What is a Lager? What is an Ale?

I invited my next door neighbor to sit down and kick back with a couple pints of Copper Lager 2 on draft. It was a calm Sunday afternoon, perfect for brew and good conversation. He was very impressed with it, and even ranked it as one of the best tasting beers he's ever had. What a great compliment! I too am enjoying it very much, and could also rank it as one of my best lagers. It is super smooth and balance. The 2-row malt base gives it a fuller flavor and mouthfeel, while the hops bring a fresh bold attitude to the aroma, flavor and aftertaste. It finishes clean without any complaints, and causes a large thirst for more.

But how would I categorize this beer? I didn't enter it into the AHA national competition, because I wasn't sure. Is there a generic "Continental Lager" category? I said to Chad, it could be a Pilsener. It wasn't American in taste. It could be a German or Italian Lager.

Anyways, when I mentioned that the hop presence in this beer could be considered Pilsener-like, Chad said...is Pilsener a lager? From my experience, it seems he's not alone, and many people do not realize that it is. Or, that lagers can actually be brown, amber, red or even black. Heck, I didn't know about all the styles of lagers and ales before I started brewing my own beer and tasting most of the commercial examples.

Lagers can be pale or very dark, light to heavy bodied, and be made from all the same ingredients found in ales. It is important to realize that each style of beer pretty much has its own special yeast strain. There are many ale yeasts, and there are many lager yeasts. Ales yeast generally performs with the most favorable flavor characteristics in a warmer range of 60-75°F, while lager yeast performs best in a cooler range in the 40's & 50's. But I'll let you read more about the specifics of ales and lagers over at Wikipedia.

This post is for you Chad, and anyone else who isn't sure what is an ale or lager. Below you will find a breakdown of most ales and lagers. I tried to list them from light to dark. I'm generalizing here, but I hope you get the gist of it. Also, in my list of categories, I group all my home brewed lagers (light to dark) under "lagers," and the other beer styles are ales.

Ales

American Pale Ale
Belgian Tripel
Lambics
India Pale Ale (English & American)
English Bitters (ordinary, special, ESB)
Cream Ale, Kolsch (ale/lager hybrid)
Wheat Beers/Hefewiezen
Scottish Ales
Amber Ales
California Common, Altbier (ale/lager hybrid)
Irish Red Ale
Belgian Double/Strong Ales
Brown Ales
Porter
Stout

Lagers

American Light Lagers
German Helles
Dortmunder Export
Pilseners (Bohemian, German & American)
European Ambers (Vienna, Octoberfest)
Marzen
Bock (maibock, traditional, eisbock)
Dunkel
Doppelbock
Schwarzbier (black beer)

Visit the BJCP for a complete listing of beer styles.

Cheapest Batch

This is a geeky-fun post detailing the cost of 3 methods for producing 5 gallons of home brewed beer. In this demonstration, by "simple beer," I mean a beer that falls between the Mild Ales, and the more expensive hoppy beers like pale ales/IPA or higher gravity beers. A simple beer to me is a mildly hopped Scottish, Irish Red Ale, Dry Stout, etc. For this analysis, I use a beer with an OG of 1.040. The cost of yeast, hops and bottle caps is constant at $10, and an 8% sales tax is included in all calculations.

A. Extract Based
After assembling a basic brew kit, home brewed beer is already cheaper than buying quality commercial beer. At its very basic and introductory level, malt extracts are used for the bulk of fermentables. Specialty grains and hops will provide distinctive color and enticing flavors and aromas. This method of brewing a simple beer can cost s around $26.50 ($2.95/6-pack).

B. All-Grain (pre-crushed)
After building onto the basic system, to allow for an all-grain procedure, the cost per batch goes down a little bit. The easiest way to get started with ingredients is to purchase "pre-crushed" grains. The overall efficiency of a mash with pre-crushed grains can be quite low, so more malt is required to obtain the correct gravity. I've experienced efficiencies in the range of 60-70%. Also, having malts crushed for you adds about 10-20¢/pound. But at this point a batch of simple beer costs less, at around $24.12 (/6-pack).

