Powder beer. Beer production technology

Beer historian and blogger Pavel Egorov told the Profibeer portal who brewed “powder” beer in Russia and how the production of concentrated beer developed in our country.

Is there powdered beer?

Among some Russian beer consumers, there is an opinion that in large factories beer is made from special beer powder, mixing it with water and alcohol. Actually, such technology was actually invented recently, although not for industrial production, and for tourists, now they don’t have to carry the entire weight of beer, but just take a bag of beer powder, alcohol and chemicals that release carbon dioxide during the mixing reaction, as well as a special container for mixing, so that by simply adding water, you get beer in travel in the wild. I don’t know how similar this mixture is to beer, but the cost is likely to be very impressive, and it is doubtful that such technology will find wide application at all.

Although “powdered” beer can also include beer in which the actual wort for fermentation is obtained from a concentrate, and the concentrate is beer wort from which part of the water has been evaporated (and sometimes all the water has been removed, and then such a concentrate really looks exactly like powder , similar in consistency to powdered sugar).

Microbreweries from Moscow (Concord): “Istochnik”, “Otradnoye”, “Elitstroy”

After diluting the wort from the concentrate, it ferments as usual, that is, when making beer from concentrate, only the operations of mashing and boiling the wort, which require the most complex equipment and are the most energy-intensive, are excluded, so this technology is very widely used by home brewers to greatly simplify the production process. The beer wort concentrates themselves are obtained at special plants, often the same breweries.

It is clear that concentrate producers make their own profit, so beer made from them will always be more expensive than if the wort was produced locally from malt and hops, but home brewers are willing to pay more, since this technology makes their life much easier. At large breweries, the use of concentrates is not very profitable, the competitiveness of concentrated beer is not high due to the high cost, and such beer usually loses in taste to beer made directly from malt and hops.

Concentrate brewing in the USSR

It is interesting that in the USSR and in modern Russia, concentrate technology has become widespread, but not for the production of beer, but for the production of kvass! Since the mid-60s, kvass in the USSR has been made from a mixture of kvass wort concentrate and sugar, and even now this technology is used in most industries (only some manufacturers immediately mash kvass wort from malts and cereals).

Microbreweries (Concord): “Novation” - Novgorod, “Iva” - Nizhny Novgorod, “Elina” - Reutov, “Dobraya Pinta” - Lipetsk

Beer concentrate was also produced in the USSR, but in a very small volume (in the Baltic republics). Beer concentrate was then included in the recipes of some types of beer (as additional ingredient), and was also used for home brewing.

Concentrate breweries in Russia

In the mid-90s in Russia, in the wake of interest in home brewing, small production facilities also began to appear (the name microbreweries is most suitable for them, since they were usually small even in comparison with minibreweries).

Since the cost of beer made from concentrates was quite high, a significant part of them (up to 50%) was replaced with sugar. This did not have a very favorable effect on the taste, but such beer found its consumer, especially since such beer is usually made as ale, that is, by top fermentation at room temperature, and ales have a richer taste, which means they have their loyal fans.

Labels of JSC "Korund", Ivanteevka

Fermenting beer at room temperature, again, greatly simplifies production (no refrigeration equipment is required), so ales are almost always produced at home; microbreweries followed the same path. Just like in home brewing, the method of post-fermentation in the bottle was used to carbonate beer, this provided the beer with excellent shelf life - many months, although the beer was “live”, as opposed to “live” lagers from classic microbreweries, the shelf life of which is often equaled 3 days (of course, in the case of poor sanitation at work).

In our time of the “craft” revolution, ales are the basis for most “craft” beers, and it is tempting to call concentrated microbreweries the harbingers of “craft” in Russia. But, unfortunately, for the most part, the producers of such beer usually did not have a creative streak, producing a rather monotonous product (and, taking into account the significant addition of sugar, also with a specific beer taste). There were exceptions, but not numerous.

Features of taste and production of concentrated beer

The main disadvantage of concentrated beer is the weakened aroma of malt and especially hops, which is lost when water evaporates. The flavor could be adjusted by boiling the diluted hop concentrate, adding a hop decoction, or simply dry hopping. And for malt aroma, adding fresh infusion malt. But no one did this.

