Choosing Yeast!

Through some random reading today I found an interesting article on choosing which yeast to use for a beer. It's called How to Choose the Best Yeast, from Brew Your Own magazine, and can be found here. It may be a little more information about yeast than some readers might care about, but it's not overly scientific, just a good explanation of the different factors that come into play when a brewery or home brewer chooses what yeast to use for a particular beer.

- Adam

Serving your beer

I suppose if you're reading this you probably already have some idea of how beer is supposed to be served. Still I wanted to get my thoughts together a little bit about the subject, so here we go. The main concerns in my estimation are type of glass, temperature, and cleanliness of glass. All these are dependent on what type of beer it is. I have a small collection of glassware for beer, although there's a bit of overlap between them. Some beers have specific glasses for them, like the Pauwel Kwak glass I have, a stirrup glass that as far as I know, nothing else is really meant to be drunk out of. For the most part, you can get away with 3 or 4 different glasses for any beer.

Generically for most Belgian styles, you want a wide mouthed glass that allows the aroma to get out. For American and many English style ales a pint glass is pretty standard. For lagers, pilsners, and kolsches a tall, narrow glass is generally preferred. A narrower glass condenses the aroma, so beers with less aroma can be smelled more easily. This isn't exactly a hard and fast rule, as there's flute glasses, snifters, tulips, etc. For a more complete and detailed list, see this article.

The second factor is temperature. Optimal ranges for drinking beer range dependent on style as before, from around 35 F to 55 F. Serving a beer too cold numbs the taste buds, making it so you can't tell what the beer really tastes like. As the beer warms up the flavors can change, which in some styles is a good things, others not so much. Stouts and many English styles are supposed to be served at the warmer end, pilsners are served colder. Also, generally the higher the alcohol content the warmer it's supposed to be served. There's exceptions like English Milds, which are lower alcohol content, but still served warmer.

Finally the cleanliness of the glass is a factor. Residue from other beers or drinks can impact the flavor. However, simply being washed isn't enough. Dish soaps also leave residues with can kill a beers head and mess the flavors up. You want your glass to be washed clean, rinsed to get rid of any residue, and then dried. As a side note, throwing the glass in the freezer to cool it down isn't a great idea either, it condenses water to the glass which then waters down your beer.

So if you follow these steps, you can figure out what temperature range and glass is "best" for your beer. You might find that you like a particular style better when you drink it how it was meant to be enjoyed. However, your taste buds have to be your guide. If you find that you don't like the recommended serving suggestions for a particular beer, just go with what works for you.

-Adam