C. All-Grain (whole kernel)
Ordering whole grain malts simply costs less (about $1.31/batch). Yeah...it takes a little while to hand crush the grains, but it's much fresher, and a much better crush. Using my LHBS mill, I've recorded efficiencies as high as 78%. An adjustable mill is preferable. After crushing at home with a new Barley Crusher, I've hit an all new high of 85%! Going from 62% to 78%, reduces the malt poundage by 1.7lbs/20%, and cuts about $2.72. Going from 62% to 85%, reduces malt poundage by 2.25lbs/26%, and cuts about $3.60. So with a home-crushed, whole-kernel, all-grain method, a batch of simple beer costs around $20.60 ($2.32/6-pack).

Further Reductions

1. Knock off $6 by reusing yeast
2. Swing top bottles cancel the need for bottle caps (about $1.16/batch)
3. Buying lower quality domestic base malts at $1.15/lb. ($2.27/batch)
4. Buying in bulk with flat rate shipping (marginal savings)

After applying these reductions...

Method A...$17.07 ($1.92/6-pack)
Method B...$14.69 ($1.65/6-pack)
Method C...$11.17 ($1.26/6-pack)

At an annual production of 12 batches/year (60 gal/106 6-packs), on average, each method would cost...

Method A...$261
Method B...$231
Method C...$190

In the end it, there are many ways to reduce the cost of brewing. At the same time, not only does the price go down, progressing from method A to C also greatly improves the quality of the beer.

With the current downward turn in the availability of quality/traditional barley and hops, and a serious increase in their price, we are inevitably facing challenging times. Decreasing the cost on the side of production, can help buffer the increased price of ingredients.

Gravity Math

Since the equations (really just a couple numbers) aren't ingrained in my head, this is a quick place to go to for recalling ABW and ABV mathematics using a beer's gravity readings.

OG: Original Gravity (how much dissolved sugar is in the wort)
FG: Final Gravity (the specific gravity after fermentation)

ABW: Alcohol by Weight (percentage weight of alcohol per volume of beer, approx. 20% less than ABV)
Calculate ABW (subtract FG from OG and multiply by 105)
ABW example: (1.054 - 1.013) x 105 = 4.31%

ABV: Alcohol by Volume (Alcohol content as a proportion of the total volume of a liquid)
Calculate ABV (multiply ABW by 1.25)
ABV example: 4.31 x 1.25 = 5.38%

But now after working it out here, I think I'll remember next time. If not...its right here.

Commercial vs. Home Brewed

There is a small handful of costs that go into brewing quality beer at home. In this post I will compare these costs to that of buying commercial beer. This turned into a longer post than I originally intended. Since I've "gotten into" some advocacy of the hobby, comparing the cost is a big selling point. There really is no comparison...but here goes...

After a number of attempts at a certain style, I've gotten some pretty darn good results. In my own opinion, I prefer some of my better beers over anything commercial. After I break into a fully conditioned batch of "liquid gold," I'm even more tickled to know that the pint I hold in my hand cost only 75 cents to make. Luckily its not a chore to make & bottle it...its really a very rewarding past-time.

In my comparison, the inclusion of equipment costs is sort-of difficult to figure in. On the commercial side, it's also difficult. Since it is a "fixed cost," I will go ahead and exclude it, and any other fixed costs. Also, the way I look at it, paying for cool new equipment is much like paying for a ride at an amusement park...its just FUN!

First up...Commercial Beer...What the heck are we paying for?

Production: barley & grains, hops, yeast, fossil fuel + tax
Packaging: new bottles, caps, 6-pack box, case box
Sanitation: cleaning products
Employees: waged, salary
Distribution: trucking, fees
Alcohol Tax: production, retail level
Mark-up: retail level

a. Avg. price of a good micro-brewed pale ale, 6-pack plus tax = $10.34
b. At that price a 12oz. bottle = $1.72
c. At the local pub, 1 pint...plus 50cent tip = $5.00
d. At a modest consumption of .5 gallon/week, bottled beer cost = $9.10
e. With consistency throughout the year, bottled beer cost = $473.20
f. At a modest consumption of .5 gallon/week, pub pints cost = $20
g. With consistency throughout the year, pub pints cost = $1,040.00
h. At .5 gallon/week, half bottled & half pub pints combo cost = $14.55
i. With consistency throughout the year, combo cost = $756.60

Now onto...Home Brewed Beer...