It would be even simpler and more interesting to work with yeast - for example, use Belgian races to produce Belgian beers, but in practice only yeast supplied with concentrates was used.

Finally, the amount of added sugar should not have been increased to significant levels, but the cost dictated the opposite...

Microbreweries from Moscow and the region (Teddy Beer): “Laplandia”, “Ugreshskaya PK”, IP “Dorkina”

Although this can only be argued from the perspective of the present day, when it is not difficult to find any hops, yeast or malt on sale for any amount of equipment, in the 90s-2000s there was no such variety yet, but finding necessary ingredients based on volume home brewed it was even more difficult.

As a result, concentrate microbreweries brewed a specific and rather monotonous product, although it had its own niche. To open such breweries, the initial investments were not large (in fact, only fermentation tanks and a boiler for diluting the concentrate were required), so breweries opened en masse, but after existing for several years, they disappeared just as quickly.

What kind of beer was brewed from Concord concentrates?

Most often, concentrates from Concord (at the initial stage) and from the Teddy Beer company were used in Russia. The largest brewery producing beer from Concord concentrates was Korund from Ivanteevka. You can consider its products as an example.

Light varieties were called “Lager” and “Pilsner”. Of course, it was neither lager nor pilsner, but that was the name of the concentrates from which this beer was made. These were light ales with a noticeable yeast and mash flavor, with a large sediment of yeast at the bottom of the bottle (it was recommended to leave the bottle in the cold before opening, then very carefully open and pour the beer into the glass, trying not to raise sediment from the bottom). Interestingly, now in the wake of “craft” the opposite phenomenon is often observed - lager-style beers are indicated as ale.

Microbreweries (Teddy Beer): “Novopermsky Pivovar” - Perm, “Shiko” - St. Petersburg, IP “Yudin” - Vyborg

The semi-dark varieties were called “Yorkshire Bitter” and “Export Bitter”, and the dark varieties were called “Mild” and “Stout”. They were very different in taste from traditional English bitters, milds and stouts - primarily with a pronounced yeast and mash flavor (from the significant amount of sugar and a large amount of yeast in the finished beer).

Beer was bottled in liter PET bottles and also in glass bottles. There are dozens of breweries that produced Concord beer, but due to the meager production volume, few people tried them. Most of these microbreweries ceased to exist in the last decade.

"Teddy Beer" - the king of concentrated beer

The second active player in the concentrates market was Teddy Beer, which worked primarily for homebrewers, but also provided a full package of services for microbreweries. This includes the equipment itself and the raw materials (which included, first of all, plastic fermentation tanks of various sizes, the concentrate itself and yeast) and the certified recipe. Beers based on this recipe were called “Admiral” and “Gladiator”.

The company itself, as a demonstration, also produced and sold beer (the brewery was called “Lapland”, since concentrates were imported from Finland). By the way, the company’s regional partners also combined trade in concentrates with brewing, such as in Perm. “Novopermskaya Brewery” produced a significant number of varieties under the brands “Admiral” and “Gladiator”, but all of them were distinguished by a well-recognized specific beer flavor. This taste was characteristic of almost all beer made from concentrate, so that among beer lovers the term “taddling” even appeared (after the name of the main supplier of concentrates) as a description of this taste of beer. There were also dozens of breweries working with this concentrate.

Porters from microbreweries: “Valott” - Rybinsk, “Elf” - Obninsk, “Admiral” - Dubna

In 2005, at a time when the number of microbreweries using concentrate was relatively large, a small “Festival of Alternative Beer” was held near Rostov the Great at the Riverside restaurant. 4 “concentrate” breweries took part in it (mostly local ones - from Rostov, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl). It was possible to meet such breweries at numerous brewing exhibitions of that time (for example, at the St. Petersburg “Beer Auction” the local brewery “Elross” was not a rare guest).

Our days

To today Almost none of the concentrate brewers survived. As an exception, we can name a brewery from Veliky Novgorod at the Derzhavny bar. Their beers are called Concord, although the brewery later worked with Teddy Beer.

Nowadays, due to the depreciation of the ruble, it has become completely unprofitable to use concentrates from foreign countries, but cheaper products have also appeared, for example from Belarus (the Polotsk brewery began to produce them). It is worth noting here that one of the most interesting breweries producing beer from concentrate is also located in Belarus - Nagorny Posad from Mogilev. The brewery has Czech brewing equipment, adapted for concentrate brewing of beer (unhopped malt concentrate is used, which is mixed with sugar and brewed with hops), and not ales are produced, but lagers, since cold fermentation is used.

