Wednesday Food: Happy Brew Year's!

Last week, immediately after arriving home from my LAX-ORD non-stop, I got onto Ashland avenue and headed due south to Brew and Grow.  With the help of a delightful staff I pieced together a beautiful homebrewing set and selected a Brewer’s Best kit for Imperial Pale Ale.

What this means, dear heteronomous, is that I have launched into the world of homebrewing.

I have no idea if this moment, right now, is the quiet before months of disaster, disappointment, and exploding syrupy bottles– I told you I have anxiety about yeast and all their goings-on– but that is a risk I simply must take.  Not only is it a new year, but I have also turned a year older.  2009 was predominately a food year for me.  2010, let me write it here for all to see, is the YEAR OF BEER.

If you, like me, are a homebrewing neophyte,  take a gander at my introductory glossary after the jump…

ABV- alcohol by volume, which is determined by subtracting the terminal gravity from the original gravity

Airlock- device that allows CO2 to escape carboy, without letting in more oxygen

Ale- beer that ferments at 60-75F degrees, with top-fermenting yeast

All grain/ full mash- raw grain base for beer, as opposed to malt extracts, which are convenient for homebrewing

Aroma hops- added last in the boil to establish aromatics

Bittering hops- added at the beginning of the boil to add bitterness

Bottle conditioned- living yeast in the bottle produce CO2, generally these age well

Brettanomyces (“Brett”)- genus of yeast popular in brewing and winemaking

Carboy- glass bottle resembling Sparkletts’, used for primary or secondary fermentation (see picture*)

Cask conditioned- fermentation in the cask or barrel, that produces CO2

Esters- chemical compound responsible for your beer smelling so good, especially fruity notes

Fermentation- metabolic process by which yeast convert sugars to alcohol and CO2

Flavor hops- added in the mid-late boil contributing to both flavor and aroma

Hydrometer- device that measures gravity (density of the beer compared to the density of water)

Lager- beer that ferments at 34-50F degrees, with top-fermenting yeast

Malt- grain (barley) that has germinated and been dried or roasted

Malt extract- concentrated syrup (LME) or powder (DME) that eases homebrewing

Mash- process in which crushed grains are mixed into hot water, often steeping like tea, when enzymes change starch into fermentable sugar

Original gravity- density of the wort before fermentation, determines ABV

Pitching- adding yeast to wort

Priming- adding sugar to fermented (alcoholic) wort to re-stimulate yeast before bottling

Saccharomyces cerevisiae- brewer’s yeast, the little buggers that make your beer bubbly and boozy

Sparging- removing (and rinsing) the grains from the mash, which then becomes “wort”

Terminal gravity- density of the wort after fermentation, determines ABV

Thief- handy device used to extract samples of the wort from the narrow neck of a carboy

Wort- liquid extracted from mash

*This was taken on the fifth day of primary fermentation for my Imperial Pale Ale

NOTE: my sources include but are not limited to the following:

All Belgian Beers, Hilde Deweer- encyclopedic coverage of the beers of Belgium

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Charlie Papazian- an essential tool for the both beginner and expert homebrewer

The Naked Pint, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune- an informally written yet comprehensive guide to craft beer, aimed at the female reader

Tasting Beer, Randy Mosher- a thorough introduction, this also includes details on food pairings and cooking with beer

Ultimate Beer, Michael Jackson- the best way to get close to an absolute beer master

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