Exam by Alberto G. on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Changes to Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.2

Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.2 is dated November 20, 2017.

There were minor formatting changes throughout, plus two key changes you need to know.

Minor formatting changes throughout

Imperial measurements in the syllabus now also have metric equivalents shown in parenthesis.

It’s kind of weird. Here in the U.S., we’re the global odd ones out with the Imperial system, but it is the nationwide standard. Now that the Cicerone® Certification Program has syllabus for several countries, I don’t see much need for the USA syllabus to show the metric measurements.

Currently, the Cicerone website has versions for:

• USA: English
• Canada: English
• Australia: English
• International: English
• Internacional: Español

With Certified Beer Server becoming more popular outside of the USA, and Beer Exam School accessible worldwide, I also updated the study lessons on the website to include metric measurements in parenthesis.

Please let me know if you see something that I missed. Just make a comment below this post and I’ll get it updated for the peeps on the metric system.

Using a glass washing machine

Instructions were added for using a glass washing machine.

For when your employer doesn’t use the 3-sink method for getting the glasses to beer clean, but they have a glass washing machine dedicated to the task.

Pouring a beer from tap on nitro

Instructions were added for pouring a beer from tap on nitro.

It’s very similar to pouring a beer from tap on CO2, but there’re are a couple key steps that are required by the super sudsiness of those creamy beers we love on nitro.

One beer style added

The Cicerone® Certification Program has stated that the beer styles in their syllabus reference the BJCP Guidelines rather than the Brewers Association’s because BJCP Guidelines don’t change very often. BJCP is still operating from their 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines. So there’s not a lot of updates to this section of the Certified Beer Server Syllabus.

However, one new style was added: International Pale Lager. The style is basically a copy of the widely popular, American Pale Lager.

What you need to know:

So that’s it! That’s all of the changes to the Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.2. Thankfully, it was not a whole lot this time.

After 10 years of conducting exams, I guess the Cicerone® Certification Program is still honing their syllabi. I don’t see much other need for changing the Certified Beer Server syllabus as often as they do. I mean glass washing machines have been around a while, beer on nitro has been around a while, although it is getting more popular. The Cicerone Certification Program isn’t a program of lifelong learning, they don’t require continuing education credits for keeping your status. But I guess it’s good that they keep up with the latest in the industry.

I already updated my study notes and flashcards on this website to reflect these changes. So if you haven’t already started studying for the Certified Beer Server exam, now’s your chance!

Use my free study notes and flashcards on this website for the best way to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time! Get going and let me know when you pass.

Join Beer Exam School

Study along with my notes–pass this exam!

Sign up for the email list:   Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

The post What was changed in Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.2? appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Exam by Alberto G. on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The Certified Beer Server Syllabus is rarely updated

I started gathering my study materials for the exam in October 2014. The latest version of the syllabus was 2.0, dated June 1, 2013.

The Cicerone® Certification Program had stated that the beer styles in their syllabus reference the BJCP Guidelines rather than the Brewers Association’s because BJCP Guidelines don’t change very often. Well, BJCP released new style guidelines in 2015. So Cicerone updated their syllabi. Here are the changes to Certified Beer Server Syllabus.

Changes to Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.0

Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.0 is dated July 1, 2015. It hadn’t been changed in a while, so this was a major overhaul.

Programmatic changes

In August 2015, Cicerone® Certification Program announced that it would add a fourth level to the program: Advanced Cicerone^TM. The highest level was too hard, so they added another level for people who want to go beyond Certified Cicerone®, but perhaps not all the way to Master Cicerone®.

“While we have seen tremendous demand for the Master Cicerone® exam, the additional degree of knowledge and skill required to pass is too great for the vast majority of candidates to achieve,” says Ray Daniels, Founder and Director of the Cicerone® Certification Program. In fact, in the prior two years only 3 individuals have passed out of 46 attempts. “The new exam level gives serious beer professionals recognition for additional learning and skill development beyond the Certified Cicerone® level.”

Minor changes throughout

Storage for bottled beer is specified at 43° F unless otherwise stated for a specific style.

“Lift off” caps are now referred to as “pry-off” caps.

Basic grammatical corrections and organizational changes were made as in listing the steps to remove a wire cage and cork.

Qualitative style parameters now includes “appearance.”

The following changes were made to quantitative ABV ranges:

Lower <4.4% is now <4.5%

Normal 4.4% – 5.9% is now 4.5% – 6.0%

Elevated 6.0% – 7.4% is now 6.1% – 7.5%

High 7.5% – 9.9% is now 7.6% – 10.0%

Very high remains >10.0%

Acid flavor was removed from the syllabus. Previously, it was mentioned with sour. Two of the merging flavors, Carbonic and Metallic, were also removed. But I kept them in the study guide.

Aroma evaluation techniques were elaborated to include:

• Distant sniff
• Short sniff
• Long sniff
• Covered sniff

Traditional traits of regional hops were changed as follows:

• American hops added tropical fruit and catty.
• German/Czech hops no longer have woodsy characteristics.

Beer styles renamed

Several beer styles were renamed to match BJCP Guidelines.

The following beers were deleted:

• Munich Dunkel
• English Mild
• Scottish ale(s)

The following beers were added:

• Munich Helles
• Berliner Weisse
• American Barleywine

And:

American Lager was simplified from “Light, Standard, Premium” to simply “American Light Lager.”

Beer styles reorganized

The beer styles were also reorganized:

• The order of the countries was changed.
• American beers were previously subcategorized as just “historic” and “modern.” Now they’re broken into better subcategories that reflect the beer styles.
• German Bocks subcategory was added.
• “Spontaneously ferments” is now called “Lambic Beers” (Belgium/France).
• “Farmhouse beers” is now called “Unique beers” (Belgium/France).
• “Other Belgian beer” is now called “Pale Belgian beers.”
• Oatmeal Stout moved from America to England. We’ll miss you.
• Porter moved from England to America, and is no longer robust. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Changes to Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.1

Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.1 is dated September 1, 2016.

There were fewer changes than the last time.

Minor changes throughout

Basic grammatical corrections, such as to “engage” the keg coupler is now described as to “lock” the coupler.

Some organizational changes were made, as in outlining the different way to pour bottled beer with yeast or without yeast.

What you need to know:

So that’s it! That’s all of the changes to the Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.x. Much of it minor details not even worth mentioning. But I did anyway.

For the more important changes, I already updated my study notes and flashcards on this website. So if you haven’t already started studying for the Certified Beer Server exam, now’s your chance!

Use my free study notes and flashcards on this website for the best way to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time! Get going and let me know when you pass.

Join Beer Exam School

Study along with my notes–pass this exam!

Sign up for the email list:   Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

The post What was changed in Certified Beer Server Syllabus v3.x? appeared first on Beer Exam School.

You may know me as the host of MicroBrewr Podcast. MicroBrewr Podcast has over 85 episodes of interviews with brewers, brewery owners, and other experts in the craft beer industry. It’s all about how to start a brewery. So we find out their biggest mistakes, their best ideas, and any other insight that they have from actually being on the ground starting a brewery. It’s the lessons learned, to try and pursue our dreams doing the same thing.

A friend of mine in the alcoholic beverage industry said, “You know, you should really consider the Cicerone^® Certification Program and get at least the first level, Certified Beer Server, on your resume.” So I started studying for the Certified Beer Server exam, and I kept all of my notes on Beer Exam School.

And now I am a Certified Beer Server from Cicerone^® Certification Program. So that’s what this post is about.

We are going to cover a little bit about:

1. What is a Cicerone and the Cicerone® Certification Program
2. How to use Beer Exam School
3. How to pass the Certified Beer Server exam the first time
4. How to enroll in Beer Exam School

What is a Cicerone and the Cicerone® Certification Program

So what is a Cicerone? A Cicerone is somebody who has been certified by the independent agency, the Cicerone^® Certification Program, to verify that your professional beer serving knowledge and expertise is top notch. So there are 4 levels.

