#anovafoodnerd Guide to Sous Vide Home Brewing

We all know Anova can crank out wicked juicy steaks, take BBQ to the next level with some ultra-low and slow, and even make vegetables shine. All that makes a meal worth talking about, but how about a bonus beverage, nerds? A nice, tall, frosty glass of freshly brewed beer, straight outta your home kitchen. Read along and learn how easy it is to home brew, aka brew vide, with Anova. Best part? It's much cheaper than dedicated home brewing supplies.

Let's talk about brew, baby.

Mark Powell, #anovafoodnerd, and head brewer at a UK brewery explains the process in detail: "The first stage of brewing beer is called "mashing". Put simply, you mix dry grain with hot water to turn starches into sugars. Later in the process they will be fermented by yeast and turned into alcohol. The process takes about an hour to an hour and a half. This is the first part of the process where Anova is useful. During mashing enzymes already present in the malted grain are activated and convert starches, big crumpled up messes of carbohydrate molecules, first into polysaccharide sugars and then into smaller simple fermentable sugars."

"Precise temperatures are important. A degree or two can make a big difference to how the finished beer tastes. An inexperienced beginner will often miss their intended temperature. If they get it too cool the enzymes won't break the starch into sugar properly. Too hot and the enzymes are destroyed before they have a chance to do their job." The whole goal is to heat the mash to a precise temperature, and hold it there for the hour long duration, and this is exactly what sous vide does best. The video below, by Andy Gross, gives some great insight into the process and how Anova can make easy work of the task. One of thing to note is to always use a brew bag to hold the grain, and submerge it, so the circulator of the Anova doesn't get damaged with loose particles. https://youtu.be/ezuQJB_stpo

Benefits of brew vide

A toast to Andy Gross

Andy Gross is an avid home brewer and gets quality brewskies with ease and affordability using his Precision Cooker. Often, home brewers are left to their own skill sets to build a temperature controller, or forced to buy dedicated brewing devices that can often exceed $500. Oh, and those don’t have the ability to cook a delicious turkey sandwich such as the one Andy cameoed in the video.

Epic brews with Jacob Ellison

Jacob Ellison of beermeetsworld.com explains how a few degrees difference can alter the end result. Much like a piece of protein, a few degrees one way of the other will have a drastic effect on the final outcome. Whether his mash is soaking at 148°F/ 64.4°C for a light, crisp lager style or getting a little warmer and heating it at 158°F / 70°C for a sweeter brew with a smooth finish, there's little doubt it will come out exactly as intended.

Cheers!

By now you have a decent idea of how sous vide can aid in the brewing process. All that’s left is to take that delicious concoction, add some yeast, let the fermentation work it’s magic and you’ll have beer for days! If you’ve ever used Anova for home brewing, or any other unordinary ways, leave it in the comments. We love to see what our food nerd army is dreaming up! Get brewing with the #anovafoodnerd family with the world’s best-loved sous vide device, the Anova Precision Cooker. Cheers, Nerds!