How Brewers Brew Beer & The Tale of Ale

Had a craft beer recently?

With such an ongoing spike in craft breweries and small-batch beer brewing, what better way to appreciate the burgeoning beverage boom than with an in-depth look at how the magic happens?

From barley grain to beer stein, here’s how beer of all kinds comes to be!

Ingredients used in making beer

Although beer comes in many forms all over the world and no two beers are ever perfectly equal, they all have the same basic ingredients that can be adjusted according to taste: water, malt, hops and yeast.

Essentially, beer has almost the same ingredients as a loaf of bread!

Here’s what each of these ingredients does in a typical batch of beer.

Water

Water is the foundation of beer, and its quality has a big impact on the flavor of the final product. The ideal water for brewing has a low mineral content and a neutral pH of 7, such as freshly distilled water and RO water (water purified using reverse osmosis). The acidity of the water determines how well the enzymes from the yeast can break down the sugars in the malt which, in turn, determines the flavor and alcohol level in the final product. 

Malt

Malted barley is the most important ingredient in beer, and it provides the majority of the beer's flavor and body. Malt is made from barley grains that have been soaked in water and allowed to germinate – a process which converts the starches in the grains into sugars. The type of malt used will vary depending on the style of beer being brewed; for example, pale ales use pale malt, while stouts use roasted malts.

Hops

Hops are flowers that are added during the boil and they provide bitterness, aroma, and flavor to the beer. The amount of hops used will vary depending on the style of beer being brewed. For example, pale ales use less hops than IPAs.

Yeast

Yeast is a living organism that converts the sugars in the malt into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The type of yeast used will vary depending on the style of beer being brewed; ale yeasts are used for ales, for example, while lager yeasts are used for lagers.

Now we know the players, let’s get into the game.

How beer is made

Malting

The malting process is where raw barley grains are converted into malt. First, brewers ferment the grains by soaking them in 55°F to 60°F water for 40-50 hours until they germinate, a process that creates enzymes in the grains that will later help create sugars in the beer. 

After the grains have germinated, they head to a kiln to be dried — this halts the germination process without necessarily killing it, and it also caramelizes some of the sugars in the grains. 

Different beers require the grains to have different amounts of moisture remaining in them after they're dried. Lagers usually need about 5% moisture content, while most ale malts only need about 2% — the final level is ultimately up to the brewer’s discretion.

The resulting malt is then milled into a powder called grist, which is sent to breweries to begin the actual brewing process. 

Mashing

The milled grist is transferred to a large vessel called a mash tun where it gets mixed with hot water. The mash is then stirred and held at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time in a process called mash conversion, which allows the enzymes in the malt to convert the naturally-occurring starch into sugars. 

The temperature and time of the mash are important factors in determining the flavor of the beer. Brewers use this opportunity to adjust how sweet, strong and malty their final product will be.

Lautering

At this point, the mash is made up of a thick, starchy mixture of grainy liquid — not great for sipping on.

Luckily, though, the mash next heads to another large mixer called a lauter tun, where filters and pumps separate the grain husks from the sweet liquid. The husks are discarded and the liquid, known as wort, moves on to the next step.

Boiling

The wort heads to the next stop on the beer-making assembly line: the boiler.

Here, the wort is brought to a boil and any enzyme activity that still might be occurring is halted. This allows brewers to not only sterilize the wort, but also control how sweet the liquid becomes. 

It’s also here that hops are added to the wort! Fresh hops add a flowery aroma and bitterness to the wort, giving it the signature beer taste we all know and love. The amount of hops added, as well as the amount of time they spend boiling with the wort, is up to the brewer to decide.

Whirlpooling

This step is precisely as it sounds.

Once the hop/wort mixture has boiled for enough time, the mixture heads to yet another mixing tun where any solids from the malt of hops are removed from the wort. The wort passes through a system of cooling pipes to bring the temperature down, after which the wort should be cooled, completely free of solids and ready to be fermented.

Fermenting 

This is the crux of the brewing process, as it will ultimately determine whether the careful germination, mashing, boiling and mixing processes will have worked properly. 

Although the exact equipment varies from brewer to brewer, nearly all of them follow the same basic fermentation process. The wort heads to a large, tall tank where yeast is added to the mixture. The yeast — a live bacteria — feeds on the sugar in the wort and converts it into alcohol, carbon dioxide and heat. The mixture’s temperature has to be constantly monitored throughout the days-long process, and once the heat rises to an appropriate temperature, brewers will cool the mixture and halt the fermentation process altogether. 

The product that is created as a result of this first fermentation is called green beer. 

Conditioning

Once fermented, the green beer heads to a temperature-controlled tank for a final stage of conditioning. 

Here, the green beer is sealed and any remaining or added carbonation is allowed to generate, giving the beer its crisp texture and purifying it of any remaining compounds. Any aromas and flavorings will also grow stronger in this process, so the longer the conditioning, the more sharp the flavor. 

Filtering and carbonating

Finally, the beer is ready to be transformed into the final product. The mixture passes through a final filter and carbonation is added to the beer (either by adding yeast or by carbonating it under high pressure). The type of carbonation depends on whether the beer is going to be individually bottled or stored in a keg.

Slap a label on that bad boy and the beer is ready to head to a brewery, grocery store or bar near you!

Like wine and tea, humans have been making beer for centuries, and the process hasn't really changed all that much. Sure, the equipment may have been upgraded and the science a little more understood, but the process of heating, mixing, cooling, fermenting and aging has been giving us humans bubbly beer for ages! How cool that we get to still use it today!

Cheers!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/Caravel-Productions