Author: Brewing Solutions

All beers are made up of a complex array of flavours, and everyone perceives the various flavours differently. For instance, you may enjoy a particular brew, while your friend may detest it completely. We all have different sensitivities for various flavours and different preferences on what we like and what we abhor.

With that said, there’s a general set of flavours that are considered “off” by all. Some of these off flavours may be present in a brew, but only become “off” when their levels go high. Other off-flavours on the other hand, are not appropriate irrespective of their levels.

As a brewer, you need to recognize, identify, then eliminate these off-flavours from your brews. Honing this task doesn’t happen overnight – it takes plenty of practice. Here, in today’s post, we introduce you to the common off-flavours in your brews.

1. My beer smells buttery

Cause of Off-flavour: Diacetyl

How to Identify It? Your beer smells like buttery popcorn, or like butterscotch. Presence of buttery off-flavours makes the brew slick and creamy on your mouth and tongue. Very often known as the “original sin” of the brewer, diacetyl is mostly present in all beers but in low concentrations. Usually, a small amount of buttery flavour is tolerated in ales and stouts, but it is considered a brewing flaw in lagers.

How is it caused? Diacetyl occurs during the fermentation process. However, it is often reabsorbed by yeast. If the diacetyl is not re-absorbed completely, then it causes a buttery flavour. The reasons for this are mutated or weak yeast, low fermentation temperatures, problems with oxygenating or short boils.

2. My beer smells like Sweet Corn

Cause of Off-flavour: Dimethyl Sulphide

How to Identify It? This smells like cooked cabbage, sweet corn, shellfish, tomato sauce or even oysters.

How is it caused? This is the desired flavour in some ales and pale lager, while it’s an off-flavour in others. Certain compounds that are generated during the malting process are converted to Dimethyl Sulfide on heating. It’s mainly produced during wort production. DMS is more prevalent in lagers and pale ales and can also be caused by bacteria, present in the contaminated beer. To drive off this smell make sure that you boil the wort long enough to evaporate the DMS.

3. My beer has a Metallic Smell

Cause of Off-flavour: Ferrous Sulphate

How to Identify It? The beer smells like iron, blood, ink, pennies and other metals. Apart from the smell, you can easily taste the metallic tang on your mouth and teeth.

How is it caused? Ferrous Sulphate affects both the mouthfeel and the aroma of your brew. It occurs when the raw materials used in beer making come in contact with poor quality metal in your brewing equipment.

To avoid such problems with your brew, ensure that you use equipment of the finest quality from Microbrewery India.

4. My beer smells like Rotten Eggs

Cause of Off-flavour: Hydrogen Sulphide

How to Identify It? This one is easy to spot. You get a distinct smell of rotten eggs, boiled eggs, sewage or a burning match.

How is it caused? Hydrogen Sulfide is a byproduct of yeast fermentation and exists in all types of beers with varying concentrations. At low levels, H2S lends a “fresh” flavour to your brew, however, at higher concentrations, it lends an off-flavour. By conditioning or lagering your beer after the primary fermentation, it ensures that all leftover sulphur smells fade away.

5. My beer smells like a Ripe Banana

Cause of Off-flavour: Esters

How to Identify It? Mostly the beer smells like a ripe banana or a pear. At times, it may smell like grapefruit, raspberry, or strawberry.

How is it caused? Isoamyl acetate is a common ester that is a key flavour in German-style wheat beers, lagers, and Belgian ales. This is a natural by-product of fermentation. However, if your beer has strong fruity flavours, then it means there is something wrong with your fermentation temperature – you are either under pitching or high pitching it. The higher the fermentation temperature, the more esters are present in your brew. Try to control fermentation at the right levels to avoid this off-flavour.

6. My Beer smells like Paper

Cause of Off-flavour: Oxidised (trans-2-noneal)

How to Identify It? This off-flavour smells like wet paper, cardboard or a dry sherry taste.

How is it caused? This is a characteristic flavour usually found in ageing beers. This flavour is likely to be present when oxidation happens without any control. Oxidation happens when oxygen reacts with the wort or brew. However, oxidation is a bit difficult to control.  You can avoid extra oxidation by reducing the headspace in your beer bottle and avoiding unnecessary splashing of fermented beer while moving it from one vessel to another.

7. My beer smells Musty

Cause of Off-flavour: Trichloroanisole

How to Identify It? You can identify the presence of TCA if your beer smells like a damp cellar and mould.

How is it caused? TCA is usually caused when the fermentation occurs in a damp space. To avoid this, ensure that your brewing area is moisture-free and doesn’t have high humidity levels.

8. My beer smells like Cloves

Cause of Off-flavour: Phenols

How to Identify It? This one tastes like cloves, but at times, the aroma can be similar to spices, herbs, smoke or cough syrup.

How is it caused? Phenolic flavours are key flavours in certain types of beers like ales, stouts, and German-style wheat beers. However, in all other types of beers, it’s an off-flavour. This is a result of the presence of wild yeast strains during fermentation. Additionally, phenolic flavours also occur due to poor hygiene (improper cleaning of your brewing equipment) and contamination of raw materials.

9. My beer smells like Green Apples

Cause of Off-flavour: Acetaldehyde

How to Identify It? Look for the smell of rotten apples, green apples, freshly cut pumpkin or emulsion paints.

How is it caused? Acetaldehyde is generally produced during fermentation. It’s usually converted into Ethanol alcohol. When this process is incomplete, it gives an apple flavour. Reasons for this are low fermentation time, reduced yeast quantity or poor quality of yeast.

10. My beer smells like Baby Vomit

Cause of Off-flavour: Butyric acid

How to Identify It? You can easily identify this flavour as it’s quite off-putting. Look for a rancid or putrid smell like baby sick.

How is it caused? This is an off-flavour in all styles of beers. This is mainly caused by the presence of bacteria during the wort production phase. Ensure that your brew is free from bacterial contamination during this stage.

These are the 10 common types of off-flavours, you are likely to come across while brewing. Stay tuned for our next post in this series for additional tips and brewing guidelines on how to avoid these off-flavours in your brews. Rohit Jafa has the best flavour beer brewing in India.

Trying to replicate a commercial beer is a great way to fine-tune your brewing skills.

