Craft beer is a long-standing type of beer that is loved by many people. Making craft beer is not too difficult but requires experience, creativity, and meticulousness to create unique flavors. If you want to learn more about craft beer and how to make it in detail, please refer to Websosanh.vn right away:
*Disclaimer: Beer products are only intended for people over 18 years of age and are not intended for pregnant women.
1. Concept of craft beer
Craft beer Also known by other names such as: craft beer, craft beer. This is a type of beer brewed with traditional ingredients combined with the infinite creativity of brewers and brewed manually for a long time, with diverse flavors and colors. In particular, the production quantity is less than industrial draft beer, often has a relatively high alcohol concentration, focusing on the flavor and color of beer and the porosity of beer foam.
In the world, craft beer has been around for a long time and has been popular since the 1990s. In the Vietnamese market, the trend of drinking craft beer started around 2015 – 2016. As if to find a new flavor besides familiar industrial beers, craft beer bars also started to spring up more to introduce, approach consumers to enjoy and experience.
2. Detailed craft beer review on design, ingredients and types
If you are new and have not enjoyed craft beer Ever, you must be very curious about the design, ingredients, and types of craft beer before making a choice. Right now, let’s join Websosanh.vn to review craft beer in detail:
2.1. Design
Because of the emphasis on creativity, craft beer is brewed and hand-brewed by different artisans. Accordingly, they will build their own product with a unique shape, brand story, and personality. However, among the types of craft beer currently on the market, we can still see the following common points in design:
Usually stored in steel tanks, keg bombs or specialized wooden barrels and taken directly from the tap to serve directly to drinkers at the bar with specialized beer glasses.
With convenient form, craft beer is often contained in aluminum cans or glass bottles with a capacity of 330ml similar to industrial beers. Common packaging specifications are 6-can carry, 12-can small crate and 24-can crate made of sturdy cardboard. With bottle form, there are 6-bottle carry, 20-bottle crate or mixed flavors in combos of 6, 9, 12 depending on the preferences of the drinker and the seller.
Not only does it vary in design, but the ingredients of craft beer also do not have a clear, specific standard. Because it depends a lot on the level, experience, and skills of the craft beer brewers.
Accordingly, the main ingredients of craft beer are usually water, hops, yeast and malt. In many cases, to reduce costs, people can replace some of the main ingredients such as malt with cereals, rice or corn.
In addition, there are many other additional ingredients to create different flavors and colors for the product. Common craft beer colors such as black, red, yellow, etc. are due to the combination of additional ingredients such as: fruits, herbs, coffee beans, etc. Many places brew craft beer to create a unique flavor that no one else has, they also add other additional ingredients such as: pepper, coriander, papaya, buckwheat, cocoa beans, etc.
2.3. Popular craft beers on the market today
There are many types of craft beer on the market today because the creativity of brewers is limitless, so there is no exact number that shows how many types of craft beer are on the market. Accordingly, the types only differ slightly in ingredients, color, flavor, alcohol concentration and long brewing time or no main ingredients and the method of making is almost similar.
Here are the most popular craft beers that you can buy or enjoy when you visit craft beer bars near where you live:
IPA Beer: This is the most popular type of craft beer. The special thing about this type of craft beer is that it is very smooth to drink, has a fruity flavor that is quite easy to drink, and is cheap. The drinking menu includes basic dishes such as: Ninh Thuan lamb, salt-roasted chicken, onion-marinated beans, etc., which are quite filling and delicious.
Smoke beer: This one is a little harder to drink than IPA. The smoky taste is similar to enjoying buffalo jerky. It is easier to drink with side dishes like kale, salad, and light dishes.
Double IPA Beer: This is a stronger beer than regular IPA. If you are not used to drinking it, you will get drunk very quickly.
Brown Chocolate: Has a normal bitterness, has a coffee caramel flavor, goes well with German-style braised pork leg, and cheese sauce bread.
Red Ale:This beer has a honey taste and a bit of fruit flavor so it’s quite easy to drink.
Apple Cider: The alcohol concentration is quite light, drinks like Strongbow fruit beer, suitable for women.
In general, craft beer is quite strong, not as light as fresh beer or industrial draft beer. Drinking a few glasses will make you feel drunk. The price of craft beer at the pub system is not cheap. A small glass is about 25,000 VND/glass. There are many places that sell cheap to stimulate customers, the price of each glass can be around 15,000 VND.
Popular craft beers on the market today (Photo: Beercraft).
How to make craft beer It is not difficult but not everyone can do it because it requires extensive experience and passion, unlimited creativity of the brewer. To try making your own batch of craft beer with your own personal stamp, you need:
Prepare all the necessary tools for cooking and brewing beer such as: boiler, blender, filter, fermenter, specialized beer container, etc.
Prepare all main and auxiliary ingredients for brewing beer.
Clean brewing equipment and ingredients before brewing to avoid contamination and affect beer quality.
3.1. Ingredients to prepare
Munich Malt: 675g
Hallertau Mittelfruh hops: 5g
Men: Saflager W-34/70
Water: 5.75 liters
In case you cannot buy Munich Malt, you can replace it with cereals, corn, rice, etc. The above data is the standard data for a batch of 5 liters of beer. If you are brewing less, you can divide the above data according to the appropriate ratio.
3.2. Detailed steps to make craft beer
Step 1: Check and crush Malt/grain with a specialized machine to ensure the grain size is moderate and does not split after crushing.
Step 2: Pour the crushed ingredients mixed with additional ingredients into warm water and boil at 46 – 48 degrees Celsius. Maintain the temperature at 65 – 70 degrees Celsius for 60 – 90 minutes to get a paste. Continue heating during the cooking process and check the saccharification with iodine solution until a blue color appears.
Step 3: Filter the sugar solution, add water at 76 degrees Celsius to wash the residue and squeeze dry the remaining beer residue.
Step 4: Boil the sugar solution. Filter and measure the sugar content with a saccharometer.
Step 5: The saccharification process is complete, add hops to the sugar solution and continue boiling to create a light bitterness and aroma for the beer. During the second 60-90 minute boiling process, you can add hops several times and test to get the desired aroma and bitterness. Combine with measuring the sugar level again with a sugar meter to get a balanced taste between sweet and bitter.
Step 6: Cool the sugar solution after boiling to fermentation temperature by placing the pot in a basin of cold water. Then lower the temperature of the sugar solution to 20 – 25 degrees Celsius to prepare for the fermentation process.
Step 7: Add yeast to the sugar solution and ferment the beer for 21-30 days.
Step 8: After the brewing stage, continue to filter the beer and steam to get the final product.
Step 9: Enjoy directly or bottle and store to enjoy gradually.
How to make craft beer important steps to remember.
These are just the very basic steps in how to make craft beer Craft brewing. It is not certain that you will be successful right from the start, so cultivate and learn more in-depth knowledge if you intend to brew craft beer seriously! Good luck!
