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Beer 101: Terminology
for casual beer drinkers
Ale --
Beer brewed using yeast that floats on or near the top of the
brewing vessel during fermentation. Ale yeasts produce beers that
tend to be more complex in flavor and heavier in body than lagers.
Citrus notes are often present in ales. Ales include porters, stouts
and other traditional English-style beers and their Americanized
counterparts, wheat beers, and most of the highly diverse Belgian
styles.
Lager -- Beer made with yeasts that
settle to the bottom of the fermentation tank where the process
takes place; lagers are known as bottom-fermenters, while ales are
known as top-fermenters. The characteristics of lagers arising from
the bottom-fermenting yeast include crisp, clean, light-bodied
beers. The vast majority of beers brewed around the globe are
lagers. Almost all mass-marketed beers fall into this category as
well as many Bavarian-style beers.
Barley -- The basic grain used in the
making of beer. Barley is typically made into malt. Quality craft
beers use mostly malted barley in their recipe. At times, other
grains such as oats, wheat and rye or unmalted barley may be used to
supplement the barley malt. Corn and rice, common in mass-marketed
lagers, are not used by craft brewers.
Malt --
To make malt, the grain (usually barley) is soaked in water and
allowed to germinate. Germination converts the starches in the grain
to fermentable sugars. Germination is then quickly terminated
through a heating process in a kiln. The grain is dried, crushed and
used as the basic sugar source (maltose) for fermentation. The
amount and duration of the heat used in the kilning process produces
malt of different properties, in terms of both color and flavor.
Dark malts possessing bitter chocolate or coffee flavors are roasted
longer and at higher temperatures than pale malts.
Hops -- Hops are the conical female
flowers of the plant Humulus lupulus, which grow on vines. Hops
contain bittering alpha acids and aromatic oils. Hops come in a
large number of varieties, each of which imparts its own character
to the beer. Grown in temperate regions such as eastern Europe,
southeastern England and the Pacific Northwest, they are used to add
flavor, aroma, or bitterness to beer, and also act as a
preservative. Some brewers use the actual crushed hop flower; others
use palletized hops.
International Bittering Units (IBUs) --
A measure of a beer's bitterness (alpha acid content) derived from
the introduction of hops during the brewing process. The average
American pale-yellow lager has an IBU of generally less than 20;
massively bitter imperial India Pale Ales and stouts may have IBUs
ranging from 70 upwards. Bitterness becomes apparent to most
drinkers beginning in the 20 plus range. Hoppy, bitter beer lovers,
aka hopheads, search far and wide for off-the-chart IBU beers.
Balance
-- Brewers offset the sweetness from the grain with the bitterness
from the hops. A well-balanced beer is neither too sweet (malty) nor
too bitter (hoppy), though each quality is detectable on the palate.
Yeast -- The microscopic organisms
involved with fermentation, that is, the production of alcohol from
the metabolism of sugars. Hundreds of different strains of yeast are
used by brewers worldwide, with each strain imparting unique
qualities. |
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