Are you wondering why so many amateur brewers try to replicate their favourite commercial beers? Why on earth would you want to spend so many hours on something that you can quickly pick up at the store? After all, if you like to drink Kingfisher, Carlsberg or Budweiser then why not just pick it up at a store near you? Why not try to be creative and create new beers?

Well – there are several very good reasons why upcoming brewers try to replicate a commercial beer. Here are some of the top reasons:

1. Cloning helps you to enhance and develop your sensory skills
2. Cloning gives you a chance to learn the reasons why a brew is successful
3. Cloning helps you add your unique twist to beers that are commercially successful in your area

With that said, let’s make something clear: it’s really impossible to clone a commercial beer perfectly, even if you have the recipe right under your nose. There are plenty of variables at play – differences in equipment style, timing, process, water composition and more. While it’s possible to replicate the flavours of the commercial beer, producing a carbon copy is not possible.

However, remember that the goal of cloning is not to copy the original but to practice and improve your technique. It’s similar to learning to paint, by copying from the masters. You use similar to brush strokes and colour palettes, but the output is vastly different.

If you have never tried beer cloning before, here are a few tips to help you hone your cloning skills.

Start with a Style that You Know

While choosing a commercial beer for cloning, start with a beer that has a known recipe or at least, partially available recipe. Don’t shoot around in the dark. Very often, most commercial beers come with the ingredient list printed on the bottle cover or can. However, timing, temperatures and quantities of ingredients used are likely to be missing.

Even if you don’t know the exact timings, quantities and other specifications, you can drop in an email to your favourite commercial brewery to get some helpful hints.

Rely on Your Senses

While cloning a beer, make sure that you have the original beer at hand. This gives you a chance to attempt side-by-side comparisons with the real brew. You can then alter your recipe accordingly to replicate the original faithfully.

Use a BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) score sheet to write down your thoughts and impressions, as you try out the sample.

Note the following factors:

• Appearance – What’s the difference in colour between your brew and the hue of the original? What about clarity? Is it similar or does your brew appear cloudy? If your beer is lighter compared to the original, you may have to add colour malts or crystal malts.
• Aroma – What about the smell? Look for contributions from alcohols, phenols, esters, hops, and If you are trying to clone an IPA, then does the aroma of the hops match that of the original? What about the nose aroma? Is it similar?
• Flavour – What flavour tones do you pick up in your brew? If you are trying to clone a lager, then your sample should have the same clean hops and malt flavour of the original, or does it have some esters? Is the malt profile similar? What about dry malt sweet malt?
• Mouthfeel – How do the two brews feel on your tongue? If you find that one is creamy while the other spritz, then it means that there are variations in carbonation and malt proteins. Do both the brews have the same viscosity, or does one feel heavier than the other?

Use the results of the sensory analysis to decide how to change your recipe to replicate the original more closely. Remember, while jotting notes do so in a language that you understand.

Experiment and Keep Try, Trying

You would have heard the saying, “practice makes perfect.” Use the results you deciphered in the previous step to make further alterations to your recipe. For instance, if you can replicate the flavour and aroma but miss out on the colour, then it means you can add a small amount of roasted barley to the brew to darken the colour, without altering the flavour.

On the other hand, if you require both sweetness and colour, then adding malt sweetness using a small number of crystal malts will give both flavour and colour.

If your brew has a less hoppy aroma, then research about the hops you have used and considered making a change in the variety of the hops.

Finally,

Getting into the beer cloning game is a great way to hone your brewing skills. Additionally, it helps you learn more about the science of brewing – how to change a variable to create unique and desirable qualities.

Finally, remember that while cloning a beer, your aim is to make a similar beer and not an identical twin. Even, if you land, a great sibling, it’s more than good. Who knows, with practice you may even end up improving a classic like never before. Get Brewing Equipment in Pune from RJ Brewing Solutions.

Have you ever cloned a beer? Which one did you try? If you were to clone, which beer you would like to try? Let us know in the comments below.

Stouts are one of the most popular styles of beer. It’s got a huge cult following for its delicious and distinctive dark styles. Here, in today’s post, we share with you some of the best-kept secrets from popular brewers for mastering the art of brewing a great stout.

Before we take a look at the tips for brewing stouts, we share with you some fun facts, about this popular brew.

Interesting Facts about Stouts

1. It’s an English Invention

While Germany and other European countries may be the homeland for several styles of beers, we can safely say that the stout is an English invention. It was first brewed in the early 18^th century. Around, the early 1700s, dark beers were the rage in London, and the term “stout” didn’t denote a particular brew but rather was used to denote the alcoholic strength of beers.

2. Stout and Porter aren’t the Same

The word “porter” was used in 1721 to describe a particular dark beer. The term was used because this brew was popular among the porters working along the banks of the Thames in London. Earlier terms, porter, and stout were used interchangeably. However, of late, both these terms have distinct differences.

Porter refers to a beer that is flavoured with roasted malt barley. On the other hand, stout refers to dry stouts (that contain unmalted roasted barley) or sweet stouts (that are made with oatmeal or lactose).

3. Oatmeal was a major ingredient in Stouts

Yes, stouts can be made with oatmeal, and this type of stout is sweeter than malt-derived stouts. While using oatmeal, traditionally brewers limited oatmeal to 30%, since if the quantity goes beyond this – it develops a more astringent flavour.

However, this process of brewing stouts using oatmeal began to fall out of favour, and modern stouts usually don’t use any oats.

4. Your Stout may contain Oysters!

Like peanut butter and jelly, stouts and oysters is a match made in heaven. This is because the flavour and the body of the dark beer go well with the silky and salty notes of the oyster. Earlier, stouts used to be drunk along with a plate of oysters. This was because oysters were plentiful and made for a great accompanying snack.

However, the exact reason, why oysters were added to the brewing process is unknown. One theory claims that oyster juices were added to enhance nutrition and flavour, while another theory suggests that oysters were used to filter the brew.

5. Stouts were a preferred drink of Russian Royalty.

The Russian imperial stout was created as a result of Peter, the Great’s love for dark beer. According to legends (which haven’t been proved), the Russian Tsar visited London during the late 17^th century and fell in love with dark beer there.

During the early half of the 18^th century, Catherine the Great was importing large volumes of stout from London.