The first level of the Cicerone^® Certification Program is a Certified Beer Server. The second level is the one that’s pretty popular, a lot of people are talking about that, it’s the Certified Cicerone^®. Maybe you aren’t fully up to going to the Master Cicerone^® level. There are a few people who have passed the exam. Lots of people tried, many have failed. It’s really tough. So they created this sort of in between, Advanced Cicerone^TM to take your Certified Cicerone^® skills and knowledge and expertise up a notch before you’re ready for the full on Master Cicerone^® level.

So I wanted to do just the Certified Beer Server exam so that I could expand my knowledge in craft beer and have the certificate to put on my resume. Some reasons other people like to do it are for bragging rights. Just to say, “I am a Certified Beer Server.” And some people just take the exam without studying. I’ve heard of people taking the exam and passing it having a beer or two during the course of taking this online exam. Which is online, so you could take it from anywhere in the world, anybody can do it. And if you just want to pass, maybe you know enough about craft beer so you could do that. You get two tries, so you may as well give it a try if you want to.

But if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge and really learning from the experience, that’s more what I was trying to do and that’s what Beer Exam School is really catered towards.

And some people want to do it just for community. They want to see their name up on the Cicerone^® Certification Program website next to the other Certified Beer Servers and know that they are in good company.

So if you want to be a Certified Beer Server, like I wanted to do, if you want to really learn the material, really gain working knowledge about beer and beer service, then I think Beer Exam School is right for you.

How to use Beer Exam School

So let’s talk about how to use Beer Exam School and go into the website a little bit. You can use any of your favorite web browsers. It’s at beerexamschool.com.

I usually have the latest post up here on the homepage. When the latest posts are published on the blog, you could use this section to go directly to the latest post. But if you’re studying for the Certified Beer Server exam, you might notice that these 5 buttons at the top look familiar.

These are the 5 parts of the Certified Beer Server syllabus:

1. Keeping and serving beer
2. Beer styles
3. Beer flavor and evaluation
4. Beer ingredients and brewing processes
5. Pairing beer with food

So if you’re studying along with the syllabus already and you just want to jump to one of the sections, this might be an easy way to do it. But what I always recommend is to just come up to the top menu for other options. Under the “About” menu, you can learn a little bit more about Beer Exam School, or about the Certified Beer Server, and about the Cicerone^® Certification Program in general.

And if you’re studying to pass the Certified Beer Server exam, I recommend coming here, click on “About Certified Beer Server.” There’s a little bit about the certification. Also under this section there is a table of contents, which matches my study notes exactly. I studied along exactly following the Certified Beer Server syllabus. So you’ll see the 5 parts shown above, and the sections beneath each part. So this is an easy way to jump straight to one of the parts that you’re studying on. Or if you want to go back and brush up on something that you read earlier, or look up some fact you already learned to brush up on your knowledge, you can just get right into those sections.

So let’s say you click on Part 2, Style parameters. This is lesson number 12, out of 20 lessons in Beer Exam School. You can read all of my research that I did on this, based on the reading materials that they suggested in the syllabus. And sometimes I read some additional materials when I couldn’t find answers there and I had to look in some other places. I condensed it to what I think are the most important things to pass the Certified Beer Server exam, to learn what they want you to learn, and to get the most out of this experience.

Now at the bottom of each section there are flashcards that I used. This is the meat, really. I got the most out of the flashcards. What I did was, I reviewed my notes, and then I concentrated on the flashcards. So these are the exact flashcards that I used. You could write down what I wrote on the front and on the back of each card. The bold text is the question that I wrote on the front of each card. The normal font is the answer that I wrote on the back of the card. So there are all of the flashcards I used below each lesson.

All the way at the bottom of each post, you could use the left and right buttons to go back to the previous lesson or go on to the next lesson, and keep studying this way.

So those are two ways to go through all of the study lessons and get the most out of Beer Exam School.

If you want to check out some of the other general posts, you go to the top menu and click “Latest Posts,” to go to the blog section. For example, after I passed the exam I made a post on, 3 thoughts on passing the Certified Beer Server exam. Read that if you want to celebrate with me when you finish passing your exam, please make a comment on the bottom, I really want to hear about your experience and hear whether my notes helped you. If you haven’t yet taken the Certified Beer Server exam, if you’re still curious about it, the blog has an FAQ, frequently asked questions about the Certified Beer Server exam and the certification. So the Latest Posts section is where general blog posts will show up.

The Resources link has some study resources that are listed in the syllabus. Check out these resources directly if you want to. If you feel like my notes are kind of lacking, feel free to go through the resources section to dig in deeper. I wanted to be completely transparent and let you know exactly where the information is coming from. So I listed it all there. You can see there are a lot of materials that I used. If you want to just use a condensed version, go through my notes. That will be much easier. I don’t think you’re going to miss out on the most important parts for passing the Certified Beer Server exam.

Some of the links on the Resources page and some other links throughout the website are affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links I could get a small commission on the sale. It won’t affect your purchase price, and I’ll get a little kickback.

If you ever want to contact me to let me know how your experience was, that you passed the Certified Beer Server exam, that would be great, I would love to hear from you. So click the Contact button at the top.

There’s a link to MicroBrewr Podcast in case you want to check that out.

And that’s about it for the website.

How to pass the Certified Beer Server exam the first time

So now let’s talk about how to pass the Certified Beer Server exam the first time. The Cicerone^® Certification Program will let you take the exam up to twice, if you don’t pass it the first time.

I want you to pass it the first time. No need stressing out about this stuff, so checkout Beer Exam School. I showed you the table of contents. There are 20 lessons that I want you to go through, that cover each section of the syllabus. Altogether, there are 231 flashcards with 43 flashcards about the beer styles 227 flashcards, including 39 flashcards about the beer styles. The beer style flashcards are pretty data heavy.

If I were doing it again, I would actually start with the beer style flashcards first.

So what I recommend for you to pass the Certified Beer Server exam the first time, is to start with the beer style flashcards. You can download those from the website, or you can write them out by hand yourself, they’re right below the study notes that are provided. And start studying the beer styles in the beginning before you go through any of the study lessons for the other sections.

Then start off with lesson one and do one lesson per day. So after each lesson you can find the flashcards to write out yourself, or you can print them out from the PDF that I provide on the website. So start your flashcards for that day and after that, study the beer style flashcards again.

So day 2 comes along and you study lesson number 2 for the day, do your flashcards again, and do the beer style flashcards again.

Every day, do the beer style flashcards. Do the beer style flashcards as often as you can.

I designed the PDF to print out on business-card sized cards. I really wanted to do them on index-sized cards, but turn it into a PDF in a way that you can print out at home. They don’t make a sheet of index cards for your printer at home, so I formatted the PDF so you can print them out on to the pre-perforated business card sheets. And the flashcards fit right in your pocket. So I you can just take those with you anywhere. While I was at the laundromat waiting, I would pull those out, check out the beer styles. When I was in line at the grocery store, I’d pull out my flashcards and brush up on that stuff.

So go through each lesson each day and the flashcards for each day, and review your beer styles every day. Because there are more than 40 beers styles and there is not one standard exam for the Certified Beer Server exam. So you don’t know what questions they will ask about what beer style, which parameter they’ll ask about. So you kind of have to have a pretty good feel for most of the information. You don’t need to memorize every single point, but if you’re reviewing them every day for 20 days, you’ll know the information pretty well.

And at the end of that 20 study lessons, maybe you just want to take a few more days to review all of your flashcards, run through them a couple more times casually over the next couple of days, go through a couple of sets a day or something like that. Then you will be golden, you’re going to be rocking! You will pass and the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time!

If you don’t, I’m gonna be sad. I want to hear about it, so let me know what we can do to improve.

