Beer Flavor & Evaluation Flashcards
Discuss the effects that these adjunct grains have on beer: corn, rice, rye, oats, and wheat.
Corn and rice serve to lighten the body of a beer by adding lots of sugar, but little else. They are commonly used in industrial light lagers. Rye provides lots of spicy flavor and proteins that give the beer body and extra head. Oats provide a smooth nutty flavor and proteins that give the beer more viscosity and head. Wheat adds a bready flavor and extra protein for body and head
What do brewers usually have to do to adjunct grains to prepare them for the mash?
Many adjunct grains used raw need to be separately gelatinized prior to being added to the mash. Gelatinizing the grains is like making hot cereal. The grain is swelled in hot water, which makes the starch in the grain accessible to enzymes in the mash that break them down into fermentable sugars.
Discuss the use of peat smoked malt in Scottish beer.
Peat smoked malt is sometimes used to make Scottish style beers. It adds an earthy phenolic note. Note this is not appropriate as more than a very minor note for those styles. The Scots did not traditionally use peat smoked malt to make those beers, any peat character came from the yeast or from the water passing through peaty soil.
Discuss the effect of using simple sugar to make beer?
Sugars lighten the body of beer because they are nearly 100% fermentable and do not add unfermentable proteins or starches to the beer. White sugars don’t add flavor, but many of the other darker sugars (maple syrup, agave syrup, molasses, treacle) will provide their own unique flavorings to the beer.
Name some bacterium used in beer making. What flavors do they provide?
Acetobacter, Pediococcus, Enterobacter, and Lactobacillus. Lacto and Pedio typically provide a lactic tartness to the beer as well as some fruity aromas and flavors. Enterobacter is bilious (vomit-like). Acetobacter oxidizes alcohol into acetic acid, i.e. vinegar.
Discuss the flavors that wood ageing commonly provides a beer.
Wood contributes woody or oaky flavor (oak is common for barrels), vanilla (from vanillins in wood), caramel, butterscotch, toasted bread or almonds (if the barrel was toasted), coffee, chocolate, cocoa (from charred wood), and flavors from any wine or liquor that was stored in it. Barrels are also used to age beer with souring organisms.
Discuss the flavors that Brettanomyces commonly provides a beer.
There are many species of Brett, they can give beer very different qualities. Some of the characteristics associated with Brett include acetic tartness (if it has access to oxygen, i.e. aerobic fermentation rather than anaerobic fermentation), cherry pie flavor and earthy “barnyard” and “horse blanket” aromas. These beers are not always tart or sour.
Our olfactory system is made up of two separate sensing systems, what are they and how do they work?
The orthonasal system smells aromas you sniff through your nose, while the retronasal system smells aromas in the back of your mouth, throat, and the space between the mouth and nose. The retronasal system experiences aromas more as taste than as smell.
The flavor perception system is called?
The gustatory system.
What are the five established flavors?
Sweet, salty, bitter, umami (glutamate), sour.
What is mouthfeel and what is its major driver in beer?
Mouthfeel is the physical sensation of the beer. A major driver of mouthfeel is attenuation level, how much sugar did the yeast ferment vs. leave in the beer. Well attenuated beer is experienced as crisp and dry. Less attenuated beers are fuller, sweeter, and richer. The more residual sugar, proteins, and other compounds in the beer, the more full-bodied.
Name the major factors involved in a beer’s mouthfeel.
Attenuation level of the beer/body, carbonation, temperature, astringency, creaminess, and alcoholic warming.
What’s the best way to smell a beer?
Short quick sniffs are most effective for sensing aroma. Long inhalations dry out your mucus membranes and interfere with aroma sensors. Smelling yourself will reset tired aroma sensors.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for very pale beers?
Uncooked flour and bread dough.
Very pale beers are often made solely with very lightly kilned “base malts” such as pilsner malt.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for golden beers?
White bread, wheat bread, and cracker-like.
Pale malt is used as the base malt for many of the world’s pale ales, especially those from England and the US. It is kilned just enough to have the aroma and flavor of baked bread rather than unbaked dough.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for light amber beers?
Bread crust, biscuity, and graham cracker-like.
These are made with either a darker base malt such as Vienna or Munich or with one of the paler base malts along with an addition of specialty malt that is more highly colored.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for amber beers?
Toast, caramel, and piecrust-like.
Deeply amber beer may be made with purely Munich base malt (the darkest base malt), but in most cases amber beers are made with a light base malt and smaller amounts of dark specialty malt.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for brown beers?
Nutty, toffee, chocolaty, and dark or dried fruit.
Brown beers are made via the addition of dark roasted specialty malts or grains that give them loads of deep color and flavors and aromas of toffee, chocolate (milk or dark), or dried fruit.
What are some common flavor and aroma descriptors for black beers?
Roasty, burnt, espresso, and coffee-like.
Black beers are always made with plenty of dark roasted specialty malts or grains.
What is the primary compound in hops that adds bitterness to beer? What has to happen to it for it to dissolve into the wort?
The substances in hops that add the majority of bitterness to beer are Alpha Acids. They are not soluble in water under normal conditions, but are isomerized by boiling and become soluble in the sweet wort adding bitterness. Alpha Acid levels in hops range from 2-20% of the weight of the hop.
What is the most aromatic element of hops?
Essential oils are the most aromatic components in hops. They are very volatile (that’s why we can smell them). Therefore, the longer you boil the hops the more of the aromatic and volatile essential oils you will drive off.
What are Beta Acids?
Beta Acids in hops provide bitterness, but less so than Alpha Acids. Beta Acids do not isomerize in the boiling wort, rather they break down slowly over time during fermentation and storage adding low levels of bitterness to beer.
What is Lupulin?
The Alpha Acids, Beta Acids, and other aromatic oils and bitter resins are found in waxy globules of Lupulin inside the hop cone.
Besides adding bitterness and aroma/flavor, what do hops provide beer?
Alpha and Beta Acids possess anti-bacterial properties and prevent or retard contamination from common bacterial agents such as Pediococcus and Lactobacillus.
What is a Gruit?
Prior to using hops as a bittering agent in beer, brewers used a mix of bitter herbs, plants, and spices as the balancing agent. That mixture was called gruit. It’s sale was controlled by local authorities as a way to tax brewers. Today, unhopped beers are called Gruits.