6. Stout is a favourite drink of the Irish.

The most popular stout is the Guinness, brewed at the Gate Brewery in Dublin. Invented by Arthur Guinness, this stout has a burnt flavour from the roasted unmalted barley used in it. Stout is the most sold beer in Ireland and is popular in other countries like the USA, UK, and Nigeria.

Now, that we’ve piqued your interest about stouts, here are some of the top tips to take your stouts to the next level.

Tips for Brewing Great Stout

1. Use the Boil to Enhance Flavour

Very often, the brewing process is ignored when it comes to factors that impact the flavour output. The method of boiling the brew impacts the final flavour. For instance, if you let the sugars caramelize, then you are likely to get a sweet tasting brew.

2. Go Easy on the Grinding Process

When you crush your dark malts finely, it leads to a harsh astringency in the taste of your stout. By cold-mashing and lautering the dark portions of the grains in the kettle, you get only the dark colour and not the bitter flavour notes.

3. Leave behind a Little Sugar

Most stouts taste better when it has some residual sweetness. Leave behind a little sugar and don’t dry it completely. This touch of sweetness balances well with the high ABV of the stout.

4. Bottle Condition Stouts

Most stouts benefit from a secondary fermentation in the bottle. You can use high flocculating yeast for this process. Such yeasts settle on the bottom of the bottle and add extra carbonation during secondary fermentation.

5. Use Unexpected Malts

When you use different malts, it adds layers of complexity to your stout. Using different malts adds complex, rich hues to the stout.

6. Keep Esters under Control

While brewing a stout, you want your malts to shine and not have a strong yeast characteristic. Make sure that you don’t ferment the brew completely, or you will end up with fruity notes.

7. Reduce the Bitterness from the Hops

The roast malts you use in your stout add the necessary bitter tones. So, dial back the bitterness contributed by the hops.

8. Add body without increasing Lactose Content

To add body to your stout, you can try unmalted wheat or oats. Mash the grains at a higher temperature to produce unfermentable sugars. Oats are a great choice for stouts as it gives an earthy and nutty characteristic to the brew.

Wrapping Up

Stouts are a classic style of beer that never falls out of popularity. Before we finish off; we offer you some simple tips to keep in mind while brewing your next batch of Irish stout, English stout or American stout. Use fresh ingredients wherever possible, and don’t boil for more than 70 to 90 minutes. And, don’t overcomplicate your recipe. Keep it simple and experiment with various factors till you get it right. RJ brewing solutions are the best brewing stout equipment manufacturer in India.

And, if you have any further queries on brewing or procuring the best equipment for your brewery in India – shoot us your questions. We would love to hear from you.

You have spent days perfecting your first beer recipe, and now it’s time to taste your results. You pop open the cap of the bottle, hear a delightful hiss and see good carbonation. You then pour out your brew and admire the frothy creamy head, sparkling clarity and rich colour. You are mesmerized by the aroma of the fragrant bouquet which has a hint of fruity esters along with a nice balance of hops and malt.

Now, you come to the final moment of decision. You take in the first sip, only to find that something is wrong – what’s it? Sadly, your beer is watery and thin. What went wrong? Why aren’t you getting the firm and smooth mouthfeel? Worry not, here in today’s post; we show you all that you need to perfect the mouthfeel of your brews.

What is the Body of the Beer? A Definition

To put it simply, the body is the sensation you feel on your palate when you drink a beer. It’s the viscosity, fullness, and feel of the beer. In simpler terms, it refers to the thickness and mouth-filling properties of the brew.

The term mouthfeel and body refer to the same and are interchangeable.

What makes up the Body of the Beer?

There are plenty of components that make up the body of a beer. Some of the main elements include proteins, dextrins (unfermentable sugars), beta-glucans, neutral alcohols, carbon-di-oxide, and foam.

Is the Mouthfeel and Flavour Same?

No. The mouthfeel doesn’t refer to the flavour of the beer. The mouthfeel aka the body is often referred to using these descriptors – light (thin), heavy (full), rough, smooth, firm, vinous, watery, proper, bland, dry, neutral, and sweet.

Apart from these, two other characteristics refer to the mouthfeel. They are:

• Astringency – It’s a dry, puckering sensation that you feel when you drink the beer. This shouldn’t be confused with the flavour.
• Alcoholic – While this is often considered a taste, when it comes to the mouthfeel it refers to the warming sensation you get when you drink the beer. Beers that have a higher concentration of ethanol and other alcohols usually give an alcoholic mouthfeel.

Another factor to note here is that certain beers like American lagers are considered light bodied. That doesn’t mean they are watery. On the other end of the spectrum are beers like imperial stouts and bock beers that are full-bodied.

How to Add/Reduce the Body of your Beer?

The mouthfeel or body of the beer is what keeps your brews from tasting like carbonated drinks like champagne. Two main factors play a crucial role in adding body to the beer. These factors are what make a pale ale crisp and an imperial stout heavy.

Let’s take a closer look at both these factors:

1. Grain Bill

This refers to the total number of grains used in the beer making process. Different grains add different flavours to your drink. Apart from regular grains, certain grains are primarily used for adding body to the brew. They are known as body enhancers and add dextrins to the brew. These dextrins are unfermentable and add body to the beer.

Even a small amount of dextrins, around 100 – 200 grams for every five gallons, is sufficient to add required mouthfeel. Some of the popular body enhancers are Dextrine Malt, CaraFoam, and CaraPils. Body enhancers just add extra body to the beer, but don’t alter the flavour in any way.

Alternatively, you can use other grains like wheat malt to add body to your brew, but these add flavour also. Wheat malt imparts a sweet, bready flavour to the beer while adding extra body. Hefeweizen is a popular type of beer that is made using wheat malt.

Crystal malts are another grain that adds body. But, it also adds partially unfermented sugars to the brew, which increase the final gravity of the drink. Crystal malts impart a distinct sweetness to the brew, while also altering its colour.

Flaked oats are another great option to add a rich mouthfeel. They are mainly used in oatmeal stouts. However, don’t add more than 30% of flaked oats to your grain bill, as it makes the brew gummy.

Flaked rye or rye malt is similar to oat malt, but the flavour profile is different compared to oats and wheat. Rye adds a spicy flavour to your beer, similar to rye bread.

If you are looking to reduce the body in your beer, then you can use highly fermentable sugars like honey, table sugar and so on. The sugar will ferment completely, thereby adding more alcohol, which has a lower specific gravity compared to water. Fermentable sugars don’t make a beer sweeter. On the other hand, they make it drier.