Alternative Beer Festival. Festival beer label from the organizer, ElpisForte brewery

Now in Russia there are already quite a few specialized stores offering goods for home brewing, where the variety of beer concentrates from around the world is amazing, but the price for them is also amazing. If for a home brewer the price is still secondary, then for a commercial brewery such prices are prohibitive.

Of course, you can already find cheaper analogues not from foreign countries, but the latest laws in the field of regulation of turnover alcoholic products(which now includes beer) actually put an end to concentrated micro-productions - the overhead costs for them will be simply prohibitive.

Also, according to the new Technical Regulations, the products of such breweries cannot be called anything other than “beer drink” (due to the significant role of sugar). So you shouldn’t expect the opening of new breweries working with beer concentrate. We should rather expect the closure of those of them that have survived to this day.

No matter how anyone feels about such “powdered” beer, this was an interesting page in the history of Russian brewing.

According to rumors, manufacturers have learned to make beer from powder without adhering to traditional technology brewing Consumers are indignant; they want to drink natural or, better yet, live beer, and not a bunch of chemicals of unknown origin. In fact, the truth turned out to be not so frightening. I will prove this further.

Powdered beer is a concentrate of finished beer wort, from which water has been removed using a vacuum method. The extract is sold in powder or paste form. To make beer again, just dilute it in water at a certain temperature and add yeast.

The powder method is used by small private breweries and restaurants that prepare their own draft beer. It is not profitable for them to comply complete technology, which uses special equipment and expensive ingredients, so they make do with concentrate.

The final taste of such drinks depends on the quality of the concentrate. At proper preparation distinguish powdered beer from live beer...

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Powdered wine and powdered beer

Gradually, the phrase “powder wine” enters our daily life. This is not a joke, not the dark consequences of modernization and not just another experiment, powdered wines are a working model of winemaking.
It is worth admitting that very few people have seen the powder itself, but this, strictly speaking, does not really matter, because one way or another, a good half of the goods on the shelves liquor stores made from this same concentrate.

Advantages of powder wine producers
The advantages of powder wine producers over real winemakers are obvious, because the latter practically cannot compete with them: the cost is literally incomparable. In addition, there are no factors in Russia that could in any way restrain producers of imitation wine. All products are regulated by well-known GOSTs, which only establish acceptable and possible limits for the content of certain...

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Lately, there has been more and more talk on the Internet and in real life about the mythical “powdered beer.” From the point of view of the average person, powder beer has almost completely filled the shelves of Russian stores, and an increasing number of manufacturers today are abandoning traditional brewing technologies. Again, when talking to each other about powdered beer, consumers mean some kind of product of the latest achievements in the chemical industry, if not harmful, then at least not useful.

I hasten to inform you that powder beer really exists, but it has nothing in common with what they say about it. Powdered beer differs from traditional beer only in that it is prepared on the basis of ready-made dry beer wort concentrate.

In order to obtain such a concentrate, liquid is completely removed from ordinary beer wort using a vacuum method. To prepare beer from concentrate, it is diluted with water. required temperature and, already according to the standard...

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Does powdered beer exist and how can you tell it apart from real beer? This question plagues many fans. foamy drink.

In fact, powder beer does not contain anything scary in its composition. Water is removed from the finished beer wort using a vacuum method and a powder or paste concentrate is obtained. To make beer from it, you need to add water and yeast in certain proportions. This technology is used mainly by small producers who sell beer by the glass. After all, it is much cheaper than purchasing expensive equipment and maintaining long-term process brewing For large enterprises, using concentrate is unprofitable, because to obtain it, the production technology also requires evaporation, which requires additional costs.

If the beer concentrate is of high quality and the proportions of its dilution with water are observed, then it is almost impossible to distinguish the taste of such beer from brewed beer. After all, in your own way chemical composition it's practically...

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Articles about beer

How to distinguish quality beer

You can do this - “by taste and color...” In appearance, beer is assessed by experts according to two main characteristics: color and foam.

