Produção de cerveja artesanal com diferentes adjuntos

Abstract

Beer has been produced for thousands of years, and over time the techniques have been improved and standardized. Presently, any kind of maintenance or modification of the recipe can be done without many problems. The main ingredients are four: water, malt, hops and yeast. Among these main ingredients can be a lot of variation, generating different types of beer, besides the possibility of adding some adjunct, thus pleasing the most varied palates. The objective of this work was to produce craft beers of two styles, Blond Ale and English Pale Ale Special, with different adjuncts. The manufacturing process consists of eight main stages plus the tasting: grinding, mashing, washing and recirculation of the must, hopping, fermentation, priming, packaging and maturation. The brewing was made in two ways. The first one, performed with the two styles, consists in the addition of three different adjuncts, totalizing four distinct groups: control, yerba mate, chamomile and chocolate. An informal tasting of beers was held. In the Blond Ale style the beer with chamomile had a lower consumption of sugar, resulting in a lower alcohol percentage, becoming a beer lighter. The yerba mate beer was deferred, becoming darker than the others and with a higher density. The one with chocolate had a higher consumption of sugar and its level of carbonation was higher than the other groups. The control beer had a greater acceptance, along with chamomile, due to its balanced characteristics. In the English Pale Ale Special style, the beer with chamomile had a higher consumption of sugar during the fermentation, contributing to the election of the best of the group. The control had the lowest consumption of sugar and a good carbonation. The beer with yerba mate was very dense body, and without the characteristic aromas of the style. Finally, the chocolate had a much lower than expected carbonation and acid content, but it was not possible to identify contamination. From the results of this first stage, the second brewing was made using only one adjunct, the chamomile, and only in the English Pale Ale Special style. The production was also separated into four groups, adding chamomile at different times of the process, aiming to improve the recipe. The results indicate that the best stage, among the tested ones, to add the chamomile is during hopping, generating a more bitter beer, with an easy recognition of hops, both in aroma and in taste. Although it has not been possible to formulate a product that can be marketed, this work shows the feasibility and potential of the use of chamomile as adjunct brewer.