BEER BASICS

Ales

An ale is a fuller-bodied beer with hints of fruit or spice with a wonderful hop finish. Many ales are darker than a lager. However an ale can be rich in a golden hue to a delicious red amber. The craft industry is introducing more hops in the wort to give the ale a distinct taste of fruit, an acid and pleasant bitter seasoning. Many ales today have an assertive, unique personality than a lager even though their alcoholic percentage can be the same.

Lagers

The term Lager originated from the German word 'lagern'. Lagern means to store away. A lager can be 'lagerned' from several months in very cold to freezing temperatures resulting in a refreshing smooth crisp finish. Lagers, especially in Australia are very popular. They are also more difficult to brew and take longer.

Lagers can range from excessively sweet to very bitter to pale or black in colour. Most of us are used to a basic lager that is blonde, golden, or pale to medium in colour with a high degree of bubbles (carbonation) and a slight to high hopped flavour.

What's the difference between a Lager and an Ale?  Read the above again.

There are so many types of beer and each recipe can require different ingredients from hops to specialised yeasts and fermentation equipment. Not to worry. The Wizard of Home Brewing is designed to give you the basics of beer brewing to get you started. The journey of brewing beer is fun, educational, and at times confusing and scary. THE WIZ will make your efforts in the fermentation and consumption of beer simple to understand.

Putting it simply the difference between different beers is the brewing techniques, aging, temp control, and ingredients. Due to our regions climate and the possibility you won't have temperature control we're going to focus on brewing your first ale from Extract Brewing.