Elaborating is not the same as doing, however much the end result may seem.
Elaborating is not the same as doing, however much the end result may seem. "SenseS" handcrafted beer with organic Nectar Agave...
In the world of beer, it is not the same 'elaborate' as 'produce' or 'manufacture'. The craft beer is made. It is almost a work of goldsmith, but in which it is necessary to bet for the innovation to adapt to the times that we live.
Craft beer is an art that requires a ritual. First there are the non-negotiable ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. They are the four elements that make up the 'final art'.
Beer is 90% water. It is a basic ingredient. Malt is germinated barley in most cases, although other cereals may be used as long as they are 'malt'. Then there is the hops, an indispensable guest when we make the beer and that is the ingredient that will confer the bitterness and the aroma that we have devised in our head of master brewers. And, finally, the yeast, the microorganism that will enable the 'alchemical' process that will allow fermentation; the transformation of sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Water, malt, hops and yeast are the 'hardware' of beer. It is desirable to obtain them from 'kilometer 0'. The denomination of origin of the products is basic to increase the quality, to reduce the ecological footprint, to foment the local work, to collaborate with the environment ...
It is time to begin to work with patience and without haste. A process with very marked steps, but in which each brewmaster puts his touch to get a different, personal, accented beer. Everything is beer, but not all beer is the same. In the world of artisans, this maxim is almost a dogma.
The first step to reach the goal is grinding, a process that is subjected to malt before beginning its maceration, which must lead us to obtain an extremely sweet beer must and is the first fundamental step in art of brewing. The maceration is carried out at high temperatures. The beer wort we get from this job is perfectly drinkable.
It is time to filter this hyperdulce liquid that has been obtained with the aim of cleaning it of impurities. It is also time to add the hop, the cooking and separation of the hops with the whirpool. The cooking time will depend on the brew recipe and the nuances of bitterness and aroma that the 'maker' wants to obtain.
The second stage of the process is fermentation. To the beer must is added the yeast, an injected that is carried out at low temperature and that will turn the tanks into a 'boiler' with the passage of days, when the microorganisms are in full fermentation.
According to the recipe of each brewmaster, ALE-type beers are spoken (where the yeast acts at high temperature and accumulates in the upper part of the hopper) or Lager or low fermentation, which is the opposite of ALE. The yeasts 'work' at low temperature and are deposited in the bottoms of the tanks. Every mastery has its booklet, says the old Castilian saying, and on the subject of yeasts more than ever, since you can also bet on 'spontaneous fermentation', which is nothing other than not adding any kind of yeast so that it is the action of the wild yeast that performs the fermentation process in the tanks left open for this purpose. It is a form of almost exclusive elaboration of Belgium. The fermentation process also depends on the recipe of each master.
The final straight to have the beer ready to consume is the filter, or not, of the beer obtained (a debate always open in the segment of artisan beers), bottled and chaparla. In this final stretch it is important to keep the beer almost as if it were in a 'sancta santorum'. It is key to avoid external contamination. For this, the process must be completely hermetic if we do not want to put an end to all the work.
The processing process will be ready. You will only enjoy an elaborate craft beer as the recipe of each brewmaster indicates. An art that must be appreciated as what it is: a work of "goldsmithing", precision and also innovation.
Guillermo Vidal
By NaturalAgave.com