How Beer Is Made ?
Ingredients
All beer is make from five essential ingredients
Water is the most important ingredient in beer . Beer is mostly water , so it is essential to have clean water that tastes good in order to make good beer , many of the world's classic beer styles have evolved because of good local water profiles - the balance of minerals and slats naturally dissolved into the water that give it a hard or soft character , as well as a distinctive flavor.
Malted barley is the source of most of the sugar in beer . Barley is a grain commonly grown throughout the world but especially in northern Europe , the American Midwest , Canada and Australia .
When barley is harvested , it is not immediately ready for beer production . It must first be malted . Malting is a process in which the grain is soaked in water , which causes germination of the seed to start .Natural enzymes in the barley then begin to change the starch already present in the kernel into sugar . Other enzymes break down cell walls ion the barley , making the hard , pebble-lile barley kernel soft and sugary . The maltster then applies heat , arresting the gemination process and caramelizing the sugar in the kernel .
Hops are the flowers and fruiting bodies of the plant Humulus lupulus . Brewers use hops to add bitterness to beer to counteract the sweetness of the malt . The hundreds of different types of cultivated hops provide their own flavours to beer . The flavors can range from citrusy and pine-like to grassy , earthy , or leathery , and even to apple , pear , blueberry , or other fruit flavors.
Yeast is unique as an ingedient in brewing because it is actually a living organism . Brewers use two major families of yeast : ale yeast and lager yeast . The primary difference between ale yeast and larger yeast is the temperature at which they best ferment , Ale yeast ferments around room temperature , from 60 degree to 75 degrees Fahrenheit , whereas lager yeast ferments best between 45 degrees and 60 degrees . Ale yeast also tends to have a much more robust ester profile . evoking a wide range of fruit flavors , while lager yeast creastes much more neutral , crisp , clean beers.
Adjunts ofen get a baed rap , adjunts are soureces of sugar used for brewing that are not malted barley , Wehn people speak of adjunts in brewing , they are typically referring to a microbrewery's use of corn and rice in light American lagers, primarily to add more fermentable sugar to the beer without adding any flavor or character.
The Brewing Process
Milling
When a brewer starts a batch of beer, the first thing he does is to mill the barley . Barley usually comes to a brewery in whole -kernel form . those kernels must be crushed to expose the insides to water more efficiently in the later steps . Brewers only crush grain . They do not mill it to a flour .They want to leave the husks of the barley intact to use as a natural filter later in the process .
Mashing
Once the grain is milled , the brewer adds heated water . The heat and water reactiveate the enzymes that were at work in the barley during germination , which restarts the conversion of starches into sugars .Since water is excellent solvent , it also acts as base for the sugar to dissolve into , meaning that the sugars can easily be extracted from the grain .
Lautering
Lauter is the pricess of removing the liquid - now considered wort - from the grain ,, the wort is drained through the grain itself , the husks from the barely acting as a natural filter bed .
Boiling
The wort is then transferred to a kettle and boiled . Boiling serves several important functions in brewing . It sterilizes the wort , ensuring that no bacteria or wild yeasts ar present .During this process , the brewers will add the majority of the hops- and sometimes other ingredients- to the beer .
Fermenting and conditioning
Boiling normally takes an hour at minimum . Afterward , the wort is chilled to fermentation temperature , and yeast is added . It is at this point that the liquid actually becomes beer. Yeast can finish fermenting in as little as there days to as many as 30 days . depending on the strain of the yeast , the amount of sugar in the solution , and the temperature of fermentation . Brewers often allow the beer to sit through a period of cold conditioning after fermentation is complete.
Packing and Distribution
After the fermenting and conditioining are completed , the beer is carbonated and packaged . In North Carolina , every marjor type of packaging is employed : kegs of all sizes , bottles , cans, and growlers (half- gallon jugs) . Once the beer has been packaged , it is on it way to consumers for their enjoyment.
