Knowing the basic ingredients and what they do for your beer is essential to being able to reach the goal of brewing your perfect beer. Fermentable sugars, hops, water and yeast are the main ingredients and will have to be used, regardless of anything else you might add to affect taste, smell, color and mouth feel. The additives for those are numerous and would require a dictionary sized book to describe the processes and additives that can be used to change the properties of your beer.

Malted Barley

Malted barley is a form of raw barley that is germinated and then dried. The reason for this is to naturally create sugar and soluble starches. You will need these to brew you beer. When first bought this is very generic or “pale malt.” The brewmaster can dry or roast the malt for longer periods of time at varying temperatures in order to create a specialty malt. This, in the end, will have an effect on the color and flavor of the beer. Obviously, the darker the malt, the darker the beer; the most you roast the malt, the more roasted flavor you will have. Recipes for your specific taste requirements are available everywhere, so don’t feel like you have to go through a trial and error phase. Malt extract can be substituted as well.  It will come in either a dry or liquid syrup form. Just remember to be careful with the extract during the boil as all the added fructose can burn easily and ruin your batch before you even start.

Hops

Hops is a plant that produces green, cone-like flowers. If hops look somewhat familiar to you it is because it is from the same family as cannabis, or marijuana. (Thus the phrase “all hopped up on something) Hops are used to balance the sweetness of the malt and as a preservative. Hops are a natural preservative, and they also improve the head retention of beer. Hops are not used in the process until the boil. In addition to adding bitterness, aroma and having a preservative affect, hops can also be used to as a final “filter” after brewing to catch any hulls or clouded proteins you missed after siphoning.

Water

We all remember the old Coors commercials about mountain fresh spring water. These guys weren’t just looking to vacation in Colorado and using an advertising campaign as an excuse. Water is very important to your beer’s quality. Understanding the water’s pH balance and harness as well as the affects of chlorine is a good bit of knowledge to gain. But do you best and when in doubt, boil or use spring water.

Yeast

No man has ever had a better friend than yeast. Everyone who eats a sandwich should be thankful for it. Unlike bread though, you cannot have a proper beer without yeast. The microorganisms that make up yeast consume the mix of steeped grains and then excrete alcohol and CO2. It sounds gross, but the result is glorious! There are two basic kinds of beer yeast: lager yeast and ale yeast. Lager yeast performs best at cooler temperatures. Ale yeast is considered “wild yeast” and is active at a higher temperature and “ready to go when you are.”

Understanding the different ingredients and using different types will enable you to further customize your brewing and drinking experience. Even when buying prep-packaged beer kits, understanding what you are buying plays a role in getting the results you’re after.