Beer

a workshop by www.ThailandHotelier.com

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 1
Beer

is one of the world's oldest alcoholic beverages, possibly brewed for the first time over 10,000 years ago,
according to renowned beer writer Michael Jackson. It is a fermented beverage most often made from malted
barley, hops, yeast and water, and is carbonated in almost all cases. By altering the production method
(changes in time and temperature, for example) or the ingredients, a staggeringly wide variety of different
types of beer can be produced. Much like fine wines, many beers can also be aged and evolve into
beverages that defy the common definitions of beer.

Brewing

Though the process of brewing beer is complex and varies considerably, the basic stages that are consistent
are outlined below. There may be additional filtration steps between stages.

1. Mashing: The first phase of brewing, in which the malted grains are crushed and soaked in warm water
in order to create a malt extract. The mash is held at constant temperature long enough for enzymes to
convert starches into fermentable sugars, usually about 45 to 90 minutes, depending on mash
temperature (high temperatures = faster). The temperature is typically held at either a single temperature
(single step) or a series of temperatures depending on the enzymes one wants to focus on. Typically with
modern fully-modified malts, a single-stage infusion is all that is required. For most mashes, a
temperature between 65-67°C (150-154°F) is typical, with higher temperatures yielding fuller bodied
beers, and lower temperatures yielding more fermentable and lighter bodied beers. Multi-temperature
mashes are used for acid-buffering reactions and protein rests for head-retention for some types of malts.

2. Sparging: Water is filtered through the mash to dissolve the sugars.

The darker, sugar-heavy liquid is called the wort. Typically the rinse
water (sparge) is held between 76-82°C (170-180°F) to (1) keep
sugars and gums from setting up and (2) above 82°C (180°F), tannin
extraction could be a problem.

3. Boiling: The wort is boiled along with any remaining ingredients

(excluding yeast), to remove excess water and kill any
microorganisms. The main function of boiling is to set proteins and
such similar to cooking bread. The hops (whole, pelleted, or extract)
are added at some stage during the boil. Bittering hops are added
during the entire boil (1 hour +), flavoring are added between about 5
- 20 minutes, and aroma hops are added at 5 minutes or less.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 2
4. Fermentation: The yeast is added (or "pitched") and the beer is left to ferment. After primary
fermentation, the beer may be allowed a second fermentation, which allows further settling of yeast and
other particulate matter ("trub") which may have been introduced earlier in the process. Some brewers
may skip the secondary fermentation and simply filter off the yeast.

5. Packaging: At this point, the beer contains alcohol, but not much carbon dioxide. The brewer has a few
options to increase carbon dioxide levels. The most common approach by large-scale brewers is force
carbonation, via the direct addition of CO2 gas to the keg or bottle. Smaller-scale or more classically-
minded brewers will add extra ("priming") sugar After brewing, the beer is usually a finished product. At
this point the beer is kegged, casked, bottled, or canned.

Unfiltered beers may be stored for further fermentation in conditioning tanks, casks or bottles to allow
smoothing of harsh alcohol notes, integration of heavy hop flavours, and/or the introduction of oxidised notes
such as wine or sherry flavours. Some beer enthusiasts consider a long conditioning period attractive for
various strong beers such as Barley wines

Ingredients

The basic ingredients of beer are water, a fermentable starch source, such as malted barley, and yeast. It is
common for a flavouring to be added, the most popular being hops. A mixture of starch sources may be used,
with the secondary starch source, such as corn, rice and sugar, often being termed an adjunct, especially
when used as a lower cost substitute for malted barley.

Water

Beer is composed mainly of water, which when heated is known as brewing liquor. The characteristics of the
water have an influence on the character of the beer. Although the effect of, and interactions between,
various dissolved minerals in brewing water is complex, as a general rule, hard water is more suited to dark
beer such as stout, while very soft water is more suited for brewing pale ale and pale lager.

Starch source

The most common starch source is malted cereal. And among malts, barley malt is the most widely used
owing to its high amylase content, a digestive enzyme which facilitates the breakdown of the starch into
sugars. However, depending on what can be cultivated locally, other malted and unmalted grains may be
used, including wheat, rice, oats, and rye, and less frequently, maize and sorghum. Malt is formed from grain
by soaking it in water, allowing it to start to germinate, and then drying the germinated grain in a kiln. Malting
the grain produces the enzymes that will eventually convert the starches in the grain into fermentable sugars.
Different roasting times and temperatures are used to produce different colours of malt from the same grain.
Darker malts will produce darker beers. Two or more types of malt may be combined.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 3
Hops

Hops have commonly been used as a bittering agent in beer for over
a thousand years, the earliest evidence of cultivation for this purpose
dates back to th e seventeenth century (according to Judith M.
Bennett). Hops contain several characteristics very favourable to
beer: (a) hops contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of
the malt, (b) hops also contribute aromas which range from flowery to
citrus to herbal, (c) hops have an antibiotic effect that favours the
activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms and (d)
the use of hops aids in "head retention", the length of time that a
foamy head created by the beer's carbonation agent will last. The
bitterness of commercially-brewed beers is measured on the
International Bitterness Units scale. While hop plants are grown by
farmers all around the world in many different varieties, there is no
major commercial use for hops other than in beer.