Beer foam

Foam - business card beer. It can be used to determine the quality of the drink. If the foam is liquid, with a large number bubbles, red, nondescript in appearance, then this beer is not first-class. Foam good beer- compact and monolithic, without bubbles and completely white. Pour the beer into a large glass or glass. An excellent beer should have a foam height of at least 4 cm and retain it for at least 4 minutes. If the foam is lower or disappears without a trace in a shorter period of time, then it is not entirely excellent. Try blowing lightly on the foam. If the foam disappears, it means the beer is bad; if it “bends,” it means it’s good. And one more piece of advice. Place the coin on top of the foam layer. She doesn't drown - another indicator good quality. In addition, the foam should “stick” to the walls. If...

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Source: http://all-about-beer.ru/

About beer, like many other things around us, for for a long time it worked out large number myths and stereotypes. Let's try to figure out what is true and what is not.

1. Alcohol is added to beer.

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About beer, like many other things around us, a large number of myths and stereotypes have developed over a long time. Let's try to figure out what is true and what is not...

1. Alcohol is added to beer.

Perhaps the most common myth, especially thanks to the popular strong beers in Russia, such as “Ohota Strong” and “Baltika...

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As it turns out, beer powder really exists. Beer powder is beer wort from which water has been removed by evaporation, and the use of such concentrates can significantly reduce production process. In addition, there is no need to store grain, grind and clean it, cook it, filter it, etc. I doubt that beer made from concentrate is fermented at the factory; one thing can be said about the taste: alcohol has been added. It can be assumed that in pursuit of low cost and simplified production, they use powders - beer concentrate. Badyazhat (what a word! accurately reflects the liquid in bottles with the inscription “Beer”), badyazhat it and pour it into bottles, using one powder with various additives and alcohol. This is probably why all the brands of beer that the plant produces are very similar to each other. I remember how I bought beer at an imported fair in Moscow back in the 90s. A fair came from Chuvashia, and among other goods they brought their own beer. This is good beer! Khmelnoe. Real....

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As you can see, dear friends, our topic today is far from sports. Nevertheless, such questions concern many men, which means they need to be addressed. After all, there are methods that can help you determine which beer is real and which is not. In addition, we’ll talk about how to store beer so that it remains fresh and how long it should be stored according to the rules.

Which beers are high quality and which are not? How to distinguish them?

By the way, beer is one of the most ancient, and if I may say so, revered drinks. Recipes for this divine drink were known to the Egyptians and Sumerians. IN different times and in different countries it could be considered both a drink for poor people and a drink for the rich or for fierce warriors. In general, of course, before it was completely different.

So, as I said, there are methods that will help you answer the question of which beer is natural and which is not.

Which...

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Chemical beer

Recently, on the Internet (and in real life) there have been articles about a fairly well-known myth - “powdered beer”. If we consider the situation from the consumer’s side, then powder beer (chemical beer) is the main product presented in modern stores - after all, most manufacturers refuse traditional ways beer production. And more and more often, in the conversations of buyers, powdered beer is presented as a certain chemical mixture, which, if not harmful to the body, does not have a beneficial effect.

Is powdered beer actually chemical?

We can tell you interesting information– powder beer really exists, but it has a completely different (compared to the majority’s ideas) appearance. The main difference between this type of beer and traditional beer is that dry beer wort concentrate is used for its preparation.

To prepare such a concentrate, a special moisture removal technology is used...

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What is powder beer

Today, in countries such as the USA, Canada, China, Japan, Finland and Russia, you can find so-called “powder beer”, or rather beer made from powder, which is a concentrate.

So, powder beer is a concentrate of finished beer wort, from which all liquid has been previously removed using a vacuum. This concentrate is sold in powder and sometimes in paste form. To make a drink from it, just dilute it in water at a certain temperature and add yeast.

The cost of such a concentrate is quite high, which is why it is not used in large factories. As a rule, beer from powder is produced by small breweries and restaurants that prepare their own beer. It is costly for them to follow the complete brewing technology as it requires expensive equipment and ingredients. This is why they use powder concentrate. It should be noted that when...

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I don’t even know whether I like beer or not. I drink normally with friends and company. It’s true that I don’t understand good and bad well, when they ask me “what will you be like?” they answer like everyone else. But I never take a bottle home to drink alone. And I’ll never buy a bottle of beer on the street in the heat.

