil- they release more alpha-acids the longer they boil
3 stages of malting
grain is steeped
grain germinates (sprouts)
grain is kilned (dried)
styles of bock
maibock - lightest, also called helles bock
bock - copper to rich brown
doppelbock- deep gold to dark brown
eisbock - ruby to very dark brown. strongest
eisbock
Brewed as a Doppelbock, an Eisbock (or “ice bock”) is made by freezing the beer until some of the water begins to freeze (water has a higher freezing point than alcohol). That ice is skimmed off and the resulting brew is stronger. Flavor, body, and alcohol content are all concentrated
what is green beer?
beer that is freshly fermented
how many gallons in 1 hectoliter?
1hl = 100 liters
= 26 US gallons
= 22 UK gallons
what is conditioning a beer?
allowing pressure to build up in a sealed container, creating carbonation
temperature and length of beer pasturization
packaged in bottles or cans: 60 °C (140 °F) for 5 to 20 minutes
in keg: 70 °C (160 °F) for 5 to 20 seconds
