gabs_official_guide_2015

BROUGHT TO YOU BY
THE GREAT HOP
PILGRIMAGE
INGREDIENTS OF BEER
So what makes beer, beer? Very simply beer is made from four basic
ingredients; hops, malt, water and yeast.
1. HOPS
Hops, formally known as
Humulus Lupulus, are
vine-like plants that act as
the seasoning (balancing malt
sweetness) for beer and
deliver bitterness, aroma and
flavour. During the annual hop
harvest, hop flowers are picked off the vine, dried and
then used in the brewing process. The intensity of the
bitterness to the beer depends on when the hops are
added in the brew cycle and the amount used. Added
early they will increase the bitterness but decrease the
aroma, added later will have the opposite effect.
Little Creatures sources a seasonal range of
specialty hops from the US, Victoria, Tasmania and
New Zealand to achieve a variety of unique aromatic
and bittering characters in its beers. So dedicated
to sourcing the freshest, highest quality whole hop
cones, Little Creatures set up a customs port at
Fremantle Harbour to receive these beauties direct
and throw them straight into their beer.
To get the most out of these precious hops, Little
Creatures installed a hopback, which is like an
enormous hop tea bag that elicits delicious flavours
and aromas into their beer. Little Creatures and White
Rabbit are the only breweries in Australia to have
this special piece of equipment… and they make the
most of it.
Little Creatures also takes yearly pilgrimages to the
States to select the best and freshest hops from the
northern hemisphere harvest. Check out brewer Dan’s
hop pilgrimage tour notes on the right.
2. MALT
Malting is the partial
germination and kilning of a
grain, most commonly barley
and in some cases wheat,
rye, or other grains. Malt
starch is converted into
soluble sugar during the brewing process – producing
aqueous malt extract or wort. This wort fuels the
fermentation process, giving malt its nickname; “the
engine room of beer”.
Malt gives different flavour, colour and body to the
beer depending on the style of malt used. The length,
moisture content and degree of roasting (temperature)
determine the colour of a beer.
Little Creatures quite often mixes different malts
and sources specialty malts to obtain varying degrees
of colour and flavour. Malt derived proteins also
contribute to the formation of the head when you
pour a beer.
3. WATER
Water, by volume, is the main
ingredient in beer. Little
Creatures uses local tap
water that then goes through
a serious filtration process to strip the water right
back. They then add stylised salt additions
depending on the beer style they’re using it for;
keeping in mind the salt profile can greatly affect the
perceived flavour of a beer.
4. YEAST
Yeast is a single-celled
organism that consumes
simple sugars and converts
them into alcohol and CO 2 .
This unicellular fungus is the essential ingredient in
order for the beer to go through a fermentation
process and turn the hopped wort (the hoppy,
sugary liquid extracted from the brewing process)
into beer. Brewers’ yeast can be roughly segmented
into two groups, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a top
fermenting yeast, which works at warmer
temperatures creating ales, and Saccharomyces
uvarum, a bottom fermenting yeast, which works at
lower temperatures, for lager beers. Different types
of yeast can also affect the flavour of beer, either by
accentuating the existing flavour or by adding spicy,
fruity tones.
Ever wondered where the team at Little
Creatures source their hops?
Back in September, brewer Dan headed
off for his annual trip to the USA. This is
his story…
"Every year we buy some of our hops from
the USA. They are grown in the Yakima
Valley and Willamette Valley where the
climate is ideal for hop growing.
There are hundreds of farmers growing
hundreds of different varieties of
hops. With any farming or raw material
production there can be factors that
influence the quality of a farmer’s crop.
Therefore you have some farmers with
sensational hops and some with poor
crops... and everything in between.
Many brewers around the world descend
on the Valleys. In essence, breweries have a
hop contract with the supplier, and you let
them know when you’re coming to choose
your hops. They set up the selection process
and you select the best hops you can.
There are also lots of breweries that send a
selector, however some don’t send anyone
and they get what they are given. Little
Creatures is all about making the best
beer we can, so we try to get the best hops
available and that’s why we will always
send someone to make that choice.
What’s important to remember is that
if you are given or you select inferior
hops you have to use them until the next
season, so you need to be obsessively
critical in order to ensure you’ve secured
your fair share of gold... greeny yellowish
aromatic gold that is."
12 THE GREAT AUSTRALASIAN BEER SPECTAPULAR 2015 gabsfestival.com.au