Issue date: 9/12/06 Section: Aggielife

Zack Sweeten - The Battalion

While a cold beer is often the beverage of choice in Aggieland, some students have found an overall lack of flavor in the selection available at grocery stores and bars.

"I enjoy drinking good beer, but that's hard to find in this town," said Ben Ronck, Class of 2003.

Ronck's solution to finding good beer was to make his own.

"I had a friend named Matt Tintch, who is from New Jersey. Up there, there are lots of good flavors you can't find down here," Ronck said. "So Matt suggested I start brewing my own. I started doing this back in 2002, and one day I'd like to brew beer for a living."

The type of beer Ronck and his friends brew at home is defined as craft beer. Craft beer is an all-malt (or nearly all-malt) beer that allows for many different flavors. Craft beer is becoming more popular by the year. In 2005, over 7 million barrels were produced, generating $4.3 billion for the craft beer industry, according to the Brewer's Association.

Although craft beer makes up a very small percentage of the overall U.S. beer market, it should be noted that most is microbrewed by small breweries or home brewers, according to the Brewer's Association.

Ronck said beyond the numerous flavors one can produce, home brewing beer is a reward in itself.

"Making your own beer offers the same gratification as cooking your own meal," Ronck said. "The spice of your own labor always makes it better."

Three different primary ingredients can be used to brew beer, Ronck said. Craft beer can either be brewed using an all-malt mixture, a partial malt mixture or an all-grain mixture. All-grain is the most difficult and all-malt the least, but the difference in the ingredients is how many steps in the brewing process have been taken before one starts to brew at home. Most home brewers use the partial-malt ingredients, he said.

There are four ingredients in beer - malted barley, water, yeast and hops, Ronck said.

"The ingredients used go back to the 1516 German Purity Laws, which state that only three ingredients can be used to make beer - barley, water and hops," Ronck said.

Although yeast was not included in the purity laws, it is used today for several purposes. Once the unfermented beer product has been brewed, yeast is used to convert sugar to energy. Yeast is also used to convert the sugar in the beer into carbon dioxide, which draws oxygen out of the beer, preventing bacteria from growing and living in the beer. Most importantly, yeast converts the sugar into alcohol, Ronck said.

Continued...

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