The Journey of Beer

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.- Benjamin Franklin"

I hope the old man was not drunk when he said this; I am what I am today because I believe in Benjamin Franklin.
Beer is the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage.

Beer is produced by the fermentation of sugars derived from starch-based material. The most common being malted barley. However wheat, corn and rice are also widely used, usually in conjunction with the barley. Less widely used starch sources include cassava root in Africa, potato in Brazil, and agave in Mexico.

Water is the most prominent constituent of Beer. Water used to make beer nearly always comes from a local source. The mineral components of water are important to beer because minerals in the water influence the character of beer made from it. Different regions have water with different mineral components. As a result, different regions are better suited to making certain types of beer. For example, Dublin has hard water well-suited to making stout, such as Guinness. As a result, it is argued that the mineral components of water have an influence on the character of regional beers. So arguably, if you are drinking an Indian Brand of beer, you may be purifying yourself by the holy Ganges water. I just hope though, that you don't use the above argument to get a upper hand on your Mom or Wife.

Most of us, Beer Fanatics would have no idea of the long journey, the beer has made before flowing into your Mug. Producing beer is a tedious process and generally constitutes the following steps:-

Mashing manipulates the temperature of a mixture of water and a starch source (known as mash) in order to convert starches to fermentable sugars

Sparging (a.k.a. lautering) extracts the fermentable liquid, known as wort, from the mash. During sparging the mash is in a vessel known as a lauter-tun, which has a porous barrier through which wort can pass, but not grain. Wort flows past the porous barrier and is collected. Water is also passed to the lauter-tun to rinse fermentable liquid from the grain in the mash and also extracts the maximum fermentable liquid from the mash as possible. The leftover grain is not further used in making the beer.

Boiling sterilizes the wort and increases the concentration of sugar in the wort. The wort collected from sparging is put in a kettle and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Hops are added during boiling in order to extract bitterness, flavor and aroma from them.

Fermentation uses yeast to turn the sugars in wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer. Once the boiled wort is cooled and in a fermenter, yeast is propagated in the wort and it is left to ferment, which requires, week to months, depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. In addition to producing alcohol, fine particulate matter suspended in the wort settles during fermentation. Once fermentation is complete, the yeast also settles, leaving the beer clear.

After fermentation the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage before packaging or greater clarity.

I hope this post helps you know your Beer in a better way, and realize the fact that it has covered a long way before settling in your mug. Next time, when you raise your mug to your lips, dont forget to give the long "Journey of the Beer", a thought. But, most of all, I hope you enjoy your Beer!!!