But yes, I’ve heard about powder beer. They say that legends about the production of beer from powder are easily accepted and are widespread among people because they fall on well-prepared soil. It even turns out that existence powder beer does not contradict the practical experience of the Russian consumer.

How does this happen?

Myths about powdered beer

Everyone is accustomed to the fact that in pursuit of lower costs and speed of production, manufacturers of many products replace high-quality expensive components with cheap substitutes. Sausage is made without meat, juices are made with flavors identical to natural ones, and cheese is made from palm oil. Wine is produced where there are no grapes, and milk where there are no cows.

The spread of myths is facilitated by the quality of Russian beer. It's hard to believe that a product of such low level is created using traditional technologies.

My belief in the possibility of making beer from powder is fueled by familiarity with well-known powder concentrates:

Sweet drinks;
- instant tea and coffee;
- bouillon cubes and other “just add water” foods.

Why shouldn't beer be powdered? People uninitiated in the intricacies of industrial beer production who first visit a brewery may be confused by the appearance of various packages with bulk ingredients, which they may mistake for beer powder. For example, bags contain greenish granules that are added to beer vats. Is there anything unusual about them? This is how hops are now harvested. When harvested, it is crushed and granulated for ease of storage and delivery to breweries.

Another type of loose powdery product that can be found in a brewery is crushed shell rock. It is used to filter beer.

Rumors about the powdered intoxicating drink and foreign news digests that publish dubious and unverified information form. For example, a Canadian company specializing in carbonated powdered drinks was mentioned, which is ready to release sets of 4 bags of beer concentrate powder made from barley, hops and yeast. Each bag can supposedly make 0.5 liters of light lager or dark ale. $10 bags should come with a $50 carbonator for carbonation. Details of the technology are not disclosed.

Another story from Argentina. Allegedly, at the local industrial university at the Department of Food Engineering, the powder was obtained by evaporating moisture from beer. The alcohol also evaporated. Argentine technologists claim that when the powder is re-diluted, beer comes out with the original color, aroma and even foam, only non-alcoholic. In addition, the reconstituted drink is low-calorie, and the powder can be stored without changing its quality for 10 years.

Sometimes you come across photos of foreign packages with powdered beer online. However, it later turns out that they were bought at a joke store and intended to prank friends.

Adding fuel to the fire are jokers, regulars of forums and communities of intoxicating drink lovers, who periodically release information about powdered beer online. Here are a few myths that arose from their pranks:

All beer is made from powder, but Czech and German brewers follow the technology and brew beer for 20 minutes, while Russian brewers simply brew
powder in boiling water and then bottled, adding alcohol. That's why German and Czech beer is good, but Russian beer is not;
- during cooking dark varieties hoof ointment is added;
- a mythical beer recipe floating around the Internet: powder, alcoholic liquid, washing powder for strong, stable foam;
- an even more “hard” recipe: powder concentrate, water, alcohol, carbon dioxide, diphenhydramine.

Brewing with malt extracts

Manufacturers of equipment for home mini-breweries made a significant contribution to the formation of rumors about powdered beer. To increase sales of their products, they needed to attract as many people as possible who were inexperienced in brewing as customers. And you can interest them in the ease of achieving results even in the absence of experience.

It was possible to attract new consumers of the product, proving that beer production can be completely a simple process- just follow the instructions on the packaging of the finished beer concentrate.

There is no need to be afraid of the long processes of brewing from natural malt, boiling, filtering, and observing maltose rests.

Instead of studying the many years of experience of brewers, comprehending the secrets of a labor-intensive process, modern business has taken a different path - promoting brewing malt extract among consumers. The point of home brewing has become extreme simplification: buy a few bags or jars, follow the detailed instructions on the packaging and get beer home production. Today on Russian market malt concentrates from Australia, New Zealand, Finland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and America are presented.

Beer wort concentrate is not just a thick mass or powder that you just need to dilute with water and get a glass of foamy beer. The home brewer must hop the beer, pitch the yeast, let the beer ferment and age. Beer concentrate makes it possible to skip the difficult stages of traditional brewing at home.

