What is the difference between craft beer and ordinary beer?

1, brewing raw materials are different

Beer is a low-alcohol fermented wine containing carbon dioxide brewed by yeast fermentation with grains and water as the main raw materials, plus hops (or hop products). Beer can usually be categorized into craft beer and industrial beer based on the raw materials and fermentation process. The common Budweiser, Carlsberg, Tsingtao and Snowflake are all industrial beers.

(1) Craft beer: brewed using only malt, hops, yeast and water, with no artificial additives. Compared to industrial beer, there is more malt content, more hops are added, and the resulting wort is more concentrated. Usually, craft beer is brewed without much consideration of cost, and most of it is brewed with the finest ingredients.

(2) Industrial beer: the same use of malt, hops, yeast and water brewing, but in order to pursue the cost, more rice, corn and starch and other raw materials instead of malt. This produces a beer with a very low concentration of wort and a light taste.

2, the fermentation process is different

Craft beer and industrial beer fermentation process is also different, usually craft beer is used in the Ales process (Ales, on the fermentation process), industrial beer is used in the lager process (Larges, under the fermentation process), the two are the main difference is that the fermentation process of yeast is located in the position of the fermentation process and the different fermentation temperature. As shown in the figure:

(1) Craft beer: mostly ale process, the yeast works at the top of the fermenter, floating above the liquid, the fermentation temperature is generally controlled at 10-20 ℃. The fermentation tanks are usually small and are not filtered or sterilized at the end of fermentation.

(2) Industrial beer: mostly lager process, the yeast works at the bottom of the fermenter, sinking below the liquid, the fermentation temperature is generally controlled below 10 ℃. The fermentation tanks are larger, and the beer is usually filtered and pasteurized at the end of the fermentation to increase the shelf life (shelf life) of the beer.

3, fermentation time is different

Craft beer and industrial beer in addition to the difference in fermentation process, fermentation time is also very different.

(1) craft beer: because it does not need to be too costly, so the fermentation time tends not to pay special attention, not too much consideration of the cost of time. The most traditional craft beers are fermented for up to 2 months so that the beer is fully fermented, the wort is more concentrated, and the flavor is more intense.

(2) Industrial Beer: For industrial beer, time is money, so the fermentation time for industrial beers is usually only about 7 days, which is not particularly good, resulting in low wort concentration and a lighter flavor.