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608-437-BREW(2739)
grumpytroll@charterinternet.com
105 S. Second Street
Mount Horeb, WI 53572
Take your favorite Grumpy Troll
brew home with you in your very own refillable half-gallon
growler! We will fill growlers from any brewery as long as we can seal the bottle. |
Modern Craft Brewer consist of four major ingredients, Water, Malt, Hops
and Yeast. By knowing these four ingredients and the role they play in
creating beer we can understanding the flavor profile of each different
beer we encounter.
Water is the backbone of every beer you will encounter
and is up to 90% of that beer. The water itself “H2O” is a
vehicle in which different dissolved salts and compounds are carried, this
can be related to a term called “Hard” or “Soft”.
Water itself can contain any different combination of salt, minerals, and
compounds and it is the amount that determine the Hardness or Softness
of water, the more, the harder and the less the softer.
The amount and type of salt, minerals and compound can dramatically affect
the outcome of any beer. Any good brewer worth his “salt” will
know his water like the back of his hand. For each major style of beer
there is a type of water in which certain salt and compound are prevalent.
Malt is short for Malted Barley. Most any cereal grain can be malted, if
it germinates, it can be malted. The process is relatively simple and unchanged
for thousands of years. The written history of beer goes back thousands
years, but the true history of beer is lost in antiquity.
The Malting Process begins when the barley is saturated in cool water,
during this time the grain will absorb water and begin to “wake up”.
After 24 to 36 hours the water is drained and the barley is allowed to
germinate. During germination rootlets will form and enzymes are released
from the inner shell. These enzymes will to start break down the core which
is comprised of complex carbohydrates or starches. These starches are the
food for the germinating plant before it can begin to produce its own food.
Germination will last from 5 to 7 days until the rootlets are _ the length
of the kernel. The grain is removed to kilns in which the malt is dried
and ready for brewing.
Hops (Humulus Lupulus, Linn.) are found in most countries
of the North Temperate Zone. The English name Hop comes from the Anglo-Saxon
hoppan, or (to climb). To the Romans, it was Lupus Salictartius, because
of the way the plant grows in nature. As the ancients said, hops grew "wild
among willows, like a wolf among sheep," hence the name Humulus Lupulus.
Hops are used in the brewing process during the boil to extract hop bitterness,
flavor and aroma. In some cases hops are added to the beer after fermentation
in a process called “dry hopping” to impart a fresh hop flavor
and aroma to the finished beer.
Yeast is a unicellular fungi micro organism that helps
us make bread, beer, wine and medicine. When yeast is added to the “wort”
it will begin to take in the sugar and nutrients that we have extracted
from the malt and they will utilize that to make more cell material. When
enough is taken in, the yeast cell will “bud”, producing another
yeast cell which will in turn do the same and so on and so on, alcohol
and carbon dioxide are byproduct of this action. Along with producing alcohol
and carbon dioxide the yeast creates 75% of the flavor profile of the beer
with the production of over 250 different chemical components that add
to the flavor profile of the beer.