How Well Do You Know Your Beer?

Throughout the history, people have prepared fermented drinks from cereals. Brewing beer is believed to be over 10,000 years old. Ancient Egyptians brewed beer about 6,000 years ago and many civilizations brewed beer from various cereals. By around 1,100 AD, brewing techniques had become more sophisticated.

Beer is a brewed and fermented drink prepared from malted cereals, especially barley. I know this made you go, "Chenya we know what a beer is!" but this article will help you to know a little more about the ingredients and the process of beer manufacturing, which could be a good thing to talk about at the next beer party maybe.

So here we begin!

INGREDIENTS FOR BEER PRODUCTION

MALT
It is obtained from cereal. Barley is the best cereal for beer production.

WATER
Water is the most important ingredient in the making of beer as it is the major component of beer. The taste and type of water influences the character of beer.

HOPS
The hop is a climbing vine, a member of the same family as cannabis. They are grown on strings to a height of more than 3 metres. The dryness or the distinctive bitterness of the beer is contributed by hops.

SUGAR
Graded or refined sugars are added for fermentation and to add sweetness to the beer.

YEAST
Yeast is a living organism which is essential to induce fermentation. During fermentation, the yeast multiplies and the new yeast is collected and stored for future use. Any one of the two types of brewer's yeast-Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis is used.

FININGS
These are brightening agents added to clear and brighten the beer. Isinglass is commonly used as a fining agent, which is obtained from air bladders of various fishes.

Here is a flow chart depicting the manufacturing process.

(Source: F and B Service by R. Singaravelavan)

TERMS USED IN THE ABOVE CHART:

●Malting is the process of converting insoluble starch in the cereal to soluble sugar.
●Grist refers to milled, dried and roasted barley.
●Mash refers to hot water and grist.
Wort refers to boiled water with malt and hop.
●Sparging refers to spraying hoy water to extract maximum sugar from the malt.
●Pitching refers to the solution of sugar and hops to develop the beer.
●Fining refers to the process of brightening the beer by adding isinglass or seaweed.

So this was something which would definitely be exciting to share with your friends, in the next beer session.

CHEERS!

( Image Source: Google)