Production: barley & grains, hops, yeast, fossil fuel + tax/shipping
Packaging: bottle caps
Sanitation: half-cap-of-Iodiphor/batch
Employees: we work for beer
Distribution: basement to frig, glass, mouth, esophagus, belly
Alcohol Tax: None
Mark-up: None

a. Avg. price of an "all-grain" good home-brewed pale ale, 6-pack = $3.36
b. At that price a 12oz. bottle = $0.65
c. A poured pint = $0.75
d. At a modest consumption of .5 gallon/week, bottled beer cost = $3.00
e. With consistency throughout the year, bottled beer cost = $156.00
f. At a modest consumption of .5 gallon/week, pints cost = $3.00
g. With consistency throughout the year, pub pints cost = $156.00
h. At .5 gallon/week, half bottled & half pub pints combo cost = $3.00
i. With consistency throughout the year, combo cost = $156.00

So you can plainly see, after you get your home brewed beer to taste very much like any commercial beer out on the market, you will be saving a lot of money!

It costs roughly 3 times more for commercial beer from your local store!
It costs about 6.7 times more drinking pints at the local pub!

While brewing beer, you could also be putting $600/yr away for better things (vacation, a bike, clothes, CSA food shares, more brewing equipment, a bike, a skateboard, education, investments, cool toys for your kids)

Lastly, see...the big brewery's distribution can potentially lead to pretty disastrous results...

Beer & Brewing Terminology (3 parts)

This post is for Casey. On second thought, I guess it's for anyone else who may find beer & brewing terms read more like a foriegn language.

Part 1: Basic Beer Terminology

Beer –
· A fermented beverage made from barley, hops, water, and yeast, and sometimes additional ingredients like oats, rye, rice, corn, fruit and honey
Ale –
· A general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast
· Ales ferment at warmer temperatures and more quickly than lager yeasts
· They convert less of the sugar into alcohol (giving a sweeter, fuller body)
· They produce more aromatic compounds - esters (fruity notes)
Lager –
· lagern ("to store")
· Bottom fermenting yeast strain undergoes cooler temperature ranges
· During the long secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows
· Cooler fermentation produces much lower esters & makes a “crisp/mellow” taste
Barley –
· A grain cultivated since prehistoric times; grown for forage and grain
· A grain malted for use in the mash in the brewing of beer
Malt –
· Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate and then quickly dried before the plant develops
Mash –
· The process by which crushed malts and other grains are placed into a vessel and steeped at various temperatures in order to convert the starches in the grains into sugars
Wort –
· The liquid extracted from a mash of malt or malt and adjunct
· Fermented wort equals beer
Hops –
· Hops are the cone-like flowers of the perennial female hop vine
· They are used to balance the sweetness of the malts with the bitter qualities of hop resins
Yeast –
· A single-cell organism with numerous species in nature
· Specific strains of yeast are used by brewers to ferment wort to produce specific beer styles
Fermentation –
· The process by which yeast converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide

The definitions of the previous terms were gathered from various sources including some sources in "Part: 3"

Part 2: Listing of Technical Brewing Terms (for definitions, please refer to the links below)

Ph
Diacetyl
Pitch
Attenuation
Flocculation
Primary Fermentation
Secondary Fermentation
Carboy
SG - Specific Gravity
OG - Original Gravity
FG/TG - Finish/Terminal Gravity
ABV - Alcohol by Volume

Hop Utilization
AAU - Alpha Acid Units
IBU - International Bittering Units
HBU - Homebrew Bittering Units
Bittering Hops
Flavor Hops
Aroma Hops
Dry Hopping

Mash Efficiency
Mash Tun
Decoction Mashing
Infusion Mashing
Sparge
Immersion Wort Chiller
Lovibond (L)
SRM - Standard Reference Method (3=pale/straw to 35 = black)
Bottle Conditioning
Priming
Chill Haze

Part 3: Online sources for beer and brewing terminology

Beer Advocate

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/terms.php

Enter any term into the Siebel Institute site
http://www.siebelinstitute.com/brewterms/

Mike's Big Brewing Glossary! A great site for just about every homebrewing term (very specific long list)
http://hbd.org/uchima/glossary/glossary.html

In-depth descriptions of beer styles at the Beer Judge Certification Program site
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/

“The Brewery” has tons of information about home brewing
http://hbd.org/brewery/index.html

Hope all of this helps!