Which Ingredient Has The Greatest Influence On A Beer?

[Scruffy]

I don't think the OP was posting a philosophical question.

Then you won't like 'the drinker' or 'Michael Jackson'?

It's an odd one, like asking which part of a wall has the most influence, the mortar or the bricks, the ground it's built on or the weather, bricklayer or architect...?

edited to add; council planning dept or graffiti artist...

or terrorist...

 

[acoulson]

it may make up the highest proportion but surely that doesnt mean it has the greatest influence?

a beer hopped with Amarillo as oppossed to Saaz will have a farther differential in flavour than a beer using tap water as opposed to one using water with minerals added???

If you add the hops at 60 minutes from cast - then water composition will have a far greater influence than hop type...

 

[loikar]

It's a ridiculous question.

all the parts make the whole, Regardless of the amounts or type of ingredients.

 

[Dazza_devil]

What ingredient is capable of making the most influence on beer?

 

[Dazza_devil]

Defender pellets instead of Hop pellets

 

[PostModern]

Brewing is about one thing: balance. Get each opposing thing in balance with its opposite, whether it be chlorides vs sulphides or acid vs alkaline in your water, or gravity vs hops, or OG vs yeast attenuation or whatever, get the balance right and the beer will be right. Malt dominated beers obviously need the right malt, hop dominated beers need the right hops, but always: balance. You cannot make a silk purse out of a swine's ear, so you cannot make a great beer out of stagnant water, mouldy malt or rancid hops. When it comes down to it, the art of the brewer is in the balance... key word to take away from this: balance. Use the best ingredients you can, balance them well, and a great beer will result.

 

[acoulson]

Brewing is about one thing: balance. Get each opposing thing in balance with its opposite, whether it be chlorides vs sulphides or acid vs alkaline in your water, or gravity vs hops, or OG vs yeast attenuation or whatever, get the balance right and the beer will be right. Malt dominated beers obviously need the right malt, hop dominated beers need the right hops, but always: balance. You cannot make a silk purse out of a swine's ear, so you cannot make a great beer out of stagnant water, mouldy malt or rancid hops. When it comes down to it, the art of the brewer is in the balance... key word to take away from this: balance. Use the best ingredients you can, balance them well, and a great beer will result.

True indeed :icon_cheers:

 

[Maxt]

Yeast/yeast management (and resultant fermentation).

 

[skippy]

Which ingredient has the greatest influence on a beer? :huh:



Beer is basically water, malt, hops, yeast and possibly some adjuncts right. Looking through lots of recipes recently, it struck me how similar most of them are. There's a base malt or extract, chosen from a fairly limited range. Some specialty malts to tweak the colour and/or add a touch of flavour. Where the variety really seems to kick in is with hops and yeast. There's loads of different hop types all offering different things depending on whether they are bittering, flavour or aroma additions. Then there's a bewildering number of dry and liquid yeasts described as clean, fruity, malty, nutty, estery, dry, tart, citrusy, spicy, the list of adjectives goes on and on.



So I'm thinking in order of influence it generally goes like this:



1. Yeast

2. Hops

3. Specialty malts

4. Base malt



Is this a useful guide for coming up with recipes or am I barking up the wrong tree (or just barking mad)?

no you are just from N.Z. :unsure:

 

[technocat]

Beer is 90-97% water (depending on style) and it didn't make your top 4?

I have to go with Smurto on this as water IMO influences the rest. Water is life without it the rest are useless.

<_<

 

[reviled]

no you are just from N.Z. :unsure:

:lol: haha



Oh wait.... <_<

 

[MHB]

Big +1 for PM

Beer is a synergistic product it's like asking "which is the most important tyre on your car"; it can't work without all of them it won't work well if 1 of them is at a different pressure to the others.

Beer is ALL about balance.

MHB