Every beer has four main ingredients- grains, hops, yeast and water, and how you experiment by varying each of them is what makes the art of brewing beer so interesting. With craft breweries cropping up all over India and boasting of brews with quality exotic ingredients and rich aroma, like the amber ale, Stout and Honey Ale to name a few, there seems to be no dearth of people who are looking to get adventurous with their taste buds. Take for example, North Goa where a handful of well-known craft breweries are experimenting with Indian ingredients like Alphonso mango and kokum to craft beers. Such beers usually contain more alcohol than an average bottled beers.
Not only can this beverage be enjoyed alone, it can also be used to make some wild recipes from Beer Pizza and Beer-nana bread to cocktails like Beergarita, Classic Chelada and Summer Shandy. In fact there exists microbreweries that are known to even teach one to pair the best foods with their beer.
Beer brewing doesn’t have to get complicated especially when you are making a small batch at home. It just involves 3 steps- brewing, fermentation and bottling. Family and friends often bond over it and are brought together to discover and discuss its taste, whether it is balanced, fruity, earthy or citrusy. In some parts of the world beer is drunk at all major junctions of life such as at birth, marriage or during burial rituals.
There are many types of beers a person can experiment with like using different grains, spices, herbs, and hops but it is best for beginners to keep it simple. Rather than focusing on different flavour profiles, it would be advisable to get the technique right and keep practising it to perfection. Here is presented a malt extract based simple brewing method. This homemade brew will keep developing its taste while it is being stored but it is advisable to consume the brew within 12 months.
Ingredients
200 gm dry malt extract
1 gm magnum hop
2 litre bottled water
1 kg ice
1 whirlfloc tablet
8 gm brown sugar
5 ml brewing sanitizer(hydrogen peroxide)
2 gm beer brewing yeast
2 gm yeast nutrient
Method
1. Use a sanitising solution to wash all equipment and surfaces. Dry off any excess moisture.
2. Boil at least 2 litres of water in a steel pot.
3. Add malt extract to the boiling water by stirring it occasionally so that the malt does not stick to the bottom or caramelise.
4. Add the Magnum hop for flavour and the whirlfloc tablet to get a clearer beer in the end.
5. After 5-10 minutes of continuous boiling, take the vessel out of flame and plunge it in an ice bath.
6. Chill until the wort reaches room temperature and pour it in a glass carboy and then shake it vigorously to allow for oxygenation.
7. Mix the yeast with 20 ml water and allow it to hydrate. Also add yeast nutrients. Mix them well with the wort batch and wait for about 10-15 minutes for foam to form.
8. Seal the lid of the glass carboy with cork and attach the airlock. It should start bubbling in 4-12 hours.
9. Store it away from sunlight in a cool dark place over next 7 days or until bubbling has stopped. Ensure that the temperature does not exceed 25°C.
10. Sanitise the glass bottles & rinse off the disinfectant with water.
11. Using a syphon tube pour out the beer into the bottle & add 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar for natural carbonation.
12. Seal the bottle caps tight and store the bottles in a cool dark place for 3 days for carbon dioxide formation.
13. Serve chilled in a glass mug.