How to enroll in Beer Exam School

So something I didn’t cover is how to “enroll” in Beer Exam School. When you’re on the Beer Exam School website, over on the right hand side is this picture, “free flashcards and study notes from the Certified Beer Server exam, instant access.” Click on that button, and there’s some other buttons throughout the website.

When you get to the form, put in your information. I just want to know your name and email address, the other information is optional if you just want to tell me a little bit more about yourself. Then click “Sign me up.”

And you’re also going to get a set of flashcards. You’re not going to get all of them, it’s a little teaser. Those are the flashcards that you can print out from the PDF that comes straight to your email inbox. And you’re going to be on the email list, so you will also know when posts are released. You’re going to know when new posts are published on the website, if I have some other news about Beer Exam School or the Cicerone^® Certification Program, and it’s just a good way to keep in touch. So those are some good reasons to sign up on the email list.

Conclusion

What will you apply today? If you’ve been thinking about the Certified Beer Server for awhile, but you haven’t done it, do it today! Join Beer Exam School, get on the email list, learn how to start studying for the Certified Beer Server exam and you’ll be passing it in no time!

Then send me an email or post a comment on the website and let me know that you passed the exam. I want to hear about it. I want to hear when you get your lapel pin in the mail and your certificate, I want to be excited for you. I want to know how these study notes worked out for you.

So I’m really stoked that you made it this far, really excited that you’re interested in becoming a Certified Beer Server and expanding your knowledge in beer, getting to know more about this awesome thing that we love called beer, and expanding your professional experience, knowledge, and expertise to bring excellent beer service to more people.

Talk to you soon!

Join Beer Exam School

Study along with my notes–pass this exam!

Sign up for the email list:   Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

The post Beer Exam School welcome tour appeared first on Beer Exam School.

What is the Certified Beer Server exam?

The Certified Beer Server exam is the way the Cicerone® Certification Program tests knowledge and expertise for excellent beer service. A person who passes the exam is called a Certified Beer Server.

What is a Certified Beer Sever?

A Certified Beer Server is someone who has been certified as having excellent knowledge and expertise in beer service.

Who administers Certified Beer Server exam?

The Cicerone® Certification Program administers the Certified Beer Server exam on their website: cicerone.org.

Where do I go to take the Certified Beer Server exam?

The Certified Beer Server exam is administered online at: cicerone.org.

Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

How much does it cost to take the Certified Beer Server exam?

It costs $69 to take the Certified Beer Server exam.

How many tries do I get to pass the Certified Beer Server exam?

You get 2 attempts to pass the Certified Beer Server exam. If you don’t pass it on the second try, you can pay again. So be sure to use all my free study notes and flashcards on this website to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time.

How many questions are on the Certified Beer Server exam?

The Certified Beer Server exam is a 60 question, multiple choice exam.

What is the time limit on taking the Certified Beer Server exam?

You’ll have 30 minutes to get through all 60 questions in the Certified Beer Server exam. So there’s no time to look up answers or use any other resources. You’re not allowed to, anyway. So study hard and pass the first time.

What do I get after passing the Certified Beer Server exam?

After you pass the Certified Beer Server exam, you’ll be able to call yourself a Certified Beer Server and put it on your resume. The Cicerone® Certification Program will email mail you a certificate that you can print and they will mail a lapel pin to wear with pride. They’ll also publish your name on their website, so any prospective employer can verify that you are a Certified Beer Server.

Who should take the Certified Beer Server exam?

The Certified Beer Server exam is helpful for anyone who wants a job in craft beer or anywhere in the alcoholic beverage industry. It is also good if you want to learn more about craft beer or if you just want bragging rights!

Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

Why would I want to take the Certified Beer Server exam?

More and more breweries, distributors, and even retail outlets are requiring their staff to become Certified Beer Servers. Having this certification will help you get that job you want in craft beer or anywhere in the alcoholic beverage industry.

After taking the Certified Beer Server exam, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. You will know more about the history of beer, how to savor a beer, craft beers from the world, and how to provide excellent beer service.

What’s the easiest and best way to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam on the first try?

Use my free study notes and flashcards on this website for the easiest and best way to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time!

Start with the table of contents here.

Join Beer Exam School

Study along with my notes–pass this exam!

Sign up for the email list:   Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

The post Certified Beer Server FAQ appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Graduation by Mark Ramsay on flickr (CC BY 2.0) has been modified from it’s original state

First: I passed the Certified Beer Server exam!

I hadn’t worked so long and hard at anything since college!

Okay, I’m not saying the exam itself is that hard. It’s just a 60 question, multiple choice exam online. But I wasn’t just studying to pass the exam itself.

I wanted to actually learn from the experience, gain some working knowledge, and make myself more valuable in the alcoholic beverage industry.

Plus, I was recording all my notes and flashcards, and publishing them on this site for you to use so you can also pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam, too.

Turns out, building up a webpage from scratch is a lot more involved that it seems.

Second: I passed the Certified Beer Server exam!!

And I aced it, too!! I scored 54 out of 60. Which I have mixed feelings about.

After I passed the exam, Cicerone® Certification Program emailed me a Certified Beer Server certificate.

On one hand, I studied for more than a year. (My first study notes were published October 9, 2014. And I took the exam January 3, 2016.) So I kind of felt that I should have gotten a hundred percent!

On the other hand, it really validated that I needed to study hard for the exam. By the time I had gotten to 20 lessons of study notes and over 200 flashcards, I was worried that I might have been over studying. Especially because I’ve heard of people taking the exam over a couple of beers (there’s a 30 minute time limit) and passing without studying at all. I even worried that this whole Beer Exam School website was pointless, maybe nobody needs any help passing the Certified Beer Server exam. :,(

But after all that effort, I still didn’t completely ace the exam one hundred percent.

I’m glad I did study. I’m glad I studied as hard as I did. I’m glad I put together all my notes on this website to help you pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam, too!

90% is pretty good.

Third: I passed the Certified Beer Server exam!!!

After I passed the exam, Cicerone® Certification Program mailed me a Certified Beer Server lapel pin.

I added it to my resume. I know a lot more than I did about beers from around the world, and about excellent beer service.

More and more breweries, distributors, and even retail outlets are requiring their staff to become Certified Beer Servers.

Having this certification will help you get that job you want in craft beer or anywhere in the alcoholic beverage industry.

Use my free study notes and flashcards on this website for the best way to pass the heck out of the Certified Beer Server exam the first time! Start with the table of contents here.

Join Beer Exam School

Study along with my notes–pass this exam!

Sign up for the email list:   Enroll me in Beer Exam School!

The post 3 thoughts on passing the Certified Beer Server exam appeared first on Beer Exam School.

As a Certified Beer Server, you will often serve beer to be enjoyed with food. Ultimately, pairing beer with food comes down to personal preference. There are some guidelines that will help you select beer to be paired with any food.

Parkers Blue Ash Tavern Craft Beer Dinner Pairing by 5chw4r7z on flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The syllabus is pretty slim on this topic. In fact, it says just that we “should understand that beer and food work well together, but do not need to possess knowledge of specific beer and food interactions.”

I haven’t come all this way to the very last section, to learn only that “beer and food work well together.” Let’s look at it just a little bit more in-depth. By the end of this very last section, we’ll be able to offer some thoughts to our customers and maybe even suggest some beer and food pairings.

We’ll also be a little better prepared in case you want to go on to Certified Cicerone®.

Beer and food pairing can give some surprising results

When I was first getting into wine I was really curious to see what all this wine and food pairing hubbub was about. Wine is known for going well with food, and I was skeptical that it would be any different than just drinking wine with a meal.

At Thanksgiving dinner, I sat down with a half glass of white wine and a half glass of red wine. I took a bite of turkey, then I took a little sip of white wine. Then I tried the same thing with red wine.

I was blown away to experience how the flavors of the food and the wine change when taken together!

Some of the foods on my plate were better with the white wine, while others were better with the red wine. Some foods were not as good with wine.

