Introduction Part II

I'm going to start this off by giving a crash course in beer history and brewing, beer basics, and how to read the recipes that are posted.

Beer is one of the mankind's oldest creations. It predates other alcoholic beverage and may even predate bread. This would suggest that it was beer that jumpstarted the agricultural revolution. In fact, the oldest recording recipe ever discovered is a recipe for beer, not food.

4,000 year old Mesopotamian beer recipe.

Over the centuries, different techniques and styles became associated with different regions. Beer broke into roughly two types: Ale and Lager.

Ales are rich, flavorful beers brewed at higher temperatures and with top-fermenting yeast. There is a huge range of flavors that can be achieved in ales.

Lagers are crisp and refreshing beers brewed at lower temperatures with bottom-fermenting yeast. Most of the commercial beers available are lagers. 

RateBeer has a user-generated list of the top  beers in the world here. BeerAdvocate has theirs here. They also have this list of all the beer styles by country.

Although the United States is often associated with mass-produced lagers, since the late 1970s, craft brewing has made the U.S. one of the best destinations for beer in the world.

______________________________________________

Although brewing beer can seem difficult, it is really quite simple. The fact that I've brewed four batches in my NYC apartment, with minimum equipment is testimony to this. There are plenty of great resources for the aspiring homebrewer, so I won't be giving any basics. However, if anyone every wants to see a brew session in action, just stop by on brew day. 

What I will post are hints, tips, and recipes.

This is what a beer recipe looks like:

Beer Name

Beer Style

Recipe Specs

----------------

Batch Size (G):    

Total Grain (lb):

Total Hops (oz):

Original Gravity (OG):

Final Gravity (FG):

Alcohol by Volume (ABV):

Colour (SRM):

Bitterness (IBU):

Brewhouse Efficiency (%):

Boil Time (Minutes):

Grain Bill

----------------

pounds/type of grain/percentage of bill

Hop Bill

----------------

ounces/hop type/time added to boil

Miscellaneous Bill

----------------

-Type of mash infusion

-Fermentation temperature and yeast strain

______________________________________________

New post coming soon which will contain the stout recipe and maybe some previews to the upcoming ABC Reserve Society!