Yeast

A microorganism that is responsible for fermentation. A specific strain of yeast is chosen depending on the
type of beer being produced, the two main strains being ale yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and lager
yeast (Saccharomyces uvarum), with some other variations available, such as Brettanomyces and
Torulaspora delbrueckii. Yeast will metabolise the sugars extracted from the grains, and produce alcohol and
carbon dioxide as a result. Before yeast's functions were understood, fermentations were conducted naturally
using wild or airborne yeasts; although a few styles such as lambics still rely on this ancient method, most
modern fermentations are conducted using pure yeast cultures.

Clarifying agent

Some brewers add one or more clarifying agents to beer that are not required to be published as ingredients.
Common examples of these include Isinglass finings, obtained from swimbladders of fish; kappa
carrageenan, derived from seaweed; Irish moss, a type of red alga; polyclar (artificial), and gelatin. Since
these ingredients may be derived from animals, those concerned with the use or consumption of animal
products should obtain specific details of the filtration process from the brewer.

Styles

A great many different types, or styles, of beer are brewed across the globe. The traditional European
brewing nations - the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, The
Netherlands and Austria - all have their own beer styles. These form the basis of the vast majority of beer
brewed around the world. In some countries - notably the USA, Canada and Australia - brewers have
adapted and developed European styles to such an extent that they have effectively created their own
indigenous types.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 4
The greatest diversity of flavors and types of beer can be found in Belgium, as is portrayed by its Belgian
beer and lambic and other beer styles. American brewers also produce many different styles of beer, such as
Brown Ale, Amber ale, Blonde Ale, Cream Ale and Red Ale. And some brewers use adjuncts such as chili or
oats to make different styles such as oatmeal stout or chili beer.

Beer styles, however, are largely irrelevant in the world of beer consumption and appreciation.

Categorising by yeast

A common method of categorising beer is by the behaviour of the yeast used in the fermentation process. In
this method of categorising, those beers which use a fast acting yeast which leaves behind residual sugars
are termed ales, while those beers which use a slower and longer acting yeast which removes most of the
sugars leaving a clean and dry beer are termed lagers.

Ale

A modern ale is commonly defined by the strain of yeast used and the
fermenting temperature.

Ales are normally brewed with top-fermenting yeasts, though a number of British
brewers, including Fullers and Weltons, use ale yeast strains that have less
pronounced top-fermentation characteristics. The important distinction for ales is
that they are fermented at higher temperatures and thus ferment more quickly
than lagers.

Ale is typically fermented at temperatures between 15 and 24°C (60 and 75°F). At these temperatures, yeast
produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is
often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling but not limited to apple, pear, pineapple, banana,
plum, or prune. Typical ales have a sweeter, fuller body than lagers.

Lager

Lager is the English name for bottom-fermenting beers of Central European

origin, though the term is not used there. They are the most commonly-
consumed beer in the world. The name comes from the German lagern ("to
store"). Lager yeast is a bottom-fermenting yeast, and typically undergoes
primary fermentation at 7-12 °C (45-55 °F) (the "fermentation phase"), and then
is given a long secondary fermentation at 0-4 °C (32-40 °F) (the "lagering
phase"). During the secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows. The cooler
conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other byproducts,
resulting in a "crisper" tasting beer.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 5
Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger, who perfected dark
brown lagers at the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, and Anton Dreher, who began brewing a lager, probably of
amber-red color, in Vienna in 1840–1841. With modern improved yeast strains, most lager breweries use only
short periods of cold storage, typically 1–3 weeks.

The lagering phase is not restricted to lager beers. In Germany, all beers are stored at low temperatures
before consumption; in the British tradition, the practice of Cold Conditioning is similar in nature.

Lambic beers: spontaneous fermentation

Lambic beers use wild yeasts, rather than cultivated ones. Many of these are not related to brewer's yeast
(Saccharomyces), and may have significant differences in aroma and sourness.

Pale and dark beer

The most common color is a pale amber produced from using pale malts. Pale
lager is a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke had been
first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the
term pale ale was first used. In terms of volume, most of today's beer is based
on the pale lager brewed in 1842 in the town of Plzeň, in the Czech Republic.
The modern Pilsner lager is light in colour and high in carbonation, with a
strong hop flavour and an alcohol by volume content of around 5%. The
Pilsner Urquell and Heineken brands of beer are typical examples of pale
lager, as are the American brands Budweiser, Coors, and Miller.

Dark beers are usually brewed from a pale malt or pils malt base with a small
proportion of darker malt added to achieve the desired shade. Other
colourants - such as caramel - are also widely used to darken beers. Very
dark beers, such as stout, use dark or patent malts. These have been roasted
longer.

Serving temperature

The temperature of a beer has an influence on a drinker's experience. Colder temperatures allow fully
attenuated beers such as pale lagers to be enjoyed for their crispness; while warmer temperatures allow the
more rounded flavours of an ale or a stout to be perceived. There are no firmly agreed principles for all cases;
however, a general approach is that lighter coloured beers, such as pale lagers, are usually enjoyed cold (39-
45F/4-7C), while dark, strong beers such as Imperial Stouts are often enjoyed at cellar temperature (54-
61F/12-16C) and then allowed to warm up in the room to individual taste. Other beers should be served at
temperatures between these extremes.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 6
Strength

The alcohol content of beers varies by local custom. British ales average around 4% abv, while Belgian beers
tend to average 8% abv. The strength of the typical global pale lager is 5% abv.

Typical brewing yeast cannot reproduce (and therefore cannot produce alcohol) above 12% abv.

www.thailandhotelier.com Page 7