Not only that, but the flavors changed in a different way if I reversed the order. If I took the food before the wine, it was a different experience than if I took the wine before the food.

Although the latter was kind of tricky—don’t dribble all over yourself.

And this is just talking about the two wines before me that evening. I had recently returned from a trip to Burgundy, France, so it was probably a Chardonnay and Pinot noir we were drinking. If it were Sauvignon blanc and Zinfandel, it would have been a totally different experience.

Nonetheless, this experience opened my mind to pairing beer and food for equally interesting results.

Beer and food pairing can be tricky

Beer and food pairing can be equally interesting and equally tricky. It’s not as simple as “beer and pizza!”

We already learned of the numerous beer styles and their varied flavor profiles. With so much variety in flavor you can imagine that certain styles of beer go well with certain kinds of food. Certain styles of beer might go well with some foods, but can be amazing with some other kind of food, or not go well at all with another kind of food.

Lets look at two ways to compose your beer and food pairings:

• Complementing pairings
• Contrasting pairings

It’s curious that with wine I more often hear of pairing wine and food that contrast with each other, whereas with beer I more often hear of pairing beer and food that complement each other.

I’m not talking about contrast in a way that they clash. I’m talking about two opposite flavors or characteristics that are even better when mixed together.

Contrasting beer and food pairings

In wine, I more often hear suggested pairings that contrast. This principle can be carried over to beer.

For example, an acidic wine might go well with a fatty food. The acid in the wine cuts the thick, greasiness of the fats in the food.

This contrasting concept doesn’t go well in every way. For example, a wine with an overall light character wouldn’t go well with a food that has a very powerful flavor because it would be overshadowed.

It comes down to always trying new combinations, paying attention to what flavors and sensations go well together, and trying to figure out why you like it.

Examples of contrasting beer and food pairings:

Complementing beer and food pairings

Another way to pair beer with food is to go for similarities.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the vegetables and polenta dish I ordered at Lost & Found in Oakland, California. So I asked the bartender to pick a beer that would go well with it.

He looked off into the distance and thought about it a while.

“I think the Farmer’s Reserve,” he concluded looking back to me, “because the citrus will go well with the vegetables, they have a little sour taste.”

Honestly, I wasn’t really in the mood for Almanac Beer Co. They have a lot of sour beers that are fun to try, but I don’t usually love their beer. Alas, the bartender had given it his best go, I didn’t want to let him down.

So I went with his professional recommendation, and boy was I glad.

It was so good.

The Farmer’s Reserve Citrus had hints of lemon zest, but not overpowering. It didn’t have really bold sour flavors like many of the beers I’ve tried from Almanac. It went really well with the sautéed vegetables which, if I recall correctly, had something fermented or something else that gave it a citrusy, acidic taste.

The bready flavors of the beer also went well with the creamy, cornmeal polenta that came with the vegetables.

On their own, the beer and the food were each good. Together, they were great!

Examples of complementing beer and food pairings:

For more ideas and concepts, in a concise article, I recommend:

Cury, James Oliver. How To Pair Food And Beer. http://www.epicurious.com. Accessed November 22, 2015.

Experiment with beer and food pairings

So this experience at Lost & Found was really eye opening for me.

I was at the point where I was kinda overwhelmed with complementary pairings.

Stout with steak is just too much. Each of them alone feel really full in the mouth and in the belly. They each have flavors that are really bold and overwhelming. Both of them together is just more than I care to enjoy.

But the bartender picked this pairing because he felt the citrus in the beer would be similar to flavors in the vegetables. And it worked really well!

It was also eye opening because I don’t love sour beers, I am still getting used to them. Most of the sour beers that I’ve tried were so overwhelming it seems like it would overpower any food pairing. But Almanac’s Farmer’s Reserve Citrus is mild and it was a great complement to the dish.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it’s up to your own preference—or your customer’s preference.

You can search online for all kinds of tips from every food blogger on earth. I suggest that you look into some guidelines, then be bold enough try all kinds of new things.

I like what Homebrew Academy says:

There really aren’t any rules when pairing food – you like what you like.

I hope you’re now open to enjoying how beer compliments food, and vice versa.

Also, I hope that you’re going to try all different kinds of beer with different foods to see what you like best, and get some more ideas for suggesting beer and food pairings for your customers.

Why write the flashcards by hand? Buy the full set here: Instant access!

The post 020. Pairing beer with food appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Providing excellent beer service is more than pouring a beer, or even helping a customer select the right beer. You must be able to talk intelligently about the product and how it was made. You must know at least a little about beer ingredients and brewing processes.

Aardwolf Brewing Company by amateur photography by michel on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Having the ability to talk about beer ingredients and brewing process will allow you to explain and answer a customer’s questions about why a beer tastes a certain way. You don’t need to be a master brewer, just know enough to have a basic conversation with most of the customers whom you will serve.

Besides the reading material mentioned in the reading list (part 4), the following reading materials were used for this section.

Parkes, Steve and Chris Colby. Adjuncts Explained. https://byo.com. December 2001. Accessed October 19, 2015.

Wikipedia. Yeast. https://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed October 21, 2015.

Stika, Jon. Controlling Fermentation Temperature: Techniques. https://byo.com. December 2001. Accessed November 13, 2015.

Ingredients

In this section we talk about the main ingredients in beer:

• Grains
• Hops
• Yeast
• Water

Some of this was introduced a couple sections back in Identify normal flavors of beer and their source.

Also in this section, we talk a little about the processes of using these ingredients to make beer.

Grains

Mainly grains are used merely for their malt, the malted sugar that will be fermented into alcohol.

But also some unmalted grains are used for brewing beer.

Malt by James Cridland on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Malt

We already discussed some of the basics about malt. Barley is the most common grain used for beer. Its high starch content is easily converted to fermentable sugar and its shells serve as filters. We also touched on the malting process. Review the previous section, Identify normal flavors of beer and their source and read the section titled, “Malt and grain flavors.”

Now let’s look at the malting process in more detail.

Briess Malt and Ingredients Co. has a good article about the 3-steps of making malt:

1. Steeping
2. Germination
3. Drying

Steeping – During the steeping process, the grains are soaked in water for almost 48 hours. Moisture content of the grain increases from about 12-44 percent. The grains, sensing the moisture, begin to sprout.

Enzymes convert proteins and carbohydrates to sugars and amino acids that the plant would use to grow. Little do they know, however, that they will never have a chance to grow into mature plants.

The experienced maltsters can monitor this process and count the percentage of grains that show a visible “chit” peeking out from the shell. When the grain is sufficiently “chitted,” it is passed on to the next step in the malting process.

Germination – Germination is the 4- to 5-day process during which the chit continues to grow, the grains are monitored under controlled humidity and stirred to keep the rootlets from growing together.

During this step, proteins and carbohydrates continue converting into sugars and amino acids while more starch reserves are opened up.

Drying – Lastly, the grains are dried, to kill the germination process.

Normally the grain would use up the precious starch reserves while continuing to grow into a plant, but we want to use those sugars for the beer.

So the grains are heated to 180-190° F (82-88° C) for 2-4 hours.

Different types of malts are made depending on the temperature, length of drying time, and moisture levels. Review the prior post for more about different malt types.

Unmalted grains

Some grains for beer are not malted. They have not gone through the malting process that germinates the grain and starts converting proteins and carbohydrates to sugars and amino acids.

In the earlier lesson, we sort of touched on “adjunct grains” and how they are used more for texture than for flavor.

Brew Your Own has a detailed article, Adjuncts Explained, that, well, explains unmalted grains in more detail.

Unmalted grains don’t have the enzyme that convert starches. Luckily, malted barley has more enzymes than are needed to convert their own starches.

So unmalted “adjunct grains” can be added in lesser quantity with malted barley. The leftover enzymes for malted barley will help convert the starches from the unmalted grains.