2. Yeast Selection

Apart from the grains, the yeast you use also plays a crucial role in determining the body of the beer. When look for the perfect yeast, make sure to consider both the flavour and the attenuation number of the yeast.

The attenuation number is denoted as a percentage and lies between 68 to 85%. This denotes the total amount of sugar that will be completely fermented into alcohol. The unfermented sugars left back by the yeast are long-body chains that add to the body of the beer.

Yeasts that have a lower attenuation number will leave more number of sugars unfermented, thereby making the beer full-bodied.

Other Factors that Impact the Body of the Beer

Clarifying Agents – If your beer has large protein molecules in it, then it can be hazy. To eliminate haze, you can add clarifying agents like gelatin, Irish moss, Polyclar, isinglass and so on. However, ensure that you don’t overuse clarifying agents as it can alter the mouthfeel.

Filtering – When you filter your beer, you reduce or strip away the haze, flavour, head retention and body. Avoid using micron filters that are too fine.

Now, that you are aware of all the factors that impact the body of your beer, you can play around with these components till you get the perfect mouthfeel. Get the best beer equipment manufacturers in Karnataka.

Cheers to better brewing!

Figuring out the Style, Imagery, & Typography of Your Bottle Label – Label Design Guidelines Part II

Hello Folks! This is the second part of our post on the beer label design. If you haven’t checked the first post yet, you can find it here. In this post, we take a look at the typography, design, colors, and style of beer labels.

What’s in a Colour?

One of the best ways to communicate the personality of your brand quickly is to use the right colors. Several scientific studies state that each color evokes a specific emotion. For instance, the color “red” triggers hunger. This is why most fast-food brands use red in their design.

Beer Bottle Colours

Before you decide on the colors to use on your beer label, you have to think about the color of your:

• Beer
• Bottle

When it comes to beer bottles, there are three popular color choices – green, brown and clear. Brown bottles filter out UV rays (along with regular light), thereby protecting your beer from going skunky. If you’re brewing hoppy beers, then brown bottles work best for you. On the other hand, if your brew has little to no hops, then you may choose green or clear bottles.

Colors for Your Beer Label

Once you have figured out the color of your bottle, the next step is to decide on the colors to use on the label. Here are some common practices:

• Green bottles are paired with black and white labels, along with a dash of red.
• Brown bottles offer a neutral background for the label and work with all colors. Some of the common colors you can spot are – red, gold, and orange.
• Clear bottles generally have label colors that are the same or directly contrasting the brew.
• Another standard practice is to use colors that reflect the particular style of the beer. For instance, ambers use amber labels, red ales use red labels, and stouts use dark brown labels.

While these are general rules, there’s no reason to stick to them. You can opt for an “out-of-the-box” color scheme to make your brand stand out.

Typography

Just like the color of the label, the fonts you use on your label have a direct impact on the personality of your brand. Choose script fonts or Serif fonts if you’re going for a classic look. Sans-serif fonts work better if you want to make your beer look modern and contemporary.

While you may be tempted to go with a crazy, fun font, remember that readability is the ultimate aim. You don’t want your customers to have a hard time trying to figure out what’s written on the label.

Style

Here’s the general rule of thumb followed by traditional beer brands – one prominent color on the label, a large visible beer name, and some abstract images or logo of the brand to add visual interest.

Today, with the rise in popularity of craft beers, label design has transitioned into an art form. There are plenty of creative labels out there – from hand-drawn masterpieces to cartoon-like illustrations, extreme minimalism to photographs, there are so many styles on the market today.

Here’s a quick tip to help you find the right style for your beer label – keep your target audience in mind. If you’re targeting the millennial crowd with experimental flavors, then an outlandish or funky label design will work for you.

On the other hand, if you’re targeting a wider demographic, spanning generations, then a minimal, classic design may be better for you.

Imagery

Once you have nailed the style, the next step is to focus on the images you want on your label. Once again, here you have to focus on your USP – what makes your brand stand out from the rest?

Do you use certain ingredients? Showcase images of these different ingredients on your label. Do you use a particular brewing technique? Showcase it with creative clip-arts. Or do you have a clever name for your beer? Showcase it visually.

Words

Remember that the words you print on the label are also part of the design. Do you want to reach out to specific customers, say IPA lovers? Then, make sure you include the word “IPA” on the label and highlight it out.

Here is a list of a few common beer keywords to give you some inspiration. Mix and match these words to highlight your brew.

Adventurous	Aged	American	Artisanal
Barrel	Belgian	Bitter	Blonde
Creamy	Crisp	Dark	Dry
English	Fruity	Full-bodied	Full-flavored
Handcrafted	Hearty	Hoppy	Homebrewed
Layered	Malty	Micro-brewed	Mellow
Organic	Robust	Rich	Sharp
Smoky	Smooth	Thick	Traditional

Don’t Forget the Fine Print

While it’s essential to make your beer label stand out, you cannot skip the basics and other legal requirements. Here are a few elements that are a must:

• Net Contents – This specifies how much beer is in the bottle like 350ml and so on.
• Alcohol Content – You have to specify the alcohol level in your brew.
• Beer Class and Type – This indicates the type of brew.
• Manufacturing company name and address – So, that your fans can know where to reach you.
• Manufacturing date and Best before date.
• Contact number or customer service mail id.

Final Thoughts – Stand Out with a Stunning Label Design

Remember that the label is more than a legal requirement. It’s your brand ambassador. And, one of the main elements of a successful beer label design is – Consistency. Your label has to match the rest of your brand image. This is essential if you want your customers to be able to identify your brand easily.

I hope this two-part series helps you find the right labels for your craft beer. Stay tuned for more such info on promoting and marketing your craft brews. And, sign up for your newsletter for the latest info on the expanding world of craft breweries in India. Get craft beer label design in India.

And, if you need any help in setting up or sourcing additional brewing equipment for your microbrewery in India, all you need to do is drop us an mail. And, our team will get in touch with you as early as possible.

Chocolate flavored beers combine the best of desserts with your favorite drink. However, the techniques, methods, and tips for Choco-flavored beers are a much debated topic in the brewing world. We are chocolate beer brewery equipment supplier in India. Here, in today’s post, we take a look at the nitty-gritty of brewing with chocolate, giving you some handy tips to get it right.