Preparation of beer malt extract

The production of malt extract begins with the germination of grain. As a rule, these are special varieties of barley. During the germination process, complex molecular transformations occur in grains. Activated enzymes break down long starch molecules into short sugars. This is the main purpose of malting. It is the sugar molecules (maltose, glucose, fructose) that provide food for the yeast, which will work to convert the malt wort into beer.

During the malting process, B vitamins and valuable amino acids accumulate in the grain. When making beer wort extract, they, together with sugars, many important microelements and biologically active substances, are converted into a concentrate. Therefore, malt extract - valuable product, and the beer made from it is home brewery will be no worse than factory welded in the traditional way.

There are two types of beer malt concentrate:

Dry powdered extract is packaged in bags. It is prepared by drying an aqueous extract from malt wort on special sprayers;

IN metal cans consumers receive “condensed” beer wort. The production of various concentrates has been established to produce many types and varieties of beer. There are hopped and unhopped extracts.

Unhopped extract is sometimes used as a sugar substitute. This significantly improves quality homemade beer: the drink produces a deeper taste, aroma, and dense, stable foam.

Adding various types extracts can be obtained different varieties intoxicating drink:
- from light - Pilsner, Lager;
- dark - Stout, Porter;
- from wheat - types of wheat beer;
- from amber - ale and bitter.

Sellers of home brewing kits usually include packages of brewer's yeast with malt concentrate.

Homemade beer from malt concentrate

Each manufacturer supports its product detailed instructions. The process begins with fermentation of the wort. IN fermentation tank mix the malt extract with water and sugar syrup, adjust the density. To determine it, use a hydrometer. The temperature is set in the range of 18-25? C and yeast is introduced.

Under a water seal, the fermentation process continues for 6-8 days. All this time, the density of the wort is controlled. If it reaches the values specified in the instructions, the beer is poured into bottles, where further fermentation occurs. Filling the bottles is done carefully, avoiding yeast sediment getting into them. In tightly closed bottles there should be about 3 cm of free space.

The process of post-fermentation in bottles continues in dark room about a week. The final stage - ripening - occurs at low temperatures of 4-10? C for about 14 days, and preferably 3 weeks.

Malt beer concentrate is the raw material for obtaining quality drink. However, for large production, preparing beer using this method will be much more expensive than beer brewed using traditional technology from water, malt and hops. Therefore, the main consumers of the extract are small breweries and home craftsmen.

Now I understand more about this topic and the essence of the myth about powdered beer.

Do you even drink beer?

Legends about the production of beer from powder are easily taken for granted and are widespread among people because they fall on well-prepared soil. The existence of powder beer does not contradict the practical experience of Russian consumers.

Myths about powdered beer

Everyone is accustomed to the fact that in pursuit of lower costs and speed of production, manufacturers of many products replace high-quality expensive components with cheap substitutes. The sausage is made without meat, the juices are made with flavors identical to natural ones, and the cheese is made from palm oil. Wine is produced where there are no grapes, and milk where there are no cows.

The spread of myths is facilitated by the quality of Russian beer. It's hard to believe that a product of such low level is created using traditional technologies.

My belief in the possibility of making beer from powder is fueled by familiarity with well-known powder concentrates:

Sweet drinks;
instant tea and coffee;
bouillon cubes and other “just add water” products.

Another type of loose powdery product that can be found at a brewery is crushed shell rock. It is used to filter beer.

Sometimes you come across photos of foreign packages with powdered beer online. However, it later turns out that they were bought at a joke store and intended to prank friends.

All beer is made from powder, but Czech and German brewers follow the technology and brew the beer for 20 minutes, while Russian brewers simply brew the powder in boiling water and then bottle it, adding alcohol. That's why German and Czech beer is good, but Russian beer is not;
when cooking dark varieties, hoof ointment is added;

A mythical beer recipe floating around the Internet: powder, alcoholic liquid, washing powder for strong, stable foam;

An even more “hard” recipe: powder concentrate, water, alcohol, carbon dioxide, diphenhydramine.

Brewing with malt extracts
Manufacturers of equipment for home mini-breweries made a significant contribution to the formation of rumors about powdered beer. To increase sales of their products, they needed to attract as many people as possible who were inexperienced in brewing as customers. And you can interest them in the ease of achieving results even in the absence of experience.

It was possible to attract new consumers of the product by proving that making beer can be a completely simple process - just follow the instructions on the packaging of the finished beer concentrate.

