DRINK AND BE MERRY
DRINK AND BE MERRY
Bubbles are ingredients too !
Story by Chris Keller
The first time I made homebrewed beer I was helping my friend Michael with his first all-grain batch . Up until then he was brewing with malt extract , a syrup made from malted barley .
Nearly all homebrewers start their beer-making journey with malt extract to make the process less complicated , helping to insure a good first product . Michael had decided he was ready to move on to doing a full mash and , as I was the biggest fan of his beers at that point , he asked if I would help him . I enthusiastically agreed and it went very well . Brewing is a very involved process and I loved how much focus , diligence , and patience is involved . I even loved the cleaning and sanitizing ! I wanted to be a part of the whole process . It took two weeks to completely ferment and when it was time to bottle , I was there . We sanitized about two cases of random beer bottles we had saved from our beer purchases . Preparing the beer to bottle involved adding what ’ s called “ priming sugar ,” a specific amount of simple sugar for the yeast in the beer to eat while in the bottle producing the final ingredient in the finished product : carbon dioxide . The beer had to spend another two weeks carbonating in the bottle to add that familiar fizz to the suds .
Carbonation is naturally in beer . As the yeast ferments , it produces
alcohol and carbon dioxide with the CO2 bubbling up and out . Some of the CO2 sticks around but most of it leaves .
If kept under pressure , however , the carbon dioxide will dissolve in the beer . The beer can only hold so much , though and the vessel will explode if the pressure gets too high . Homebrewers refer to exploding bottles as “ hand grenades .” Without being in an enclosed vessel , the CO2 will leave the beer leaving it flat . For most of beer ’ s existence , beer was flat with very little carbonation , unless you drank straight from the fermenter . It wasn ’ t until the industrial revolution in the 18th and
19th centuries that carbonated beer became popular . Coal fired ovens were producing endless amounts of glass bottles that were stronger and cheaper . Beer makers were now packaging their beers in these air tight bottles thus retaining the natural carbonation .
Carbonated water beverages and tonics were modern marvels of the time encouraging brewers to increase carbonation levels in their final product . All of a sudden , bubbly drinks were everywhere . Sparkling wine which had only recently been considered “ the devil ’ s wine ” due to the exploding bottles and the assumption that the bubbles were spirits , was now quickly becoming the preferred drink of royalty .
Naturally carbonating in bottles , or “ bottle conditioning ,” is a science all in itself . That ’ s why brewers who use this method have to be meticulous in dosing the proper amount of sugar for the size of the bottles . Sometimes fresh yeast needs to be added as well to ensure a good fermentation in the bottles . Very few production breweries bottle condition their beer , It ’ s become more of a cultural and style practice . Fine bottled ales in England need to be bottle conditioned to be considered what the English call “ real ale .” Belgian strong ales are almost exclusively bottle conditioned . They also tend to
26 SPRING EDITION 2024