The Myriad Flavors of Chocolate

When it comes to chocolate, there are a plethora of flavors and types. You can classify them into the following different types:

• Fruity – citrus, tropical, dried, berry, tree-fruits
• Vegetative – Fresh, dried, cooked
• Floral – citrus, jasmine, violet, rose
• Spicy – black pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, coffee, licorice
• Nutty – peanut, almond, hazelnut, walnut
• Caramel – butter, milk, butterscotch, honey, molasses
• Earthy – mushroom, truffle, musk

Once you’ve decided on the flavor you want to include in your brew, the next step is to decide on the right form of chocolate to include in your brew.

The Various Forms of Chocolate to Use in Your Brew

Chocolate is available in different forms like roasted beans, cocoa powder, chocolate extracts and so on. The flavor in your brew depends on the form of chocolate you use. And, chocolates are available in a wide range of prices. If you are looking for the best flavor, then make it a point to stay away from cheap chocolate compounds. These usually have other fillers instead of expensive cocoa butter.

Let’s take a look at the Popular Forms of Chocolate and How it can be used for Brewing

Raw Beans

Raw cacao beans are easily available at online retailers or at health food stores. The color of the bean impacts the final flavor. So, make sure to taste test the raw beans before adding it to your brew. While choosing raw cacao beans, choose beans that have been fermented and dried. Roasted cacao beans don’t work for brewing.

Pros: It offers a great flavor to the final brew

Cons: You have to prepare the bean (crack it) before using it

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder is one ingredient that is easily available. However, all cocoa powder isn’t the same. Just like chocolate, cocoa powder takes the characteristics of the bean it was made from. The three main types of cocoa powder are:

Natural cocoa powder

This is the most common type of cocoa powder and is the one that is found in most supermarkets and grocery stores. It has a pH value that ranges between 5 and 6. It’s light brown in color.

Dutch processed cocoa powder

This is also known as European cocoa powder. In this, natural cocoa powder is washed in a solution of potassium carbonate to make the pH value around 7, thereby making it acidic. It’s darker compared to natural cocoa powder, and has a dark brown shade.

Brute or black cocoa powder

The alkaline value of this cocoa powder is around 8, thereby bringing out the bitter tones of chocolate. It has a dark brown color, similar to Oreo biscuits.

Apart from these, there are other specialty cocoa powder types like: Double Dutch – a mix of Dutch and black cocoa powder, Triple Blend – a mix of natural and double-dutch cocoa powder, cocoa rouge – a Dutch processed that has a reddish color, Bensdorp Dutch – has fat mixed in it, and raw cocoa powder – made by cold pressing unroasted cocoa beans.

Pros: Cocoa powder is easily available and offers a range of flavors depending on the type of powder used.

Cons: however, the heat applied during brewing sometimes gives off flavors that impact the taste of the drink.

Chocolate Syrup

This is the syrup used as toppings for desserts and to flavor milk. Chocolate syrup is usually made from cocoa powder, sugar and water. It may also include other ingredients like preservatives, corn syrup, artificial flavorings and emulsifiers. If using chocolate syrup for brewing, make sure to read the ingredient label carefully, to avoid adding unwanted additives to your drink.

Pros: Easy to use, readily available

Cons: Contains sugar, preservatives and other additives

Baking Chocolate

Chocolate used for baking. It’s available in variety of flavors.

Pros: Plenty of flavor choices

Cons: Likely to sink to the bottom of the brewing pot and more chances of getting burnt. Head retention, uneven distribution in the wort, and mouthfeel.

Chocolate Bars

Adding commercially available chocolate bars to your brews is a whole different ball game. When using chocolate bars, you don’t just add cocoa butter but also sweeteners, dairy solids and oily fillers. If using chocolate bars for brewing make sure that you study the ingredient list carefully, so that you avoid adding unknown elements to your brew. These other ingredients don’t just accelerate fermentation but also add bacteria and other micro-organisms to the wort.

Pros: Plenty of flavor choices including white chocolate.

Cons: The same as baking chocolate.

When to Add Chocolate during Brewing?

Adding chocolate to your brew depends on the style of beer you are brewing. For instance, cloyingly sweet chocolate flavors don’t compliment an IPA. On the other hand, if you are brewing a peanut butter stout, then you can add an intense chocolate punch flavor.

The time when you add chocolate to the brewing depends on the chocolate form used. For instance, if you are using chocolate bars then adding them to the bottle isn’t possible. Similarly, if using chocolate extract, it loses its flavor, if you add it before the pre-boiling stage.

Top Ways to incorporate Chocolate to the Brewing Process

Steep/mash it with the grains

This adds complexity and gives a full-body chocolate flavor. Works well for most beer styles. You can use cocoa nibs, cocoa powder and raw beans using this method.

Add to the grain bed before sparing

The flavor is less pronounced compared to mashing. Works for all beer styles and all types of cocoa powders.

Boiling

Gives a high pronounced chocolate flavor. However, it can add to the bitterness of the drink. So, make sure to adjust the hops accordingly if using this method. Works for all beer styles and can be used for adding cocoa powder, chocolate bars, baking chocolate and choco chips. Make sure to melt the chocolate completely in the wort before adding to the kettle to avoid burning it.

Add to the Keg/Bottle

Use this method when chocolate is a major component of the final flavor of the brew. Works well for chocolate liqueur, and chocolate extract.

Experiment with Chocolate

Don’t be scared to experiment with your brews. You can substantially alter the flavor of your brew by adding chocolate to your favorite recipe. Whichever style or technique you use, brewing with chocolate is a great method to expand your beer profile.

Today, modern brewers have access to staggering tons of information that wasn’t available before. This is indeed a wonderful thing. Having the right resources at hand prevents you from making expensive mistakes. With that said, this also has a downside.

There’s something as too much of a good thing! Very often, brewers, especially beginners come across several beer brewing myths that don’t have an iota of truth behind them. But, sadly since it’s been repeated enough these myths spread like wildfire and it becomes difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.Today, modern brewers have access to staggering tons of information that wasn’t available before. This is indeed a wonderful thing. Having the right resources at hand prevents you from making expensive mistakes. With that said, this also has a downside.

Here in today’s post, we give you the top beer brewing myths and misunderstandings that are so common in craft brewing circles.

