Beer Characteristics - Making A Perfect Beer |Art Of Beer Making|
A nice cold beer is all what you want isnโt it. After a dayโs hard work when you return back to home. The fizzing sound on opening that pint from your refrigerator is all what you want to listen. A growing trend that people now want to drink freshly brewed beer has given rise to some of the very cool beer cafรฉ in cities like Gurugram, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. With these small hubs which are growing as a destination for party and enjoyment there comes a huge responsibility on the government agencies. The responsibility that they must serve Quality Beer which is brewed with all the care and proper regulations are followed. So, does your beer clears all the hurdles of food safety and quality. Check the Beer Characteristics.
Beer Characteristics | Discoverfoodtech.com
Following are the Beer Characteristics:
Consistency
Beer quality is not only the measurement of its chemical compounds like CO2, Diacetyl or minerals which come from water. But beer quality also means that the brewer is able to replicate the same standards and taste. That is, a consistency should be maintained to have a quality beer.
Sensory Panel
A sensory panel can make a lot of difference to the quality of beer, because the palate of humans is more sophisticated than any machine in quantifying a very subjective thing. Even a group as small as three people for tasting beer enough but they should do it at least three time a week. This can help you detect infection or oxidation of beer and assure the beer is true-to-brand. One of the major concerns for panellist is that they should keep their palate clean. The very first concern is smoking, which hampers the sense of smell and taste. And eventually permanently, damage their senses. They should not review spoiled beers, and not even if their senses are shot as sickness can affect your palate. The sense of judgement is clouded if the panellists are intoxicated hence intoxication should be checked regularly.
After water and tea, the third most consumed beverage in the world is beer. By 2022 the global beer market is expected to reach $750 Billion and the US beer market, alone, sums up to $100 Billion. .
Temperature
As we all know, there are many beer styles and the level of carbonation depends upon the style of beer you want to make. Hence serving your beer at the right temperature will affect its quality. serving temperature. If served beer is too cold. Then the temperature will numb the taste buds of people and will mask the beerโs true flavours, aromas and nuances. Hence, to know the optimum temperature for serving the beer colour (malts) and alcohol content are used as an indicator. For paler or lower alcohol beers 40โ50 degrees F, and 50โ60 degrees F for darker or higher alcohol beers is suggested as optimum temperature which bring out the best in beer.
Different Colors Of Beer | Source-cheatsheet.com
Pressure and Carbonation
Pressure and carbonation both go hand in hand. As pressure is what keeps the beer carbonated and fresh all the way to your glass from the keg. If the pressure is kept too high or too low, it will definitely affect the way your beer tastes. High pressure results in foamy beer that comes quickly out of the faucet and also results in an over-carbonated beer that tastes gassy. The proper level of carbonation will have two volumes of carbon dioxide in the beer, which simply means that if all of the carbon dioxide is removed from a beer at 68ยฐ F (room temperature) at sea level under normal atmospheric pressure, the space taken up by the carbon dioxide removed would be twice that of the beer. Another critical aspect is a good pour which is achieved by an optimum level of carbonation. The ideal pour is best achieved at 2.55 to 2.65 volumes of dissolved carbon dioxide.
A fresh, untapped keg will start with just the correct amount of CO2 dissolved in it. Hence, to keep a right amount of carbon dioxide after tapping, a balance between the temperature and the pressure of the carbon dioxide is to be maintained. Too high or too low pressures can result in an over carbonation or loss of carbonation respectively.
Line Cleaning
When we talk about cleaning the lines it should be noted that they are to be replaced at least every five years. Cleaning the lines is extremely important and definitely not optional. Ideally, the beer lines should be cleaned thrice every month at the minimum. Over time the draft lines are being deposited by minerals and proteins which are produced by beer. Bacteria and molds can work their way into the lines, and yeast can form colonies as well. One of the cheap cleaning option is using chlorinated alkaline cleaning solution. The cleaning solution is dissolved in hot water as a cleaner and a rinse with baking soda and food colouring dissolved in cold water. The baking-soda rinse acts as a buffer between the heavily alkaline cleaner and the acidic beer. This process also includes cleaning the faucets. The faucets are sprayed by a solution made by mixing one-part bleach to nine parts water.
Bitterness of Beer
The measure of bitterness of beer is nothing but the quantity of iso-ษ-acids present. Verifying this parameter during the boiling phase or during fermentation allows to know the real responsiveness to calculations made prior to production. The test is done by extracting the Iso-ษ-acids from the beer through an appropriate solvent. The extract is read at 270 nm after centrifuging it. And the coloration is related to the degree of bitterness of the sample. And allows to supervise every production batch, ensuring a high-quality standard.
Lactic Acid
It is the product of the fermentation and primarily made by microbial activity. Lactic acid concentration is often correlated to the total bacterial count. Hence the determination of the concentration of lactic acid in beer is considered a good indicator. This is usually calculated for the good storage of the beverage. It takes just six minutes to test for lactic acid. Lactic acid has two forms which are D-lactic acid and L-lactic acid. They are oxidized to pyruvic acid through an enzymatic reaction for the test. This step increases the absorbance at 366 nm when measured at end point. And this increase is proportional to the lactic acid concentration of the sample. The result for lactic acid concentration is expressed in ppm (Parts Per Million).