Beer Ingredients

The main beer ingredients are hops, malted barley, water, and yeast. Beside these four main home brew ingredients, there are other ingredients such as flavoring and sugar. Starches are used also, because they have the ability to convert in the mashing process to really fine fermentable sugars. This helps increase the alcohol content of the beer and add flavor to it.

MALT
Between all of the malts, barley is the most popular and used malt due to its high amylase content. It also has a digestive enzyme that alleviates the breakdown of starch into sugars. Depending on what can be refined locally, other malts and unmalted grains such as wheat, rice, oats, and rye can be used.

HOPS
For many centuries, hops have been widely used as a bittering agent in beer. Hops helps to control the bitterness that will balance the sweetness of the malts. Hops also give off an aroma which ranges from citrus to herbal.

Hops also supplies an antibiotic effect that prefers the natural action of brewers yeast over the less wanted microorganism. The bitterness in beer is generally measured on the International Bitterness Units scale.

WATER
Since beer is mainly made up of water, water plays a vital role in the characteristics of the beer. A lot of beer styles are influenced by the the characteristics of water. Although, the effect of minerals in brewing water is complex, hard water is more appropriate for dark styles beer, while soft water is more for light styles beer.

YEAST
Yeast is a microorganism thats accountable for the fermentation of beer. Specific strains of yeast are chosen depending on the type of beer produced. The two main strains are ale yeast and lager yeast, with other variations available as well.

Yeast aids in metabolizing the sugars that are extracted from the grains, which produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as a result. During the early days when yeast purposes were misunderstood, all fermentations were done using wild or airborne yeasts.

CLARIFYING AGENT
Many brewers prefer to add one or more clarifying agents to beer. This 'beer ingredient' is not included as one of the ingredients on the beer label. Clarifying agents are usually obtained from animals or plants. One which comes from animals is Isinglas finings. It comes from swim bladders of fish. Another which comes from plants is Irish moss. This is a type of red algae.

HYBRID MICROBREWS
Hybrid microbrews offer you something different from the ordinary beer. They provide a unique taste and a very different character. There are many types of hybrid microbrews available. They can be produced using your own beer recipe or by following a popular recipe. Some of the hybrid microbrews include Fruit Beers, Vegetable Beer and even Spice Beers.

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