Homebrew Month, Week Two

Hello followers, ready for more brew talk?
I figured that this week's blog should cover the basic ingredients for making homebrew. The recipe for my Uncle's Nut Brown Ale was extremely simple and I was surprised by the lack of ingredients. Water, grain, hops and yeast, along with brown sugar and Irish moss. That's it! I must say that I now have a much better understanding of how our ancient ancestors must have stumbled upon beer making. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Water:
Water is the key ingredient to any brew and of course, the most important! And, believe it or not, the water you have lends to which type of beer you will make. Hard water is good for stronger, more robust beers like stout, while soft water is good for milder, more mellow tasting beers such as pale lagers. Isn't that something?! For our brew, we used bottled, natural spring water.

Grain:

In beer making, the starches from the grains are released from soaking in hot water to make the 'wort.' These starches are then converted to sugars (saccharified) and then converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide (fermented). In our Nut Brown Ale, we used a combination of Victory malt grain, pale barley 2 row grain, roasted barley and Cara Amber grain (Crystal 60). Because of the varied roasting times and temperatures, each grain adds their own flavour and colour to the brew.

Photograph: Barlow Brewing

Hops:
You might remember that I went to the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Conference last month with my Dad and Uncle Jeff. We were there for a morning's lecture on growing hops in Ontario. A part of the cannabis family, hops are the the main flavouring agent in beer. They add a bitterness which counteracts the sweetness of the malted grains. Different varieties of hops have different aromas, flavours and bitterness levels. The hops we used in our homebrew were Cascade, Nugget and Williamette. Hops can be used fresh, dried or in pellet form. We used pellets. And, just to let you know, my Dad and Uncle will be growing their own hops this year! They have purchased these three hops varieties and don't worry, I will keep you updated on the progress of our mini 'hop yard!'

Photograph: CAMRA Victoria

Yeast:
Yeast causes the fermentation of the brew. It is a microorganism that naturally feeds off of, and lives on, grains and other plants and is classified as a fungi. The yeast metabolizes the sugars released from the grain to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. It also adds flavour.

Adjuncts:
Brown Sugar:
Adding extra sugar to your brew will make it stronger, alcohol wise and flavour wise. Perfect for our Nut Brown Ale!

Irish Moss:

Irish moss is a 'fining agent' made from seaweed and it comes in pellet form. It clarifies the beer to leave you with a crisp, clear brew (although that was a bit hard to see with our ale being so dark!).

Photograph: Ava Chin, New York Times

And there you have it, followers! The ingredients that result in that beautiful beverage we call beer! Now for this week's recipe featuring our delicious homebrew...

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

'English' Onion Soup with Beer
(serves 4)

2 tbsp butter
4 large cooking onions, sliced
1 sprig of thyme
1 1/3 cup beer or a 341ml bottle (preferably dark beer, preferably homemade!)
1 litre beef stock or roasted vegetable stock (preferably homemade), or low sodium store bought
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
4 to 8 slices old bread (preferably baguette)
1 cup Old Cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup Stilton cheese, crumbled

In a heavy bottomed pot, melt the butter on medium low heat and throw in the onions with the thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and allow the onions to simmer down for about 30 to 45 mins, stirring occasionally (make sure to scrape up any dark bits, you don't want the bottom of the pot to burn), until the onions are nicely caramelized. Pour in the beer and stock, replace the lid, turn down to low and allow the soup to simmer for another 30 to 45 mins. Turn on the broiler and toast the bread on both sides, adjust the seasoning of the soup. Ladle the soup into 4 ovenproof bowls, top with the bread and the cheeses, place on a tray and broil until the cheese is bubbly. Serve immediately with a pint on the side, cheers!

Well, instead of calling this onion soup 'French,' I thought I'd have a little fun and call it 'English' since we are using an English ale and English cheeses. Ha! Okay followers, I will be back again next week to continue along with Homebrew Month! Bye for now!