Brewing
Overview
Brewing is a crafting skill where one may use various ingredients, usually plant-based but sometimes also other sources, to create brewed beverages that are both tasty and nutritious. It also governs the creation and curation of alcohol, and all the many ways to prepare an infusion for teas and oils (the latter of which overlaps with both science, medicine, cooking, cosmetology, and other skills for various different application of 'oils'.) Brewing tinctures and oils specifically concerns how palatable and tasty the oils are when mixed into drinks.
Tea and other boiled and sanitized drinks have been a benefit to the health of many communities, preventing the spread of communicable diseases, combat water contamination, and even settle stomachs or provide a nice taste to an otherwise plain glass of water.
The sharing of brewed drinks is a cornerstone of many a culture, from the highest classes to the lowest, they're all united in their love of a good brew.
Tea Brewing
There are several ways to brew tea. How one proceeds to do it depends entirely on the desired attributes of the drink they're trying to create. From strong to mild, hot to cold, whether in the serving or the brewing, all that matters is the taste of the tea and that it pleases those it is served to.
Hot Brew
Made by boiling the leaves in a kettle. This process both purifies the water of unwanted contagions that might be residing inside, and also speeds the process of releasing the flavor of the leaves. There are a few methods by which this can be attempted.
Loose Leaf Brewing
The tea leaves when left alone in the tea pot, whether ground up or left whole, will unravel in the heat, producing more free flow of their flavor throughout the fluid in the kettle. This has the advantage of creating a stronger brew, but also the disadvantage in that it is more involved process to prevent any of the leaves from leaking into a cup for drinking, or else clogging the kettle. It's also a bit of a chore to clean afterward. But many brewer purists swear by this method.
Bag or Infused brewing
When the tea is made by putting the leaves in a vessel made of linen, paper, or metal mesh to prevent the escape of the loose leaves. In addition, when using infusers specially crafted to be durable such as those of metal mesh, the teas brewed can utilize the full leaves, unground, which has a potential for much stronger and powerful flavors and effective transfer of the tea's properties.
Cold Brew
Tea, coffees, or other tinctures and infused drinks or oils when brewed cold often require some mastication or grinding of the materials used to infuse their fluid of choice.
The material, once ground, is to be placed in cold fluid, during which it can be left to steep for a great period of time, loose leaf in order to spread the infusion as much as possible, as the cold fluid isn't as effective at extracting the nutrients and flavor of the material as the boiling fluid.
The benefits of cold brew, are that it can result in a very different and diverse flavor profile, compared to hot brews. Usually cold brew or hot brew are a matter of preference, and part of the brew enjoyer's learning experience in finding a method that they and their served guests or customers enjoy most.
Alcoholic Brewing
The process of fermentation was first discovered in the land that later became known as Rharne in antiquity, by the Immortal Ilaren. The secret was given up by the Immortal there, but swiftly either spread or was independently discovered in other locales through accidental or deliberate experimentation with organic material brewed in water, left to convert specific compounds in those organisms into alcohol or acids. Hence the chemical process of fermentation is discovered.
Extract Brew
Extracted oils, juices, compounds, or other concentrated fluids may be placed in a cooking medium and heated once, cooled, then heated again until the desired thickness has been achieved. From there, the extracts are added to water in a fermentation device with added yeast to break down the sugars of the extracts.
From there, one need only let them ferment, until the bubbling has stopped, which takes a couple weeks at most. The contents are then siphoned into vessels either jugs, bottles, or anything else that will help to protect and preserve the brew, until it's ready to consume. Waiting the right amount of time is as much art as it is science, making the difference between a wondrous brew and sub-average swill.
Extract Brews with added Organics
The difference here is the inclusion of grains and hops and various other types of flora or even animal products in the brewing process. The process is not unlike that of tea-brewing, in that the infusion of these ingredients is left to steep in the boiling extract while it's reducing. From there the process is similar to extract brewing.
