The delectable charisma of beer, one of the most charming liquors, is primarily rooted in its core component, barley, a premier grain richly thickened with starches, enzymes, and flavours that conspire to devise the trademark scrumptious scent. This is well illustrated with Canadian barley, amongst the highly rated types acknowledged by breweries around the globe.
Hops, water and yeast are vital ingredients in beer making; wide off-beat varieties of beer manifest additional elements like Roasted Barley, Wheat Malt, fruits and spices. This ideally paves the path for the all-important distillation after the grains are steeped, germinated and finally dried with utmost care to produce a wondrous concoction.
The Soul of Beer
It comes as a no-brainer that malted barley is essentially the soul of the beer, providing the naturally soluble starch ideally suited for vigorous fermentation to generate a plethora of aromatic essence along with moderate foaming. One of the most refined orientations has been rendered by the brewers of Burton upon Trent, utilising the hard water and pale malt roasted in coke-fired kilns to create a paler, clear and milder version.
Commenting on the significance of Mashing, one of the most renowned exponents of brewing, Hayley Marlor, states, “The malt is steeped in hot, but not boiling, water for approximately an hour. This activates enzymes in the malt that causes the starch in the malt to break down and release simple sugars. Once this is all done you drain the water from the mash which is now full of sugar from the grains. This sticky, sweet liquid is called wort.”
Many modern makers achieve the X-factor by employing dynamic methods like Force Carbonation and Secondary Fermentation. While the first grants greater impetus to the brewing process, the latter, also known as “kräusening”, eliminates unsought residuals while optimising flavours and maximising shelf life through conditioning and occasional pasteurisation.
What do the experts say?
In this context, Marlor, associated with the iconic 172-year-old London-based brewery Fuller`s, warns against the damaging impacts of indiscriminate or excessive filtering. Accentuating the relative role of filtering, Marlor adds, “Unfiltered beer is often thought of as being more ‘craft’ because it keeps more of its flavour, which can be affected during processing and filtering. There is a fine balance between not heavily processing beer while ensuring it is clean.”
Concerning the vital phase of Malting, she critically observes, “We mill our own malt before we use it which gives us more control over our grist (milled malt). Most smaller breweries get their malt pre-milled, which can affect the flavour.” This starkly hints at the pertinent challenges faced by most domestic breweries.
Apart from emphasising the appropriate temperature and the correct water level, the arduous process often welcomes alternative constituents like botanicals and secondary hops like Montana Red and Wild River to engender the desired flavour.
Understandably, personalised tastes or preferences greatly vary across diverse raw particulars. For instance, British hops are suitable for brewing something like London Pride, while New World Hops are best for Frontier Premium Lager.
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