Some adjunct grains include:

• Rice
• Corn
• Unmalted barley
• Sorghum
• Unmalted wheat
• Oats
• Rye

Rice and corn can be used to lighten the flavor and color of beer. American Pilsners commonly use rice or corn.

Unmalted barley is sometimes used to reduce costs because it is less expensive than malted barley. It can also improve foam retention.

Sorghum was used by American breweries in the 1940s when other ingredients were limited due to the war. Today, Sorghum is commonly used in Mexican lagers.

Unmalted wheat provides raw grain flavor and cloudy appearance characteristic of Belgian Wheat beers.

Oats give beer a smoothness and increased mouthfeel. Compare a stout to an Oatmeal Stout to get an idea of what the addition of oats can do.

Rye helps a lot with flavor and less with fermentables. Characteristics of rye beer are orange and spicy flavors.

(Source: Parkes, Steve and Chris Colby. Adjuncts Explained. https://byo.com. December 2001. Accessed October 19, 2015.)

Hops

As discussed previously, hops are in the nettle family and are related to marijuana. Only the cone is used, and it’s often called a “flower.” They were first used in beer about a thousand years ago.

Hop umbel by The mad Penguin on flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Hop character in beer

In the basics, we can say that hops are a flower that adds bitter flavors to offset the sweetness from malt. They also add aromas and act as a preservative.

Getting more technical, hops are added to wort to release their alpha acids and beta acids.

Alpha acids have antibiotic properties to act as a preservative. They also add bitter flavors to beer.

Beta acids do not much affect the flavor of beer, but they do add aromas.

There are 2 broad categories for hops:

• Bittering hops
• Aroma hops

Bittering hops have more alpha acids.

Alpha acids are released when hops are boiled in the wort. So bittering hops are added to wort while it is boiling.

Aroma hops, on the other hand, have more beta acids.

Beta acids do not come out during the boil. So aroma hops are added at the end of the boil, in the last 10 minutes or less.

Essential oils from hops can add other flavors besides bitterness. However, the essential oils evaporate during the boil. So if the brewer wants any “hop taste,” she’ll add aroma hops at the end of the boil.

Sometime hops are added to the fermenter. This is called “dry hopping.”

Basic anatomy of hop plant and cone

Hops have separate male and female plants, but only the females produce the cones used in beer.

Hops are a climbing vine that grow quickly. They are trained to grow up strings and can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) tall.

The leaves look a little like grape leaves. The cones look like mini pine cones, but green and the petals of the cone are paper thin. At the base of the petals grow the essential oils and resins that brewers use.

Major growing regions

Although hops grow throughout much of the world, their optimum area for commercial farming is more specific. “Hop production is concentrated in moist temperate climates, with much of the worlds’ production occurring near the 48th parallel north.” (Wikipedia)

Areas with large commercial hop production are:

• Hallertau, Germany
• Yakima, Washington, USA
• Willamette, Oregon, USA
• Canyon County, Idaho, USA
• Kent, UK
• Herefordshire, UK
• Worcestershire, UK

The syllabus lists other well-known hops growing regions:

• Czech Republic
• Australia
• New Zealand

Yeast

Although beer has been made for thousands of years, it was only in 1860 that Louis Pasteur discovered yeast.

Yeast by bill rix on flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Yeast are microscopic, single-cell fungi that “take in simple sugars like glucose and maltose and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol as waste products,” says John Palmer.

Convenient for us, because beer is made with sugary water (wort), and it ends up having alcohol and being carbonated with carbon dioxide. Awesome!

Taxonomy

Yeast is part of the Fungi Kingdom.

There are various sub-species or strains of Brewer’s Yeast for ales and lagers. In fact, as of the time of this writing, Wyeast Laboratories lists 49 different yeast strains for beer. (October 21, 2015)

“Each yeast strain,” writes Wyeast Laboratories, “produces different levels of flavor and aroma compounds as well as alcohol levels even if all conditions are identical.”

Therefore, simply by selecting a specific yeast strain, the brewer has great power to affect the flavor of the beer.

In brewing, we can group yeast into 2 broad categories:

• Ale yeast
• Lager yeast

Ale yeast

Brewer’s Yeast is from the genus Saccharomyces. Its species is cerevisiae.

Brewer’s yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In fact, brewer’s yeast is the same species as common baking yeast. Brewer’s yeast, however, is a different sub-species, or strain, than baking yeast.

These yeast produce esters that create fruity flavors in the beer. Some have a “phenolic off-flavor gene” (POF+) that create clove, nutmeg, and white pepper flavors in beer.

Ale yeasts ferment at warmer temperatures. (Approximately 68-72° F (20-22° C).)

(Source: Stika, Jon. Controlling Fermentation Temperature: Techniques. Brew Your Own. March/April 2009. https://byo.com. Accessed November 10, 2015.)

Lager yeast

Yeast for lager beers are also from the genus Saccharomyces. It’s species is pastorianus. It is also sometimes still called by an outdated name, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

These yeast do not produce esters nor phenols. So lager beers focus more on the malt and the hops character.

Lager yeasts ferment at colder temperatures. (Approximately 45-55° F (7-13° C).)

(Source: Stika, Jon. Controlling Fermentation Temperature: Techniques. Brew Your Own. March/April 2009. https://byo.com. Accessed November 10, 2015.)

Other yeast and bacteria

We previously mentioned a few other yeasts and bacteria that also are used to ferment beer.

Some other yeasts are:

• Brettanomyces
• Pichia
• Candida

Some fermenting bacteria are:

• Lactobacillus
• Pediococcus
• Acetobacteria

Be on guard!

Auto-brewery syndrome is a medical condition wherein a person’s gut is infected by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This intestinal yeast causes fermenting inside the body, resulting in intoxication.

You may think it sounds awesome—until you get charged with drunk driving without even drinking!

Luckily, auto-brewery syndrome is rare and can be treated with oral antifungal medicine.

(Source: Wikipedia. Auto-brewery syndrome. https://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed October 21, 2015.)

Water

Water makes up 90+ percent of the weight of beer

Water makes up about 90 percent of beer by weight and volume.

But it’s not just plain H₂O. In fact, pure water wouldn’t make good beer.

“Many parts of the brewing process require the natural minerals found in water,” according to the Cicerone® Certification Program. “Without these minerals, the biochemistry of brewing and fermentation simply won’t function properly.”

All water contains traces of minerals

Every water source contains minerals.

Minerals in water make it “hard.” Even “soft” water has some minerals. Minerals also give water its flavor.

Some of the minerals in water are:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Sulfur
• Chloride

Modern brewers adjust water chemistry to fit the requirements of the beer they brew.

When we first started talking about beer styles, we touched on the notion that the development of regional beer styles was dictated partly by different water that was available in different regions.

Beer Style Flashcards

When we really dug into the different, specific beer styles, we saw some specific beer styles that were affected by local water

For example:

German Pils is made with Noble German hops whose bitterness is accentuated by sulfates in the water where this style originated.

Munich Dunkel developed partly because of carbonate in the water.

Best Bitter was developed only after brewers learned how to “Burtonize” their water to make it really hard like the water that is found naturally in Burton-On-Trent, England.

According to Cicerone® Certification Program, “this indicates that water minerals have an impact beyond mere chemistry—that they also affect flavor.”

In modern times, brewers can adjust the mineral content of their water based on the style of beer they’re making.

Some breweries even have advanced water filtration systems that strip the water down to nearly pure H₂O. Then they add back exact mineral profiles to mimic the water of a certain locale where the beer style originated.

Brewing Processes

To provide excellent beer service, you’ll need to be able to talk about beer with your customers. As we’ve already learned, ingredients are not the only factor that affect beer flavor, how the ingredients are used also affects the final product.

So we need to understand the basic brewing processes and be able to speak intelligently about it.

