The
Brewing Process
Brewing is the actual process of alcoholic
beverages and alcohol through
fermentation. This method is used with beer
production, although the term can also be used for
other drinks as well. The term brewing is also
used to refer to any chemical mixing process as
well.
The process
of brewing has a long history indeed, which archeological
evidence tells us that this technique was actually
used in ancient Egypt as well. Many descriptions
of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian
writings, which are some of the oldest
writings of any type.
Even though the process
of brewing is complex and varies greatly, Below,
you'll find the basic stages relating to
brewing.
1. Mashing
- This is the first phase of brewing,
in which the
malted grains are crushed and soaked in warm water in order
to create an extract of the malt. The mash is then
held at constant temperature long enough
for the enzymes to convert starches into
fermentable sugar.
2. Sparging
- At this stage, water is filtered through the
mash to dissolve all of the sugars. The darker,
sugar heavy liquid is known as the wort.
3. Boiling
- The wort is boiled along with any remaining
ingredients to remove any excess water and kill any type
of microorganisms. The hops, either whole or
extract are added at some point during this
stage.
4. Fermentation
- The yeast is now added and the beer is left to
ferment. After it has fermented, the beer may
be allowed to ferment again, which will allow further
settling of the yeast and other particulate matter
which may have been introduced earlier in the
process.
5. Packaging
- At the final stage, the beer will contain
alcohol, but not too much carbon dioxide. The brewer will
have a few options to increase the levels of
carbon dioxide. The most common approach is force
carbonation, via the direct addition of CO2 gas to
the keg or bottle.
After it has been
brewed, the beer in normally a finished product. At
this point, the beer is kegged, casked, bottled,
or canned. Beers that are unfiltered may be
stored for further fermentation in conditioning tanks,
casks, or bottles to allow smoothing of harsh
alcohol or heavy hops.
There are some beer
enthusiasts that consider a long conditioning period
attractive for various strong beers such as
Barley and wines. Depending on the beer enthusiast and
what he likes to drink, it will vary.
Some big
brand brewing companies have a Video Website to showcase their most recent
new brews. While micro breweries may shy away from
glitzy marketing tacktics such methods have proved very
successful for the big global
brands.
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