Myth #1: Beer Tastes Better if it Ages for a Long Time

Brewers usually mature beers to remove unwanted flavors like the butterscotch taste of diacetyl. But, the maturing is restricted to a short amount of time – such as one or two days. However, a few brewers claim that they can taste a richer, smoother flavor – after weeks or even months of maturing.

As a new brewer, you have to learn to distinguish the good flavors of your brew from the bad. Very often, when brewers are not aware of the different flavours in their brew, they believe that prolonged ageing leads to a better outcome.

Hence, maturing for a longer time need not provide you with better results.

Myth #2: Filtering the Beer Removes Flavour

Several microbrewers and homebrewers don’t filter their beer, because they believe that filtering the brew removes too much flavour from the drink. On the other hand, if done the right way, filtration doesn’t remove any flavour, but just eliminates the yeast extracts.

By removing yeast from your brew, you make the beer come alive exposing the hidden flavours. If your beer is well-made and there are no off-flavours, then it’s a huge pro for you, especially in the case of lagers – that require, crisp, clean flavours.

Myth #3: Kegging saves you plenty of time compared to Bottling

Ok, let’s state the truth – we love kegging. The ability to serve beers quickly, adjusting the Carbonation levels accurately to keep beers fresher for a longer time – are some of the top reasons why we love kegging. But, if we were to disagree with one benefit of kegging, then it’s this – kegging doesn’t save much time as compared to bottling.

Though both these processes are very different, the times you spend on them are similar. Sure, kegging may appear to feel faster, since all you have to do is – sanitize a keg, rack a beer into it, close the lid and hook it up to the tank. But, then brewers forget the time taken for other kegging related activities like – running to the store to fill the tank with carbon-di-oxide, cleaning and sanitizing the tap lines, assembling/disassembling the tap line for cleaning, cleaning the kegerator and so on.

While it’s true that kegging offers several benefits, time-saving is not one of them.

Myth #4: Boiling Work for a long time leads to Caramelization

Generally, worts are boiled at around ≈213◦F. This standard temperature isn’t hot enough to start caramelizing the sugars in the wort. And, fructose one of the common sugars used in brewing has a caramelization temperature of 230◦F.

Generally, when brewers assume that caramelization occurs, it’s the Maillard reactions in progress. The wort boiling temperature is hot enough for Maillard reactions, which occurs due to the reaction of amino acids and sugars. The result of this reaction appears similar to caramelization – dark colours and complex flavours – and, hence the confusion.

However, the flavour contribution due to boiling your wort for a long time is generally very slight and not that distinct.

Certain styles like the German hefeweizens are boiled for two hours, while the gueuze/lambic are boiled for nearly four hours, and both styles don’t experience any caramelization.

Myth #5: Brettanomyces make Beers Sour

Very often, brewers think that just because a beer is fermented with Brett, it will have a sour taste. Brett or Brettanomyces, a particular style of yeast produce huge aromatic phenols and esters that don’t have much acidity.

When it comes to sour beers, other strains of bacterial-like Pediococcus and Lactobacillus are the ones responsible for generating lactic acid and not Brett. When exposed to air, Brett produces a small amount of acetic acid, but even in vinegary styles of beers, it’s Acetobacter and not Brett that contributes to the sour tastes.

Beers fermented with 100% Brett are no sourer than beers fermented with brewer’s yeast.

Myth #6: You must follow the Fermentation Temperature Specified on the Yeast Packet

When you purchase a particular strain of yeast, you can find the manufacturer recommended fermentation temperature printed on the packet. What most brewers don’t know is that – these are general guidelines and not hard-and-fast rules.

The temperature at which yeast fermentation occurs has plenty of impacts on the flavour of your brew. The warmer you ferment, the stronger the flavour. With that said, all the flavours may not be that desirable.

Here’s a helpful tip to get the fermentation temperature right – begin fermentation at temperatures lower than what’s specified on the package. You can then raise the temperature if needed.

Myth #7: Liquid Yeast is always better than Dry Yeast

This may have been the case a few years back. But, with significant improvements in yeast production techniques, dry yeasts today are far more sophisticated than what they were a few years ago. It doesn’t matter whether the yeast is available in liquid form or dry form. What matters is the – flavour and performance of a particular strain of yeast.

Wrapping Up

These are the top brewing myths that we have come across. Have you heard any other myths of brewing? Do you believe them? Share your brewing stories with us below. We are the best craft beer brewing equipment suppliers in India.

And, if you are looking to purchase the best craft and microbrewery equipment in India, reach out to our expert brewers by clicking here.

Do you want to create your own beer recipe from scratch, but don’t know where to start? Worry not, here in today’s guide; we give you all that you need to know to create your very first beer recipe.

Step 1: Decide What You Want to Brew

The very first step in creating a new beer recipe is to decide what type of beer you want to brew. While choosing beer styles, we recommend that you pick something that you already know – one that you have brewed countless times before. Starting with a well-known and practiced recipe makes it easy to tweak it to add your special touches.

Once you have decided on your brew style, we recommend that you look it up in the BJCP. The BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) has detailed info about all popular beer styles. It gives you the features of your beer style – the ABV, original gravity, color, bitterness, taste, key ingredients and more.

Step 2: Evaluate Existing Beer Recipes

Once you have decided on the beer style, you want to brew, check out a few different recipes for that particular style. Compare the different recipes and evaluate the ingredients used. Check out the volumes on ingredients used in each recipe.

Convert the grain weights into percentages while comparing different recipes. You can also use a spreadsheet to help you tabulate the percentage of different ingredients used in each recipe. This gives you a clear idea of how the various ingredients are balanced to get the right color, taste, and flavors.

Identify the key ingredients used for your preferred beer style. For instance, brewing a Bavarian weissbier requires good Bavarian wheat yeast.

Knowing the key ingredients and the roles they play helps you get a clearer picture of your beer style and the recipes used.

Step 3: Build Your Own Recipe

By now, you would have a list of ingredients used in your preferred beer style and their proportions. The next step is to design your beer recipe by tweaking these ingredients. You can either do it manually or use an online beer recipe calculator or software to help you out.