Aging
Specific to the brewing and curating of alcoholic drinks, some drinks may require a specific window through which their flavor peaks. Wines, and other fruit-based drinks are quite often possessed of more longevity, with some vintages reaching the peak of flavor at decades or even centuries of age.
Other brews, such as ale or beer are better when served fresh and ready, their window for consumption much shorter and thereby arguably lending them less mystique. Considered more of a commercial product than an artisanal quality.
Tools
Every good brewer has a variety of tools they use in order to produce their beverages, whether alcoholic or tea or coffee. From strainers, dippers, eggs, stills, and even some equipment that would be more at home in a medical office or alchemical lab like alembics and beakers. The tools may vary depending on the process of a given brewer, and their preferred beverage to serve.
To note, the tools needed for brewing may vary, as the skill encompasses everything from tea-brewing, mixology, to making wines.
Related Skills/Overlap
Medicine: Tinctures and therapeutics or the like. Oils and salves and even medicinal teas may resemble the process of brewing. However where in Medicine the focus is on effective control or therapy of diseases or wounds, the focus on brewing is the taste and palatability of the brew.
Cooking: Board and Saucery. Soups and Dressings. Cooking may have some overlap with brewing. Obviously every cook can boil water. However where they differ is in the inclusion of edible matter in their liquid products. Whereas cooks most often (except in the cases of consume and broths) deal in solid foods, even with their sauces which are ordinarily more viscous if not chunky than the typical brew, they're both focused on providing a tasty edible. However, brewing pertains mainly to beverages, while cooking pertains to dishes for eating.
Alchemy: Brews can also be alchemical in nature, and be made to taste very good. However only alchemy can produce fluids that provide a temporary change in the imbiber, through potions. These can be made to taste better with brewing skill.
Skill Ranks
Novice (0-25)
The Novice knows how to boil water, and perhaps has experimented blending organics with that water in order to produce a viable beverage when strained. The process is most often kept simple.
For novice brewers making tea, this usually involves dunking prepared leaves into hot water with an infuser or bag.
For novice brewers making alcoholic drink, it's usually involving the mixing of already brewed drinks, testing and experimenting with blending of flavors.
Competent (26-75)
The Competent brewer has moved beyond the basics of boiling water and using prepared ingredients by better brewers and curators. They've gone on to begin their own brewing processes, using their own tools and apparatus.
The products produced at this stage are often average in quality, especially if brewed from scratch with their own methods. Those who engage in mixology or using already curated ingredients may have better luck at producing better drinks. Competent brewers are well capable of mixing drinks at this level, to the pleasure of their clients, customers, or guests.
At this level, the brewer can start their own brewery or brewing operation, or blending their own teas, tinctures and extracts.
Expert (76-150)
Most of the methods are available to the expert at this point, and there are few aspects of brewing that are unavailable to them. Fermentation and independent brewery is almost compulsory, as a self-respecting brewer has moved beyond using someone else's 'swill'.
Yet, mixologists who have no particular interest in brewing their own alcohol will still be able to mix drinks that are eye-catching as they are tasteful and delicious. Presentation and service of tea and brews becomes as much a part of the art at this stage, usually bolstered by either showmanship or acts of dazzling dexterity in mixing the drinks.
Master (151-250)
There is nothing that is beyond a Master's Reach at this level. They could probably brew a passable beer from nothing but moss, stone, and a bit of fungus, and the right tools available. Yet those who have raised to the level of master have probably designed and worked with so many methods that they need not resort to such austere measures to produce a drink.
Centuries old wines and whiskeys are often the products of these brewer's repertoire. Beers and ales that patrons cannot get enough of are able to be produced by many tankards and casks, enough to fill a ship's cargo hold or the tavern stores within a week of work.
Mixologists at this level will have second-sight when it comes to the way flavors blend and interact with each other, able to perform mixology feats that would dazzle and bedevil even the most stoic and confirmed teetotaler.
These are the masters of flavor, having distilled the secrets of what inspires the taste buds of those who drink their brews into a deceptively simple set of processes, followed to the letter.