The steps described below are not instructions for brewing. Rather, this and other information throughout these study notes will give you enough information to talk somewhat intelligently about the brewing process and how it affect the flavor of beer.

I saw this billboard describing “The Pyramid Brewing Process” as seen at the now-gone brewery in Berkeley on July 5, 2014.

There are 3 steps to the brewing process:

1. Mash
2. Boil
3. Ferment

Mash

The fist step in the brewing process is the mash. Essentially we’re making a “grain tea.” By steeping crushed, malted grain in hot water for about an hour, the starches in the grain are converted to fermentable sugar.

Next, the grain is lautered to remove the liquid wort from the spent grain. The grains have fallen to the bottom of the mash tun and serve as a filter. The wort passes through the grains and is now a clear, sweet liquid, rich in sugars for the yeast to eat.

The grains are sparged, to rinse any remaining sugars into the wort. That means they are sprinkled with clean water, which runs through it and into the wort.

Boil

Now the wort is transferred into the boil kettle where it is heated to a boil for about 60-90 minutes.

Boiling the wort sterilizes it to remove any biological contaminants that would spoil the beer. We don’t want any living organisms in the beer besides the ones that we will introduce.

Boiling also concentrates the sugars and breaks down the proteins.

Hops are added in stages during the boil.

Ferment

After the boil, sanitization is crucial. We are working with a sterilized wort, and we don’t want any contaminants introduced. So anything that comes in contact with the wort must be completely sanitized.

The wort is cooled and transferred to the fermentation vessel where yeast is added and will do its things for about 2 weeks.

It is during this time that the microscopic yeast become extremely active. In their ferocious hunger for sugar, they produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.

“After they eat all the sugar,” writes Adam my homebrewing friend via email, “the yeast goes dormant. Much of it clumps together and falls to the bottom, but some of it remains in suspension; these can be used later for natural carbonation!”

The brewer has made wort, the yeast have made beer, the world is a better place. [Tweet This]

Packaging

After the beer is fully fermented and the trub has all settled to the bottom, the beer can be packaged for the consumers.

The yeast have carbonated the beer naturally with their CO₂ farts and burps. This finished product, called “real ale,” is common in England, but it’s not carbonated enough for most modern commercial expectations.

The beer can be force carbonated by pressurizing it with CO₂ in a bright tank, or it can be bottled conditioned by adding a little sugar to the bottles to reactivate the yeast that’s left over in the beer, just enough to carbonate inside the bottle.

Cans, bottles, or kegs? Which do you prefer? Check out this post on the MicroBrewr blog to read what my friends and I decided after 2 blind taste tests, or read what 27 industry experts prefer.

Additional insight

In the free study links section for Certified Beer Server, they advise to “find a friend who homebrews and join them sometime when they are brewing to learn how it is done.”

I can say from experience that homebrewing with friends has greatly helped me understand the brewing process. I have been on a fair amount of brewery tours. I listened as the tour guide explained the processes and purposes behind them, I observed the brewing equipment, and I even watched parts of the process.

After I helped a friend make homebrew on a couple different occasions it all sort of came together more cohesively and I understood the nuances considerably more.

I have described a very brief overview, an abridged version of the brewing process. For a more complete understanding, I highly recommend going on as many brewery tours as possible and even helping a friend make beer at home.

If you don’t know any homebrewer, look online for a homebrew club near you. Most people are eager to share their knowledge.

Conclusion

So this gives a pretty good start on beer ingredients and brewing processes. You now know about the basic ingredients for almost every beer, and a little bit about how they affect flavor. You know how different processes can affect a beer differently.

So feel comfortable to talk with your customers about beer, answer their questions, and provide excellent beer service.

Now we’ll go into the very last part of the syllabus, Part V. Pairing Beer with Food.

Why write the flashcards by hand? Buy the full set here: Instant access!

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

4 main ingredients in beer

1. Grains
2. Hops
3. Yeast
4. Water

What is the primary purpose for using grains in beer?

Malted sugar in grains will be fermented into alcohol.

3 steps for malting grain

1. Steeping (almost 48 hours)
2. Germination (4-5 days)
3. Drying (2-4 hours)

What are some unmalted grains that are used in beer?

Rice

Corn

Unmalted barley

Sorghum

Unmalted wheat

Oats

Rye

What are hops?

Only the cone (flower) from the hops plant is used in beer.

Hops are a climbing vine in the nettle family and are related to marijuana.

They were first used in beer about a thousand years ago.

How do hops affect beer flavor?

Hops add bitter flavors to offset the sweetness from malt.

They also add aromas and act as a preservative.

2 elements of hops and how each affects beer

1. Alpha acids – Antibiotic, preservative properties. Bitter flavors.
2. Beta acids – Mostly add aromas.

What are bittering hops?

Bittering hops have more alpha acids.

They are added to the boiling wort.

What are aroma hops?

Aromas hops have more beta acids.

They are added at the end of the boil.

What are the major growing regions for hops?

Hops grow in moist, temperate climates, mostly near the 48th parallel north.

Germany

Czech Republic

Britain

Yakima Valley, Washington, USA

Willamette, Oregon, USA

Idaho, USA

Australia

New Zealand

What is yeast?

Yeast are microscopic, single-cell fungi.

They eat sugar, and excrete carbon dioxide and alcohol.

2 broad categories of yeast used in beer

1. Ale yeast
2. Lager yeast

What are ale yeast?

Ale yeast: Saccaromyces cerevisiae, also called Brewer’s Yeast.

Ferments at: 68-72°F (20-22° C)

Flavors: Fruity, clove, nutmeg, white pepper

What are lager yeast?

Lager yeast: Saccharomyces pastorianus

Ferments at: 45-55° F (7-13° C)

Flavors: Not much flavors, so the beers focus on malt and hops

3 other yeasts and 3 bacteria for fermenting beer

Other yeasts:

1. Brettanomyces
2. Pichia
3. Candida

Fermenting bacteria:

1. Lactobacillus
2. Pediococcus
3. Acetobacteria

What is the largest component of beer?

Water makes up about 90% of beer by weight and by volume.

4 minerals in water that affect beer

1. Calcium
2. Magnesium
3. Sulfur
4. Chloride

3 steps to making beer and the purpose of each

1. Mash – Convert the starches into sugar.
2. Boil – Sterilize the wort, concentrate the sugars, and break down the proteins.
3. Ferment – Yeast convert the sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol.

Also: Packaging – Put the finished beer into kegs, bottles or cans. It can be force carbonated or bottle conditioned.

Download flashcards

The post 019. Beer ingredients and brewing processes appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Untitled by jvoves on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

So let’s look at the reading list for part 4.

The first step is to get my study materials together

Today I’m going through the materials to find any recommended books, articles, or anything else. Here are the materials that I’ll need to study for the Certified Beer Server, Part IV. Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes.

You can get whatever you’ll need to pass the exam. Or you can simply use my free flashcards and study notes throughout this site.

Looks like lots of the material is coming from John Palmer’s book, How To Brew. I’ve heard good things about the book. For this section of the syllabus, links go to the online version of the book. You can also get your own copy in Amazon.

Other resources are listed below.

Reading list for Certified Beer Server, Part IV. Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes

Resources about malt:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 3 – Malt Extract and Beer Kits; What is Malt?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Briess, Malt & Ingredients Co. “Malting – A Three-Step Process.” http://www.briess.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about hops:

• Wikipedia. “Hops.” https://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed October 2015.
• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 5 – Hops; What are they?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 5 – Hops; 5.1 How Are They Used?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about yeast:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 6 – Yeast; What is it?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. “What Is Yeast?” http://www.wyeastlab.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. “Home Brewing Style Guidelines.” http://www.wyeastlab.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about water:

• Cicerone® Certification Program. “The Basics of Water.” http://cicerone.org. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about brewing processes:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  Peruse Chapter 1 and maybe a little from other chapters to get a basic understanding of the brewing process. http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• American Homebrewers Association. Zymergy: An Introduction To Homebrewing. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org. Accessed October 2015.
  (Enter your email address and download it for free.)
• Papazian, Charlie. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Fourth Edition: Fully Revised and Updated. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2014. Print.
• Lastly, the Cicerone® Certification Program advises:
  Another option: find a friend who homebrews and join them sometime when they are brewing to learn how it is done.