There is no need to be afraid of the long processes of brewing from natural malt, boiling, filtering, and observing maltose rests.

Instead of studying the many years of experience of brewers, comprehending the secrets of a labor-intensive process, modern business has taken a different path - promoting brewing malt extract among consumers. The point of home brewing has become extreme simplification: buy a few bags or jars, follow the detailed instructions on the packaging and get home-made beer. Today, the Russian market offers malt concentrates from Australia, New Zealand, Finland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and America.

Preparation of beer malt extract
The production of malt extract begins with the germination of grain. As a rule, these are special varieties of barley. During the germination process, complex molecular transformations occur in grains. Activated enzymes break down long starch molecules into short sugars. This is the main purpose of malting. It is the sugar molecules (maltose, glucose, fructose) that provide food for the yeast, which will work to convert the malt wort into beer.

During the malting process, B vitamins and valuable amino acids accumulate in the grain. When making beer wort extract, they, together with sugars, many important microelements and biologically active substances, are converted into a concentrate. Therefore, malt extract is a valuable product, and beer made from it in a home brewery will be no worse than factory beer brewed in a traditional way.

There are two types of beer malt concentrate:
Dry powdered extract is packaged in bags. It is prepared by drying an aqueous extract from malt wort on special sprayers;

“Condensed” beer wort is supplied to consumers in metal cans. The production of various concentrates has been established to produce many types and varieties of beer. There are hopped and unhopped extracts.

Unhopped extract is sometimes used as a sugar substitute. This significantly improves the quality of home-made beer: the drink has a deeper taste, aroma, and dense, stable foam.

By adding different types of extracts you can get different types of intoxicating drink:
from light - Pilsner, Lager;
from dark - Stout, Porter;
from wheat - types of wheat beer;
from amber - ale and bitter.

Sellers of home brewing kits usually include packages of brewer's yeast with malt concentrate.

Homemade beer from malt concentrate
Each manufacturer accompanies its product with detailed instructions. The process begins with fermentation of the wort. In a fermentation tank, mix the malt extract with water and sugar syrup and adjust the density. To determine it, use a hydrometer. The temperature is set in the range of 18-25? C and yeast is introduced.

The fermentation process in bottles continues in a dark room for about a week. The final stage - ripening - occurs at low temperatures of 4-10? C for about 14 days, and preferably 3 weeks.

Malt beer concentrate is the raw material for obtaining a high-quality drink. However, for large production, preparing beer using this method will be much more expensive than beer brewed using traditional technology from water, malt and hops. Therefore, the main consumers of the extract are small breweries and home craftsmen.

Tips for home cooking beer:

Carefully monitor the cleanliness of the fermentation container and other utensils. The ingress of foreign microflora can spoil the drink;

It is better to replace sugar with glucose. This will improve the taste and reduce the yeasty smell;

Exceeding the norm of sugar and t? fermentation gives beer the smell of mash;

It is advisable to stand tap water, or better filter it;

Unhopped malt extracts used as an additive in baking rye bread. They are also an excellent raw material for the production of vigorous foamy homemade kvass with a bready smell;

A stock of beer wort concentrates purchased in large packaging can be packaged in portions and stored in the freezer;

When exposing the drink to ripening, the bottles must be marked, indicating the bottling date and variety. A brewer who respects his work will eventually acquire his own labels;

Sunlight is harmful to beer. It should be kept in a dark place;

The best containers for storing drinks are dark ones. glass bottles. Plastic and PET bottles can also be used, but they must be strong enough to withstand the pressure of carbon dioxide.

Signs of beer contamination by foreign microflora:
white film on the surface;

Unpleasant odor;

Weak foam resistance.

Having started making beer from malt concentrate, home handyman will probably want to leave the ranks of “lazy” brewers, go further and master traditional preparation grain beer.

Remembering life in the USSR, many fondly remember that the quality of food and drinks at that time was consistently high, and their cost was quite affordable and acceptable for most buyers. The same fact applies to beer, which differed pleasant taste, moderate bitterness and sharp aftertaste. Today, few manufacturers can boast that their products are exactly like this in terms of their quality characteristics and properties. Domestic consumers focus their choice on products from foreign manufacturers, which, in their opinion, stand out from the general assortment with higher quality.

