Coming To Terms

Ale - From the Norse "oel" Fermented at a higher temperature than lager, it has a higher alcohol content, tends to be more full?bodied, and have more bitterness. Primarily English. At one time most beers were ales.

Barley - The only grain ever used by brewing purists. The barley of preference - two-row barley - is more flavorful and more expensive than six-row barley.

Beer - Any fermented drink made from malted barley or other grains, plus hops, yeast and water.

Bock - Bock beer can be gold, copper, brown, or black. Inherently, Bock beers have an alcohol content of at least 8-10% and a correspondingly assertive malt character. A higher than average hopping rate is used to balance the malt content.

Bottom Fermenting Yeast - "Lager" yeasts, work well in low temperatures and produce a cleaner, crisper product. The yeast ferments more sugars and then settle to the bottom of the vessel.

Fermentation - The process whereby yeast converts sugar present in malt into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Hops - One of the four main ingredients in beer. Hops are flowers from the same family as the cannibas that serve as natural preservatives and bittering agents when added to wort. The early addition of hops is for bitterness and the late addition is for aroma.

Malt - Barley steeped in water until enzyme action converts its starches into sugars. Then dried and/or roasted to varying degrees.

Pilsner - Originated in 1842 in the town of Pilsen, Czechoslovakia (in Bohemia), these beers are light to amber in color and very well hopped. The aroma is floral, and the beer is medium in body.

Reinheitsgehott - The 1516 Bavarian Purity Law that states beer can only be made with water, hops and barley. This was later amended to include wheat. Yeast is not considered an ingredient but an agent.

Top-Fermenting Yeast - These yeasts work better at warm temperatures. Since these yeasts are unable to ferment some sugars, they generally yield a fruity, sweeter beer.

Wort - Unfermented beer in its early stages. This sweet liquid is made from the combination of heating the malt with water and hops.