So, holy wow! that’s a lot of material. I’m really surprised that they smashed all that into one section of the Certified Beer Server syllabus, Part IV: Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes. As I start digging into it, I see whether I can fit all of it into one section of notes and flashcards…

We’re almost done! ! !

Gosh, I can almost feel it.

I’ve been doing this for so long. If I didn’t have a podcast about how to start a brewery, and if I wasn’t trying to make an entire website from these study notes, I certainly could have taken this exam a long time ago.

Oh well; now you get the advantage of using my flashcards and study notes for free!

As soon as I finish studying and publishing my notes for all of the sections, I’ll review my flashcards really well and pass the heck out of this exam!

Let’s do this! Part IV: Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes.

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Study along with me–let’s pass this exam!

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The post 018. Reading list for Certified Beer Server (part 4) appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Beer is a perishable food product. There are many ways that beer can become contaminated before it arrives at your business, or it can just get too old. It is important to be able to identify “off” flavors so you know when to get the customer a replacement.

Dust bottle by Geoffrey Gallaway on flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Although rare, it is possible for beer to become contaminated or damaged before it arrives. Loose seal, inconsistent transportation environment, or poor storage are some ways beer can become damaged or spoiled.

This section helps identify some common off flavors in beer.

The reading material for this section was found in:

RealBeer.com. When your beer really stinks. Beer Break Vol. 1, No. 16. http://www.realbeer.com. Accessed October 3, 2015.

MoreBeer!. “Off” Flavors In Beer; Their Causes & How To Avoid Them. http://www.morebeer.com. Accessed October 3, 2015.

Oxidation

Oxidation means that oxygen has gotten into the beer and made a bad reaction. It can happen during the brewing process, or it can happen later due to poorly sealed packaging.

Oxidation is identified by these aromas and flavors:

• Stale
• Old, wet cardboard
• Paper
• Pineapple
• Rotten vegetables
• Sherry

Oxidation can also make beer bitter or harsh. And it can create aromas and flavors like wax or lipstick.

Skunky/Light-struck

When light hits the hops in beer, it creates the same chemical in a skunk’s spray.

The reaction happens stronger in light colored beers.

Clear glass and green glass provide almost no protection from light. Amber colored bottles do provide excellent protection, but even amber colored bottles should be stored away from light.

Skunkiness in beer shows up mostly in the aroma.

Skunked beer is identified by these aromas:

• Skunk
• Must
• Burned rubber
• Cat musk

Dirty draft lines

Recall from lesson 6 “Draft systems” that draft lines must be properly maintained. A perishable food product is traveling through those lines. Make sure the draft lines and other parts of the draft system are cleaned at regular intervals.

Two common signs of dirty draft lines are aromas and flavors of:

• Butter
• Vinegar

Buttery

In the last lesson we talked about the buttery flavor of diacetyl, made by yeast. Diacetyl is usually considered a flaw in lagers, while small amounts are often desired in ales.

Diacetyl can also appear as a contaminant in beer, and especially in dirty draft lines.

Diacetyl is identified in beer by these aromas and flavors:

• Butter
• Rancid butter
• Butterscotch

Diacetyl can also cause a slick mouthfeel.

Vinegar

If the beer has an astringent or sour/acidic flavor that tastes tart or like vinegar, it is likely contaminated by bacteria or wild yeast.

Lambic beers are an exception.

“Lambic style beers,” it says in the MoreBeer! article, “are beers that have been purposely exposed to specific types of wild yeast and bacteria to create the unmistakable cidery and sour flavors they are known for.”

Conclusion

So this is a little bit about how to identify off flavors in beer.

By properly storing your beer products and developing a keen ability to identify off flavors, you have the improved ability to always provide the best beer service to your customers.

So that’s it for Part III. Beer Flavor and Evaluation.

Now we’ll go into Part IV. Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes.

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

What is oxidation in beer?

Oxidation is what happens when oxygen gets into beer and makes a bad reaction.

6 aromas and flavors of oxidation in beer

1. Stale
2. Old, wet cardboard
3. Paper
4. Pineapple
5. Rotten vegetables
6. Sherry

Also: bitter, harsh, wax, lipstick

What is “skunked” or light-struck beer?

Beer becomes “skunked” when light hits the hops and creates the same chemical as in a skunk’s spray.

4 aromas of skunked beer

1. Skunk
2. Must
3. Burned rubber
4. Cat musk

2 flavors from dirty draft lines

1. Butter
2. Vinegar

3 aromas and flavors of diacetyl contamination in beer

1. Butter
2. Rancid butter
3. Butterscotch

Also: slick mouthfeel

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The aromas and flavors in beer come from its ingredients. It’s not only the ingredients, but how they’re prepared and used in the recipe. This section discusses the three (4) main components of beer and what aromas and flavors they produce.

Beer Actor by Alan Levine on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The 4 main components of beer are: water, malt, hops, and yeast.

Even water—or more specifically the minerals in water—impart aromas and flavors to beer.

In this section of the Certified Beer Server syllabus, we’re concentrating only on the last 3 ingredients:

1. Malt
2. Hops
3. Yeast

The reading material for this section was found in Tasting Beer.

Malt and grain flavors

Yeasts need sugar to make alcohol. Brewers get sugar from grains.

Barley is by far the most common grain used in beer. Barley has been used in beer for thousands of years. It has a lot of starch that can be converted to sugar, and its shells serve as filters.

To make the sugars accessible for brewing, the grain must be “malted.”

Malting is the process of wetting the gain enough so that it germinates and starts to sprout, but then heating the grain to kill it before it starts to grow into a plant. When the grain senses the moisture, it knows it’s time to sprout. So it turns those starches into sugar as food for the growing process.

Barley / Gerste I by Christian Schnettelker on flickr (CC BY 2.0) http://www.manoftaste.de was modified from its original state.

Grains can impart a huge variety of flavor and aroma in beer depending on how much moisture and heat is used in the malting process. Some are lightly toasted while other are toasted very dark.

The basic types of malt are:

• Base malts – The majority of the “grain bill” used in most types of beer, even dark beers.
• Kilned or Color malts – Used in smaller amounts, up to 20 percent of the grain bill.
• Crystal or Caramel malts – A special “stewing” process results in a glassy, crunchy texture. It provides fat, raisin, or other dried fruit aromas.
• Roasted malts and grains – Used up to 10 percent of the grain bill. Provides aromas and flavors of coffee, chocolate and other roasted foods.

Within each of the basic types shown above, there are different kinds of malts.

Adjunct grains are alternative grains. “In today’s beers,” writes Mosher, “adjuncts are about texture more than flavor. All tend to be less assertive in aroma than barley malt.”

For example, “wheat, oats, and rye all add creamy texture and great head retention to beers… Corn and rice always thin out a beer.”

Examples of adjunct grains:

• Wheat
• Oats
• Rye
• Corn
• Rice

So that’s a little about how grains and malt affect the aroma, flavor and texture of beer.

Here are some specifics to remember from the Certified Beer Server syllabus. Notice how the aromas and flavors range from doughy on one end of the spectrum all the way to roasted and burnt as the beer style gets darker.

Pale beer: uncooked flour, bread dough

Golden beer: white bread, wheat bread, water cracker

Light amber beer: bread crust, biscuit, graham cracker

Amber beer: toast, caramel, pie crust

Brown beer: nuts, toffee, chocolate, dark/dried fruit

Black beer: roast, burnt, coffee

Hops

Hops are in the nettle family and are related to marijuana. Hops have been used in beer since about a thousand years ago.