One of the common opinions that many people refer to when discussing the deterioration in the quality of beer is that beer is made from powder, not natural ingredients, which explains its low properties and characteristics.

Is beer actually made from powder? What persistent myths exist regarding this?

What is powder beer and does it exist?

Beer powder, which is used to make the drink, does exist. But to think that to make beer you just need to dilute it with water would be a big mistake. To understand the essence of powder for making beer, you need to remember the main stages of the technology for preparing a natural foamy drink.

During the preparation of beer, the sprouted grains are crushed, then ground and soaked in water so that the starch contained in the malt is effectively processed by its own enzymes. After this, the drink is filtered, boiled and hops are added. The wort is cooled, after which yeast is added to it and after a certain period of time, when the drink is infused, real beer is born. These are the main steps that the technology of making quality beer includes.

What is powder for making beer? This powder is a concentrate of beer wort, and its production does not involve any complex chemical processes, but the same steps of beer production and malt production. Only in this case, the prepared malt is placed in a special sublimation chamber. When making beer from powder, the manufacturing process proceeds in the same way as in the case of natural drink, only time is no longer wasted on making the wort, because the finished powder plays its role.

Large breweries and manufacturers famous brands and beer brands do not use powder to make the drink. This greatly increases the cost of the intoxicating drink, so making beer from powder is simply not profitable from a profit standpoint.

Today, any buyer can be sure that the beer he bought, no matter how cheap or low quality it may be, is made not from powder, but from natural ingredients, using modern technologies and equipment. The only producers of powder beer may be home users who make beer in small quantities for themselves or their close friends. The quality of such beer also differs in its individual properties and rarely can anyone distinguish it from natural products purchased in a store.

Where to buy and try powdered beer?

If beer made from powder cannot be bought in a regular store, then as an ordinary consumer you can try it to understand whether it differs from the original product or is a cheap surrogate. In addition to the fact that some companies and online stores offer to buy beer powder itself to prepare the drink at home, there are places where you will most likely be offered this particular type of beer.

These places are often bars, restaurants or similar establishments that sell beer on tap. Many beer lovers who regularly visit such establishments note the rather high cost of such beer, although its taste and aromatic properties are also quite high. As mentioned above, making beer in large volumes of beer powder is not profitable for most producers. But selling it on tap is a convenient opportunity to sell it in small volumes at a high price.

Therefore, if your circle of friends does not include any home brewers, then you can try powdered beer in other places, although most often sellers and distributors are afraid to admit that they sell such products, thinking that it is a fake or a surrogate .

There are many myths regarding powdered beer, many of which consumers sincerely believe. What myths are we talking about? Do they all have the right to exist?

Myths about powdered beer

Most consumers are confident that the vast majority of beer presented on store shelves is made from powder. In this regard, it is worth paying attention to some common misconceptions in order to have the right view of the production of a foamy drink and its features.

Myth No. 1. Beer is made from powder to reduce the cost of production. Although this myth has existed for quite a long time, industrial beer production involves the use natural products and ingredients, because only in this way the manufacturing process becomes cheaper. Buying beer powder is a huge expense that does not pay off when selling beer in huge quantities. Another important point- this is the need to add alcohol when beer is prepared from powder. At the production level, this is prohibited technical regulations production, and the purchase of alcohol also involves additional costs and expenses.
Myth No. 2. The long shelf life of beer is due to the use of powder in the preparation. During natural fermentation, quite powerful and effective preservatives are formed in beer, so if the beer is prepared correctly and competently, bottled and sent for further fermentation, then it can stand at room temperature whole year without losing its qualities. And the filtration and pasteurization processes that are used in production during the production of beer also saturate the drink with natural preservatives, thanks to which it can be stored for a long time and effectively.
Myth No. 3. Making beer from powder simplifies the delivery of ingredients to businesses and breweries. In order for beer to be made from powder in huge volumes of export and import, the powder for preparation must be made by entire industries that work closely with beer manufacturing plants. Today no one can say where such enterprises are located or whether they exist at all. Therefore, natural ingredients are reasonable and cost-effective raw materials for the production of quality beer.

Powder beer is original drink, which differs from similar products that do not contain any natural ingredients. Preparing it at home can be an interesting and enjoyable process, which will result in the appearance of a high-quality and refreshing drink on the table.