While creating the recipe, use the BJCP style guide to help you figure out the following:

• Original Gravity – This range helps you find out how much malt you require to brew your preferred beer style.
• Bitterness – This is expressed in IBUs (International Bitterness Units). To reach the desired IBU, you have to adjust the number of hops and the hop boil times.
• Colour – This is generally mentioned as SRM (Standard Reference Method) units. Adding more dark malts to the recipe gives you a darker color.

Adjust the various parameters until your recipe fits the BJCP style guide.

Other Factors to Consider:

While designing your beer recipe from scratch, here are some other key factors to consider and common mistakes to avoid:

Keep it Simple

Very often, beginner brewers take a “kitchen sink” approach. They try to add in all the ingredients they have at hand – multiple varieties of hops and grains. The result – they end up with a muddied recipe. Initially, try to keep your recipes as simple as possible – and ensure that all ingredients you add in the recipe serve a specific purpose.

Make use of your Hops Efficiently

To reach the target bitterness IBU levels, consider a single boil addition of hops. Use whirlpool/steeped hops or dry hops to add aroma to your brews.

Don’t add Too Much of Specialty Malts or Caramel Malts

The general rule of thumb is that a typical grain bill should be around 85 to 100% of the base extract of base malt. When you add too many specialty malts, it can easily overwhelm the flavor, thereby reducing fermentability. Also when you add too much caramel malts, it can add harsh, astringent flavors to your beer.

Practice Caution when Adding Fruit Extracts

Adding fruit extracts is a simple way to add a flavor to a base style, without altering the base malts/specialty malt ratios. However, remember that when you are adding fruit, you are also adding simple sugars to your brews. These sugars are highly fermentable.

If you forget to factor this added sugar in your recipe calculations, you could end up with a brew that is cloyingly sweet or a drink that has a higher alcohol content, than expected.

To avoid this, you can add fruits or the extract to a secondary vessel after primary fermentation has stopped.

When it comes to Spices, a Little Goes a Long Way

Another easy way to tweak a beer recipe is to add your preferred spice mixtures. For instance, you can alter a standard porter to a smoked pepper porter, perfect for the summer by adding jalapenos. For the winter, the same drink can be tweaked into a mint-chocolate peppermint porter.

As you can see, while both the drinks mentioned above have the same base, you can dramatically alter the final flavors by adding different spices.

However, remember that when it comes to spices – a little go a long way. You don’t want the final drink to be overwhelming. So, make sure to keep the spices minimal. You can spices directly to the primary boil, or wait until the secondary boil or add it during the bottling stage.

Don’t Experiment Much with the Techniques

While there are plenty of brewing techniques you can use, we recommend that you keep your first few recipes simple and at beginner levels. Work with techniques that you have practiced and understand. This reduces the chances of your brews from becoming a major flop.

Final Thoughts

The thought of creating and building a beer recipe from scratch may seem like a daunting task. However, if you stick to the basics, with just a dash of creativity and individuality, you can create results that are simply stunning to taste.

Start with familiar beer style and techniques and move on to advanced styles once you understand how to do it. Finally, even if the results don’t work your way for the first few times, make sure that you keep on experimenting till you get it right!

Sour beer is the trending beer style of 2018. This funky brew is the latest to hit the market and has garnered a whole lot of attention, not just among the beer geeks but among all.

Thanks to craft breweries and the rising tribe of young beer drinkers, beer has seen a huge rise in popularity of late. Today, you can find plenty of unique beer styles in the market like extremely hoppy IPAs to other complex and nuanced flavors.

Here, in today’s article, we take a look at the recent entry in this ever-growing list of latest beer styles – sour beers and discern why it’s wildly popular among beer drinkers across continents.

What’s a Sour Beer?

Centuries ago, almost all beer was sour due to poor sanitation practices and beer being stored in large wooden barrels. Over the years, the brewing process was refined, and the sour notes were completely eliminated from beer.

As they say, history repeats itself, today sour beer is making a huge comeback. The one difference – sour notes are added intentionally to the drink.

By using specific strains of bacteria and yeast, brewers are able to impart a sour, funky, tart and other unique flavors to the beer. Very often, the micro-organisms (bacteria and yeast) used for adding sour flavors to the beer are known as “bugs.”

What’s in a Sour Beer?

The sour beer has specific strains of bacteria and yeast. Let’s take a look at the common species added to the brew:

• Brettanomyces – Often called Brett in short, this is a yeast strain added to sour ales. The distinguishing flavors are “horse blanket” or rustic. Yes, we agree that no one likes to drink a beer that smells like an equestrian animal, but then sour beers are an acquired taste. By pairing the Brett with bacteria, you can produce complementary flavors, that work well together.
• Lactobacillus – Often called Lacto in short, this is a bacterium that makes your beer tart, due to the production of lactic acid. It’s generally used in low hop beers and low ABV brews.
• Pediococcus – Often called Pedio in short, this is another strain of bacteria that produces lactic acid along with diacetyl, giving the brew a rich buttery taste. It works well when paired with Brett.

These are the three most common strains of bacteria and yeast used in sour beer production. Additionally, some breweries also make use of open fermenters, thereby allowing the bacteria in the air to infect the beer. This gives the brew a unique, local flavor that cannot be replicated elsewhere.

How to Make a Beer Sour?

Creating a sour beer is similar to brewing other styles of beer. However, along the way, there are some changes to the regular brewing process, to create a distinct sour flavor. The basic idea here is that – you should make your brew get “infected” with wild yeast or bacterial cultures to make it sour. This “infecting” process is usually done on the wort before it undergoes fermentation.

There are Three Ways to Make Your Beer Sour:

Intentional

Just as the term implies, this is the process of inoculating beer with bacteria and yeast intentionally to get sour tastes. This is further divided into two types:

• Unrestrained Inoculation – Also known as open fermentation. As mentioned above, breweries expose the wort to open-air, thereby getting the natural microbes in the air to interact with the brew. Several popular styles of sour beers use this method.
• Restrained Inoculation – Here, the brewers add specific microbial cultures to sour the beer. This method gives a consistent flavor, that can be replicated any number of times.

Synthetic

This method employs lactic acid. Lactic acid is added to the wort to produce sour flavors. It doesn’t use any wild strains of bacteria or yeast. The one downside of this style of sour beers is that they lack complex flavors. With that said, if you’re drinking sour beers for the first time, then this is a good choice. Additionally, this method also eliminates the risk of microbes in the air contaminating the beer.

