beer making

Beer is made by adding water to a grain like barley or wheat. The grain is malted (allowed to germinate and then heated or roasted) and the brew is invariably flavoured with hops. Hops are the flowers of a climbing vine that contain compounds and acids that impart flavours and aromas to beer. These are often the bitter flavours that make beer savoury and interesting, and the hop variety is important to the finished beer's flavour. This extract of water, malt and hops is then fermented. Fermentation uses yeast, which reacts with sugars in the grain, converting them into alcohol.

The other by-product of the fermentation process is Carbon Dioxide, the gas which bubbles through a beer (and through Champagne for that matter). Many bottle-conditioned and cask-conditioned beers use only this natural carbonation to make them gently fizzy. More commercial beers will be doused with C02.

Grains other than barley and wheat, and flavours other than hops, are used in a few specialist beers. Everything from chocolate to oysters might be used as a flavouring for speciality beers - whether the purists approve or not. The final alcoholic strength of beer is expressed as a percentage of Alcohol By Volume (ABV). This typically will range between around 4% and 8%, though some specialist beers can go much higher. Low- and non-alcoholic beers exist, but the interest and quality of these are both minimal. A quick check list of the beer-making stages:

Malting
Grain is soaked in water and allowed to germinate, then heated to produce malt.
Milling
The malt is milled to produce a fine mixture called grist.
Mashing
The grist is mixed with hot water, releasing starch in the form of sugar. This sugary solution is known as the "wort".
Boiling
The wort is boiled with hops in copper kettles to release the hop's bitter flavours.
Fermentation
Yeast is added to the wort, converting the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Conditioning
Depending on the type of beer, it may be run straight into casks or "fined" (clarified).
Filtration
Most beers other than "live" ales are filtered to make them truly "bright".
Pasteurisation
Flash-heating keeps the beer fresh and avoids the risk of bacterial spoilage.

You may be able to tell the difference between a glass of bitter, mild, stout or lager just by looking at the stuff, but as they are all essentially fermented from malted barley with a handful of hops, have you ever wondered what is it that makes each so different? Different hops, where they grow and the source of water all play a part, but perhaps the simplest difference worth grasping is that between the two basic categories of beer: so-called "top-fermented" and "bottom-fermented".

The earliest ales were all "top-fermented" in open vessels, but this term did not creep in to our beerspeak vocabulary until after the Germans had developed the first so-called "bottom- fermented" beer circa 1420 (the first documented mention of "bottom-fermented" beer). It was the brewers in the Bavarian Alps who discovered that beer lost its natural cloudy appearance when stored in mountain caves. They were unaware of the reason, that the ice-cold temperature caused the yeast and other sediments to fall to the bottom of the vessel. In fact, they did not even know about the existence of yeast in beer or its role in the fermentation process. They did, however, know that when beer was being made they could see the frothy effect of fermentation on the top of the liquid, which bubbled away ferociously, but at colder temperatures this activity was much less noticeable, produced a starbright beer (not necessarily pale, as some lagers are quite dark in colour) and when the beer was removed, they discovered a residue of fermentation matter collected at the bottom of the vessel, from which they concluded it was "bottom- fermented".

When scientists began to understand the behaviour of yeast in the 19th century, brewers started to develop various different strains of yeast specifically for either "top-fermented" or "bottom-fermented" beers and over the years traditional practices have evolved so that we can new roughly define the following:

"Top-fermented" Beers are fermented at warmer temperatures (commonly 20°C/68°F) with air-contact and stored preferably for no more than a couple of days or, at most, a couple of week (there is not benefit derived from the maturation process), but at a normal temperature, not chilled.

"Bottom-fermented" Beers are fermented at colder temperatures (commonly 8°C/46°F) with as little air-contact as possible and cold-stored for as long as possible (six months was once considered the minimum and some brands of limited production still maintain this standard or even higher, but most large- volume commercial brands are aged for less than six weeks).

We can lump all traditional British beers, from bitter to stout, plus wheat beers and German Altbier and Kölsch, into the "top-fermented" category, whereas every lager style and all American malt liquors are classified as "bottom-fermented". You will find an explanation of these and other generic beers in the Beer glossary, together with a brief description of continental Europe's most famous brands, plus a number of slightly more obscure beers, including some draught and seasonal brews.

The ideal drinking temperature for a beer is directly related to its temperature of fermentation, thus a "bottom-fermented" beer such as a lager should be chilled, while a "top-fermented" beer like bitter should not (though it should never be warm; just a good cellar temperature - and a warm cellar is not a good cellar).

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.