Beer

What is beer?
Beeris analcoholic beverageproduced by
thesaccharificationofstarchandfermentati
onof the resulting sugar. The starch and
saccharification enzymesare often derived
frommaltedcereal grains, most commonly
malted barley and malted wheat.Most beer
is also flavoured withhops, whichadd
bitternessand act as a naturalpreservative,
though other flavourings such as herbs or
fruit may occasionally be included.

Main Ingredients of beer

Process of beer
Milling
The first thing a brewer needs to do
before getting to work making beer is
to ensure that their brewing grain is
ready to go. Assuming they
arentmaltingtheir own barley, this
means milling, or crushing, the grains.
This crucially important step can make
or break a beer before it has even
begun.

 Mashing
Once the grain has been milled, it is
added to a large vessel called the
mash tun, and mixed with hot water to
form the mash.

 Lautering
The next step in the brewing process is
the take the mash, and separate out
the spent grain from the sugary liquid
known as wort (pronounced wert). This
process is called lautering.

 Boiling
Once the sweet wort has been
separated from the grains, it is brought
to a strong, prolonged boil for one to
two hours. This boiling process is
critical for many reasons. First, and
from a historical point, most
importantly, it sterilizes the beer.

 Fermentation
Fermentation is also where the brewer
decides wether or not he/she will be
brewing an ale or a lager. This decision
is a simple choice of using lager yeast
or ale yeast, although the brewing of
the beer changes drastically
depending on which direction the
brewer goes.

 Conditioning
Once fermentation is over, and the yeast have
worked their way through the off-flavors, it
becomes dormant and begins to settle to the
bottom of the fermentation vessel. From here,
the brewer can easily remove the yeast, leaving
only bright, clear beer. To help this process
along, many brewers also filter the beer
mechanically, or by adding filtering agents
which help collect the yeast into larger groups,
which then fall out of suspension at a faster rate.

 Packing
Its easy to forget that the final step in
the brewing process is packaging the
beer. Luckily, brewers dont forget this,
or else wed all be drinking directly
from massive conditioning tanks
(which now that I write it, sounds
pretty awesome).