BrewDog: Craft Beer for the People by Richard Taylor & James Watt & Martin Dickie

Author:Richard Taylor & James Watt & Martin Dickie [Taylor, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Octopus
Published: 2017-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

BREW IN A BAG

Having said that, there is another halfway house. Home-brewing is changing year on year – back in the day, the dividing line was between buying malt extract to heat up and serve or doing everything yourself (including your own welding and electrics). Now, though, there are other options for those just beginning their journey along the winding path to home-brew glory – and one of the more recent arrivals on the scene is the concept of “brew in a bag” beer making.

This is exactly what it sounds like: the great leap in DIY (do-it-yourself) brewing technology is a muslin sack. But what it means is that you need fewer pieces of kit, there are fewer steps in the process and you have a decent beer at the end of the operation. The major difference is that the mash and boil stages are undertaken in the same stovetop vessel, so you don’t need a separate mash tun. This is to brewing what one-pot cooking is to the culinary world – it really is that simple.

All you need to do is heat the liquor in your pot to the correct temperature and drop the grains inside within the bag, so they sink into the hot water but can’t escape. Once you’ve completed the mash you don’t need to run off the wort – you simply pull the bag out instead. Then you’ve got a pot of wort sitting right in front of you, ready to be boiled. Heat up, add your hops, then cool and transfer for pitching the yeast. Easy!

Of course, there are negatives to this method – since you’re not sparging on the fly, every drop of water used to mash in will be used for the boil (unlike pro brewers, who typically add more water at the start). So the efficiency of your brew-day will have to be monitored carefully and can vary greatly. Also the more obvious drawback is that you are limited in size based on what you can fit in the bag, whether the bag can fit in the pot and how heavy a load you can lift out (removing the wet bag is a hefty proposition).

But Brew in a Bag is actually a pretty faithful first step for those wanting to have a go at home-brewing – it’s much more akin to the real thing than using extract, that’s for sure. With less gear required it works out cheaper too; all you need is to be able to wash the bag afterward and you can go again. It allows you to experiment and add whatever you like to the mash, or boil, and as long as you don’t let the bag stick to the inside of the pot and melt, it’s pretty easy to clean up when you’re done.

Most home-brew shops and online retailers sell everything you might need to make a start – including the all-important bags – but you can put them together yourself, if you have a material that’s along the lines of a mosquito net.

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