Beer Brewing and Wine Making Supplies

To the expert, beer and wine are quite different in the process of creation, the choice of beer and wine making supplies, and in the characteristics of the beverage. Even a layperson can tell the difference between beer and wine, but if you confronted that same layperson with the equipment used to make either beverage, he could not tell if the equipment was used by a brew master, a master vintner, or a mad scientist.

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Both beer and wine are beverages made from vegetation; beer from grain and wine from grapes. Both are created through the process of fermentation where naturally present sugars are converted into alcohol with the help of yeast additives. Both are stored in bottles, and both are enjoyed by people all over the world. The processes used in creating beer and wine are similar in general, but quite different at the detail level. The major noticeable differences between beer and wine are in the beer and wine making supplies used to create the beverages.

Beer Making Supplies

Beer requires four simple ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. What could be simpler? Throw them all in a tub, shake it up, and make beer! Oh, that it would be so easy. Actually the four ingredients listed above require a great deal of processing, and during the process the listed ingredients are transformed into different ingredients with different names. Before we’re done with the process we will have added cracked barley, mash, mash extract, wort, sediment, and beer to the ingredient’s list.

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Barley has a hard shell that must be cracked open. This is done putting it through a mechanical process that weakens the shells so that they crack open to expose the inner grain. The result of this process is “cracked barley.”

This cracked barley is then mixed with water and becomes “mash.”

The mash is boiled until it becomes a liquid mixture called “mash extract.” Mash extract is commercially manufactured and sold to home brewers to save them a step in the home brewing process.

The liquid is then drained off and becomes a new ingredient called “wort.”

Later on in the process the wort is boiled, cooled slightly, and yeast is added to convert the sugars to alcohol. The name of the liquid is now changed to “beer.”

Let’s review this complicated list of ingredients once more. The ingredients required to make beer are: water, barley, hops, and yeast.

The ingredients as defined during the brewing process are: water, barley, hops, yeast, mash, mash extract, wort, sugar, alcohol, and beer.

Simple? Not really, but it is interesting and contributes to history and lore of brewing beer.

Wine Making Supplies

The number and names of wine ingredients are a bit easier to master, although there are some name changes that occur in the wine-making process as well. The basic ingredients are quite simple to remember: grapes and yeast.

The grapes selected determine the type of wine to be produced. The selected grapes are de-stemmed; all stems are removed. The de-stemmed grapes are crushed to release the grape juice. The resulting mixture of juice and skins is called “pomace.” In the next step the pomace is pressed to squeeze out all the grape juice, which is then transferred into a tank for fermenting. After fermenting, the liquid is now considered “wine.” It is now places into casks or stainless steel tanks for aging.

The list of ingredients and the processing name changes are less complicated in winemaking, but are worth listing again. The ingredients required to make wine are: grapes and yeast.

The ingredients as redefined during the winemaking process are: grapes, de-stemmed grapes, pomace, and wine.

The winemaking process is a complicated and precise as brewing beer, but the names are easier to remember. You have now learned all that you need to know to impress friends that know little or nothing about brewing beer or making wine or the differences between beer and wine making supplies. Don’t get cocky, though, you still have a lot to learn before you can go head-to-head with a master vintner or brew master, but it’s a start!