Unintentional

As the name suggests, this happens when a beer turns sour without the brewer’s intervention and is often unwelcome. When bacteria come in contact with beer that wasn’t supposed to be sour, it’s known as unintentional souring. Very often, when this happens, brewers discard the lot.

Why is Brewing Sour Beers a Huge Deal?

Very often, brewers (even the pros) get jitters when they have to brew a sour beer. This is because the microbes in sour beers can easily contaminate other regular styles of beers in the brewery. This is why you come across brewers investing in separate facilities and brewing equipment to brew sour beers.

Additionally, sour beers are often aged in large wooden barrels. The reason for this is that – the bacteria in the barrels add further flavors to the beer. Thereby, each sour beer has a unique flavor, thus making it extremely hard for brewers to replicate flavors.

Why do Sour Beers cost a Bit More than Other Regular Beer Styles?

Sour beers are nicknamed as the “Burgundy of the Beer World.” This is because the finesse and style required for brewing sour beers are a lot more nuanced than a regular IPA. Also, brewing sour beers take a lot more time. The complexity of the flavors needs time to achieve. Due to the time consumption and the labor involved, sour beers cost a bit more than regular styles. But, with one sip of a finely-brewed sour beer, you’ll understand that it’s worth it.

New to Sour Beers?

If this is the first time (or dozenth time) you’re trying sour beers, then the chances are that you may not like the sour taste. We understand you. But, we urge you to keep on trying, at least a few sips every time. Sour beers are an acquired taste, and it takes some time to fall in love with them (or tolerate them).

Have you tried any sour beers? How was the experience? Liked it or hated it? Let us know in the comments below.

Hello Folks! This is the second part of our post on beer label design. If you haven’t checked the first post yet, you can find it here. In this post, we take a look at the typography, design, colours, and style of beer labels.

What’s in a Colour?

One of the best ways to communicate the personality of your brand quickly is to use the right colours. Several scientific studies state that each colour evokes a specific emotion. For instance, the colour “red” triggers hunger. This is why most fast-food brands use red in their design.

Beer Bottle Colours

Before you decide on the colours to use on your beer label, you have to think about the colour of your:

• Beer
• Bottle

When it comes to beer bottles, there are three popular colour choices – green, brown and clear. Brown bottles filter out UV rays (along with regular light), thereby protecting your beer from going skunky. If you’re brewing hoppy beers, then brown bottles work best for you. On the other hand, if your brew has little to no hops, then you may choose green or clear bottles.

Colours for Your Beer Label

Once you have figured out the colour of your bottle, the next step is to decide on the colours to use on the label. Here are some common practices:

• Green bottles are paired with black and white labels, along with a dash of red.
• Brown bottles offer a neutral background for the label and work with all colours. Some of the common colours you can spot are – red, gold, and orange.
• Clear bottles generally have label colours that are same or directly contrasting the brew.
• Another standard practice is to use colours that reflect the particular style of the beer. For instance, ambers use amber lablels, red ales use red labels, and stouts use dark brown labels.

While these are general rules, there’s no reason to stick to them. You can opt for an “out-of-the-box” colour scheme to make your brand stand out.

Typography

Just like the colour of the label, the fonts you use on your label have a direct impact on the personality of your brand. Choose script fonts or Serif fonts if you’re going for a classic look. Sans-serif fonts work better if you want to make your beer look modern and contemporary.

While you may be tempted to go with a crazy, fun font, remember that readability is the ultimate aim. You don’t want your customers to have a hard time trying to figure out what’s written on the label.

Style

Here’s the general rule of thumb followed by traditional beer brands – one prominent colour on the label, a large visible beer name, and some abstract images or logo of the brand to add visual interest.

Today, with the rise in popularity of craft beers, label design has transitioned into an art form. There are plenty of creative labels out there – from hand-drawn masterpieces to cartoon-like illustrations, extreme minimalism to photographs, there are so many styles on the market today.

Here’s a quick tip to help you find the right style for your beer label – keep your target audience in mind. If you’re targeting the millennial crowd with experimental flavours, then an outlandish or funky label design will work for you.

On the other hand, if you’re targeting wider demographic, spanning generations, then a minimal, classic design may be better for you.

Imagery

Once you have nailed the style, the next step is to focus on the images you want on your label. Once again, here you have to focus on your USP – what makes your brand stand out from the rest?

Do you use certain ingredients? Showcase images of these different ingredients on your label. Do you use a particular brewing technique? Showcase it with creative clip-arts. Or do you have a clever name for your beer? Showcase it visually.

Words

Remember that the words you print on the label are also part of the design. Do you want to reach out to specific customers, say IPA lovers? Then, make sure you include the word “IPA” on the label and highlight it out.

Here is a list of a few common beer keywords to give you some inspiration. Mix and match these words to highlight your brew.

Adventurous	Aged	American	Artisanal
Barrel	Belgian	Bitter	Blonde
Creamy	Crisp	Dark	Dry
English	Fruity	Full-bodied	Full-flavoured
Handcrafted	Hearty	Hoppy	Homebrewed
Layered	Malty	Micro-brewed	Mellow
Organic	Robust	Rich	Sharp
Smoky	Smooth	Thick	Traditional

 

Don’t Forget the Fine Print

While it’s essential to make your beer label stand out, you cannot skip the basics and other legal requirements. Here are a few elements that are a must:

• Net Contents – This specifies how much beer is in the bottle like 350ml and so on.
• Alcohol Content – You have to specify the alcohol level in your brew.
• Beer Class and Type – This indicates the type of brew.
• Manufacturing company name and address – So, that your fans can know where to reach you.
• Manufacturing date and Best before date.
• Contact number or customer service mail id.

Final Thoughts – Stand Out with a Stunning Label Design

Remember that the label is more than a legal requirement. It’s your brand ambassador. And, one of the main elements of a successful beer label design is – Consistency. Your label has to match the rest of your brand image. This is essential if you want your customers to be able to identify your brand easily.

Hope this two-part series helps you find the right labels for your craft beer. Stay tuned for more such info on promoting and marketing your craft brews. And, sign up for your newsletter for the latest info on the expanding world of craft breweries in India.

And, if you need any help in setting up or sourcing additional brewing equipment for your microbrewery in India, all you need to do is drop us a mail. And, our team will get in touch with you as early as possible.