The only part of the hop plant that is used in beer is the cone. According to Mosher, brewers often incorrectly call them “flowers.”

Bitterness, flavor and aroma effects

Whereas the malt in beer provides the fermentable sugar and some sweet flavor to the beer, hops balance that sweetness with bitterness. Hops can add other flavors and even aromas to beer.

Recall that smell accounts for as much as 90-95 percent of the sense of taste. So brewers can use the varied aromas from hops to do some pretty interesting things.

Traditional regional hop traits

Mosher says there are more than a hundred varieties of hops. They all have their own attributes. You might not consider yourself much of an apple connoisseur, but probably you could easily notice a difference from Red Delicious to Gala and Pink Lady. It’s similar with hops.

Certain hops grow best, and most will best display their key characteristics, when grown in the region where they originated.

American hops are known for their pine, citrus, resin, tropical fruit, and catty notes.

English hops provide notes of “spicy to fruity, with a healthy dose of fresh green grassiness,” says Mosher. They can also provide earthy, herbal, or woodsy notes.

German and Czech hops provide “herbal, sometimes almost minty” notes, says Mosher. They can also provide spicy, floral, perfumy, or peppery notes.

Fermentation

Ale versus lagers flavors

It is said that

Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer. [Tweet This]

Yeast are little bugs that are found all around, on most surfaces in the world. They make bread rise and they turn sugary liquid into beer—or wine, or cider, or…

As the yeast float around in wort, they burp carbon dioxide (CO²) and piss (or puke) alcohol. (For more on yeast, see Beer ingredients and brewing processes.)

God gave us yeast, and yeast gives us beer. [Tweet This]

There are 2 main types of yeast for fermenting beer:

• Lager yeast
• Ale yeast

Other specialty yeasts and sometimes even bacteria are used to ferment beer. But lager yeast and ale yeast are the two main kinds.

Lager yeast works at very cold temperatures, around 40-45° F (4-7° C). Beers made with lagers yeasts “have a relatively clean, pure flavor without fruity or spicy aromatics,” says Mosher.

Ale yeast works at warmer temperatures, above 55° F (13° C). They “have loads going on, with fruity, spicy esters and higher alcohols and phenolic compounds, among others.”

These 2 yeast strains have been recently proven to be very closely related. However, the ale yeasts have much more variation, and it shows up in the wide variety of ale beers.

One important chemical produced by both types of yeast is called diacetyl. Diacetyl tastes like butter. At warmer temperatures, yeast reabsorb diacetyl and make it flavorless. So brewers raise temperatures of lagers during conditioning to eliminate the diacetyl flavors. This “diacetyl rest” is also sometimes used in ales.

Weissbier yeast flavor

Weissbier uses a very unique yeast. It “produces a clove aroma, along with banana and bubble-gum fruitiness.”

Other yeast and bacteria can contribute to beer flavor

Some different species of yeast and even bacteria are used for certain beer styles. The 4 fermenting buggies below have unique taste and aroma profiles.

Mosher describes them as “dreaded contaminants in most breweries; brewers bold enough to bring them under their roofs need to take extraordinary measures to prevent their escape and the fouling up of the whole place.”

Brettanomyces is a yeast that Mosher says might be endemic to oak wood (found no where else), but Wikipedia says in the wild it’s also found living on fruit skins.

Brett is used in lambics, some saisons, and English old ales. It “has barnyard or horsey aromas”

Pichia and Candida are yeasts that form films in beer. Chris White says pichia “makes beer that tastes something like sweaty socks.”

(Source: White, Chris and Jamil Zainasheff. Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation. Boulder, CO: Brewers Association, 2010. p 3. https://books.google.com. Accessed September 25, 2015.)

These have a role in lambics, but mostly they just cause spoilage. And it’s not only beer that they spoil, candida is the one responsible for yeast infections. Don’t worry, as Madeleine Davies says, just so you know, you can’t make beer with your vagina.

Lactobacillus and Pediococcus are bacteria that each produce lactic acid, which lowers the pH and makes beer sour. Mosher says it “can also create a lot of diacetyl (buttery) and goaty, sweat sock-reminiscent aromas.”

Lacto is used in beer styles like Goses and Berliner Weisses. “It’s a relatively clean taste for drinkers,” writes Kate Bernot in Draft Mag.

(Source: Bernot, Kate. “Yeast and bacteria 101: Brettanomyces, lactobacillus, pediococcus.” DRAFT Magazine, March 16, 2015. http://draftmag.com. Accessed September 25, 2015.)

Pedio is used in beer styles like Lambics and Flanders Red Ales.

Acetobacteria is a bacteria that produces acetic acid. As Billy Broas points out, acetic acid is “the key component in vinegar.”

(Source: Broas, Billy. “The Bugs that Sour Your Beer (And Why They’re Not All Bad).” Homebrew Academy, September 8, 2010. http://homebrewacademy.com. Accessed September 25, 2015.)

So aceto “adds vinegar or pickle aromas, but may also create a fair amount of ethyle acetate… fruity at low quantities, but in larger quantities it comes across as nail polish remover or solvent,” says Mosher.

Conclusion

So this is a little bit about how the major ingredients categories impart a range and variety of aromas and flavors in beer.

As you develop your palate, and concentrate on identifying specific aroma and flavor elements, you will be able to develop a vocabulary that helps you understand the beer more intimately.

A better understanding and more sophisticated vocabulary for beer will help you better communicate with your customer and know which beer she wants to enjoy.

In the next section, we’ll discuss some “off flavors” and how to identify a beer that has gone bad.

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

3 main sources of aroma and flavor in beer

1. Malt and grain
2. Hops
3. Fermentation

(and water)

What is the most common grain used in beer?

Barley is the most common grain used in beer because its high starch content is readily converted to sugar and its shells serve as filters.

How are the starches in grain converted to sugar?

“Malting” converts the starches in grain to sugar.

The grain is wetted enough so that it germinates and starts to sprout. Then the grain is dried and heated to stop the process.

4 basic types of malt

1. Base malts
2. Kilned or colored malts
3. Crystal or caramel malts
4. Roasted malts or grains

What are adjunct grains?

Adjunct grains are grains other than barley.

They are used mainly for texture as opposed to flavor.

5 examples of adjunct grains

1. Wheat
2. Oats
3. Rye
4. Corn
5. Rice

Main flavors of pale beer

Uncooked flour, bread dough

Main flavors of golden beer

White bread, wheat bread, water cracker

Main flavors of light amber beer

Bread crust, biscuit, graham cracker

Main flavors of amber beer

Toast, caramel, pie crust

Main flavors of brown beer

Nuts, toffee, chocolate, dark/dried fruit

Main flavors of black beer

Roast, burnt, coffee

How many varieties of hops are there?

There are over a hundred varieties of hops.

Main flavors of American hops

Pine, citrus, resin, tropical fruit, cat

Main flavors of English hops

Spice, fruit, fresh green grassiness, “earth” (soil), herbs, woods

Main flavors of German and Czech hops

Herbs, mint, spice, flowers, perfume, pepper

2 main types of yeast for fermenting beer

1. Lager yeast
2. Ale yeast

Main flavors of lager yeast

Clean and pure, without fruity or spicey aromatics

Main flavors of ale yeast

Fruity, spicy esters and higher alcohol and phenolic compounds (cloves)

What is diacetyl?

Diacetyl is a chemical that tastes like butter.

Both lager yeasts and ale yeasts produce diacetyl. Brewers often use a “diacetyl rest” to get rid of it.

Main flavors of Weissbier yeast

Clove, banana, bubble-gum fruitiness

Other yeast and bacteria used in beer

Brettanomyces (yeast)

Pichia and Candida (yeasts)

Lactobacillus and Pediococcus (bacteria)

Acetobacteria (bacteria)

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