Beer, everyone drinks every day, so how much do you know about beer? I'll introduce you to beer in ten installments. In the first two issues, I talked about what beer is and who invented it. In this issue, I will tell you what is in the beer?
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1. Grains
Malting is the practice of soaking barley in water to germinate it. This process generally lasts 36–48 hours, allowing enzymes in the dormant state of the malt to develop. Enzymes are critical during fermentation, converting starch into sugar, which in turn breaks down into carbon dioxide and alcohol under the influence of yeast. During the germination process, the taste of barley becomes somewhat sweeter.
Barley needs to be dried after germination, and the different processes make barley malt taste different. Naturally dried malts vary only slightly and can be used to brew golden-brown beers; roasted or smoked malts become very dark and can be used to brew heavier beers; many beers use different varieties of barley, which can make the taste of the final product more complex.
Some breweries also use other categories of grains to brew beer or flavor it. Rye can add a spicy, robust taste to beer; wheat can add a certain fruity aroma to beer, and beer foam is richer; oats can make beer appear oily and thick; rice: can make beer lighter; corn is mostly used in cheap beer varieties or as a supplement to taste.
2. Hops
Hops are also called hops, and the English is hops. This is a plant of the same strain as cannabis, hops are actually part of the plant buds, and its flavoring properties are reflected in the essential oils and fruit acids in hops. Hops contain these substances that can make beer have a certain bitterness and aroma, balancing the sugar in barley malt. Hops need to be dried before they can be used after they are picked. Hops can be made into balls, gelatin or essential oils. Hops are produced in many places such as Europe, the Americas and Xinjiang, China. Hops are also abundant, with some beers brewed using one hop, while others use multiple hops to achieve the unique taste required by the brewmaster.
3. Water
When barley, hops and water are combined to cook, the master brewer can obtain a somewhat sweet, somewhat bitter liquid called wort. Generally speaking, as long as there is a stable water source for brewing beer, the variable in the brewing process is the problem of how many minerals there are in the water. If the minerals in the water are relatively low, then the brewed beer is softer; if the mineral content in the water is higher, then the beer appears majestic; if the calcium sulfate content in the water is higher, then calcium can reduce the turbidity of the beer, and sulfuric acid can also make the taste of hops more prominent. Some people think that mountain spring water can brew good beer, but in fact, most breweries must first purify and filter the water source. When brewing lager beer, especially in the case of several water sources, the brewing technician also adjusts the softness and hardness of the water to maintain the consistency of beer quality.
4. Yeast
Yeast is a very tiny biological fungus that is found almost everywhere in the natural environment. Beer has three ways to add yeast to the brewing process.
Top fermentation: This is the method used to brew most whoeat beer, ale, porter and stout beers. The fermentation temperature should be maintained between 15–30 degrees, and then stored and matured between 10 and 13 degrees.
Bottom fermentation: This is a method used to brew lager beer. The fermentation temperature should be kept between 5–9 degrees, while the storage maturation should be maintained at about 0 degrees.
Wild fermentation (or lambic): This method is now rarely used. Malt pulp reacts chemically with wild yeast in its natural state. After 8-12 hours, the malt syrup is filtered into wooden barrels to continue fermentation.
5. Other ingredients
In Germany, although the Beer Purity Act of 1500 stipulated that beer could only be composed of water, malt, hops, and yeast, most breweries used ingredients other than these four ingredients to brew a unique beer style. That is to say, in the hundreds of years of beer brewing, almost all the ingredients that can flavor beer have been tested. In this case, you must not think that smoked salmon-style or mung bean-style beer is impossible.
Fruit: Fruits currently used in beer seasoning in the world include roughly the following: cherries, plums, juniper nuts, peaches, raisins, strawberries and so on. These fruits add color, flavor and aroma to beer without adding a lot of sugar.
Spices and herbs: The herbs currently used in beer seasoning in the world include roughly as follows: cen leaf, chamomile, alfalfa, rosemary, while herbs include: fennel, cinnamon, coriander seeds, cloves, bitter orange, Moroccan cardamom, black pepper and so on.
Others: Some other flavoring ingredients cannot be classified, but there are many of them, including: agave, pepper, chocolate, heather, honey, pine juice, mountain mugwort and even meat. Sometimes, these condiments leave some residue after use, such as chili pepper or pepper.