There are four basic ingredients in beer: Water , Malt, Yeast, and Hops. These ingredients are readily available for homebrewers to make a wide variety of beers for extract, partial mash, and all-grain recipes.
Water
Water may seem a rather ordinary ingredient, but beer is mostly water. As such it is an important ingredient. Many breweries pride themselves on the quality of the water that goes into the beer that they make. Some types of beer specify the actual hardness of water to define the characteristic of the beer. As a home brewer, the most important thing to consider is “does the water taste good?” If you like the way your water tastes, then chances are that your beer will also taste as good as the recipe you select. If you don’t like the taste of your water, then consider getting bottled water. Purified spring water would be the first choice. Avoid distilled water if you can. The process of distilling the water can leave it without minerals that make the water taste good. If you have to use the only water available, and it doesn’t taste as good as you like, then try boiling it first, then cooling. This will destroy any bacteria in the water, and may also improve the taste a bit.
Malt
Liquid malt extract, dry malt extract, 2 row, 6 row, pale, amber, dark! Options options, options. Where to start. If you are new to making beer, don’t panic. Recipes will typically specify which ingredients to use.
Malt starts it life as barley. The barley goes to a malt house where the grains are germinated. As soon as germination takes place, the process is stopped. The grains are dried and roasted to give it color. If you are making an all-grain recipe, this is what you will be buying. If you are making an extract batch, then additional steps are taken.
The grains at this point still are not malt sugar, but rather starch. To convert this starch into fermentable sugars it must be mashed. Mashing is a process where the grains are cooked at very specific controlled tempreatures. This allows the enzymes in the grain to convert the starch into sugar. These sugars are then seperated from the grains, then condensed to either a thick syrup, or a dry powder.
If you are making an extract batch, then you will be using either a dry malt extract or a liquid malt extract. They are interchangable. The benefit of the dry malt extract is that it is easier to handle and store. Liquid extracts have the consistency of honey. They both come pre-packaged. The liquid extract can also be purchased from your local supplier in whatever quantities you need for the recipe.
There is also a vast array of specialty grains that can be added to your beer. These will add body, color, character, and flavor to your beer.
Other grains also find their way into beer, including wheat, rice, and corn.
Hops
Hops are used to impart a bitteness, flavor, and aroma to beer. The part of the plant that is used is the flower. Different hops have various flavors, aromas, and bittering potential. They are commonly available in pellet and in loose form.
Yeast
There are many different strains of yeast. Some are used to make bread, some wine, and others beer. While any could be used, the wrong yeast will impart off flavors to the beer. For beer, there are two different types of yeast; ale, and lager.
Ales are typically fermented at higher temperatures, around 65 degrees or more, and ferments on the top of the wort. The fermentation process is relatively short, often taking seven days or less. Of course, this will depend of the temperature of wort and amount of sugar in the wort.
Lager yeast are bottom fermenting yeasts. They ferments at relatively low temperatures, around 40 – 55 degrees. Consequently, the fermentation process can last for three weeks or more.
Both yeasts are available in dry and liquid form. Dry yeast is easy to use and is pretty forgiving. It is also less expensive. Liquid yeasts are more expensive, and are difficult to use. However,there many more options for the liquid yeast than the dry, and the type selected can have a noticable effect on the flavor of the beer.