Beer Smarts Informative Articles
Ingredients, health benefits, home brewing and more.
A barrel load of information so you can be the smart one next time you're in a crowd of beer drinkers.
Analyzing Beer - A Lesson In Calculating Alcohol Content
Glass, pint, bottle, pitcher, liter, you say? When ordering a beer to drink, perhaps. But, when it comes to measuring beer, brewers have something else entirely in mind.
Specific Gravity
For reasons known only to history, the term 'specific gravity' refers to a liquid's density.
Read more: Analyzing Beer - A Lesson In Calculating Alcohol Content
The Health Benefits Of Beer
The health benefits of moderate red wine drinking have been extensively studied. But numerous recent studies on beer suggest that it may be as, or even more, healthy if consumed in moderation.
At base, of course, both contain alcohol and there is abundant evidence that it can have a variety of beneficial effects.
Weizenbier (Wheat Beer)
Wheat beer recipes are as old as Babylon, where wheat grain was often used to make a heady brew. The Middle Ages saw many new forms arise, where it was considered the brew of the nobility. Most beers of the period were dark and consuming this Weissbier (white beer) was therefore a mark of distinction.
Similarly, the Bavarian tradition of brewing goes back centuries. The famed Reinheitsgebot - the German purity law established in 1516 - continues to control the way beer is made in this center of the beer universe.
Ale - A Brief Synopsis
Ale is at the top of the beer pyramid in more ways than one.
The two broad categories of beer - ale and lager - are distinguished chiefly by the kind of yeast used during the fermentation process that transforms sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The type used in ales is called 'top fermenting' because of its tendency to float near the top of the tank. But, the results go far beyond providing an easy way to filter the brew.
All About Yeast
Yeasts are living organisms, a uni-cellular fungus, and have a rare ability: to live with or without oxygen. In the presence of air, they multiply. In the absence of oxygen, they ferment sugars into alcohol. That's what makes beer brewing possible.
Lambic - Another Type Of Beer
Beers are most commonly divided into two great classes, ales and lagers, depending on the yeast strain used in fermentation. But most ale and lager yeasts are cultured, with many hybrids and sub-types and sometimes the classification is a little forced.
There's one type, however, that clearly stands apart: Lambics. True Lambics are made only from wild yeasts, and only those grown in a very specific region in Belgium, the Payottenland southwest of Brussels, Belgium.
More Articles...
- Beer Tasting Tips
- Lager - A Brief Synopsis
- All About Hops (Clever Use For a Useless Plant)
- Is Pouring Beer An Art Or Is It Science?
- How To Store Beer
- Glassware Is Not Just For The Looks
- 10 Steps To Perfect Home Brews Part 1 - Equipment And Preparation
- Breweriana (Beer And Brewing Collectibles)
- Analyzing Beer - A Lesson In Hops and Color
- Pairing Food And Beer
- Why The Water Matters So Much
- 10 Steps To Perfect Home Brews Part 2 - Brewing
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