The main ingredients of beer are barley malt, hops, yeast, and water. These raw materials are all natural substances. For example, Germany's breweries still use only the four kinds of raw materials according to the German Royal Decree issued in 1516. Most other countries or regions have added auxiliary materials such as corn in beer. Rice, cane sugar, wheat, starch, fruit, honey, etc. These auxiliary materials give beer a different flavor. For example, American beer is mostly made of corn to make it taste lighter; Taiwan and Japan are used to add rice to make the taste slightly sweeter; German beer does not have auxiliary materials and it has a rich and mellow taste.
90% of water
About 90% of the beer is water. Clear water is an important ingredient. Different sources of water have different mineral compositions, and water can affect the quality and taste of the beer. Soft water is usually suitable for brewing light beer, hard water with a high carbonate content is suitable for brewing dark beer. Light-colored beer water requirements: colorless, odorless, transparent, non-floating, pure taste, no biological pollution; low hardness; low content of iron and manganese, their high content is harmful to the color and taste of beer, and can cause gushing Phenomenon; nitrite free.
Water is the "blood" of beer. The presence of inorganic substances, organic matter, and microorganisms in the water directly affects the quality of the beer. General breweries need to establish a brewing water treatment system. Some breweries also use natural, high-quality sources of water and even use glacial snow to brew beer.
Grain is the soul
Grain is the heart and soul of beer and it affects taste, colour and taste. In general, darker grains make the beer taste heavier. Some large breweries use rice or other inexpensive cereals, but they must be of good quality and they will only be made from several grains such as wheat and barley containing malt. Good brewers often dexterously and slowly extract the most sugar from the grain. These sugars are yeast foods, and brewers often balance the sweetness of the grain and the bitterness of the hops.
Beer is mainly extracted from germinated grains such as barley. The hops make the beer flavorful and preserved, and then add the yeast. The yeast converts the sugar content of the grains into alcohol. This process needs to be carried out in a sealed container to avoid spoiling the beer. This fermentation process takes about one to two weeks, and the beer is still fresh. It must be stored for one to eight weeks before drinking.
Barley is the main raw material for brewing beer, but it must first be made into malt before it can be used for winemaking. The process of barley sprouting and drying under artificial control and external conditions is called malt production. After germinating barley, it is called green malt and is called malt after drying.
Barley suitable for beer brewing is a bi- or hexagonal barley. Barley barley has high leaching rate and good solubility. Hexagonal barley has high agricultural yield and strong enzyme activity, but has low leaching rate and malt solubility is not stable. The barley quality requirements for beer are: less shell material, high starch content, moderate protein content, generally 9% to 12%; pale yellow, shiny; moisture content below 13%; germination rate above 95%. The properties of corn and corn starch are roughly the same as those of barley starch. However, corn germ contains more oil, which affects beer's bubble and flavor. By removing the germ, most of the corn oil can be removed. The fat content of degerminated corn should not exceed 1%. Beer made from corn as an auxiliary material has a mellow taste. Corn is the most used auxiliary material in the world.
Mature hops
Hops are used in Germany as a raw material for the beer industry.
Hop English is HOP, Latin name is hop, Chinese commonly known as Hop, hops, Hubu, etc., is a perennial herb, belongs to the genus Moraceae, some plants can grow up to 50 years, leaves Heart-shaped oval, often three or five lobes, leaves are very rough, the main branch clockwise rotation and climbing. Only the female plant can bear the flower body. It begins to flower in June and July every year, and when it is in full bloom, there are only ten miles.
The world's major hops are produced in Europe, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom. There are also a small number of plants grown in China and Japan. The history of artificial cultivating hops in China has been for half a century. It began in the northeast. At present, large hop raw material bases have been established in Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Liaoning. The mature fresh hops are dried and pressed, used as whole hops, or crushed and pressed to seal the package, or they can be made into a hop extract and stored in a low-temperature warehouse. Its active ingredients are hop resin and hop oil. The amount of hops per 1,000 litres of beer is approximately 1/4 to 2.4kg.
Hops have a great influence on the quality of beer. Brewing beer cannot be without it. The main components of hops are a-acid and B-acid, as well as hop oil and polyphenolic substances. It gives the beer a unique bitterness and aroma and has the ability to preserve and clarify the wort, while at the same time it provides the beer's unique flavor.
Hops usually come in three forms: whole, stopper and projectile. The entire flower was removed from the impeller and packaged. The plug was similar to the projectile but was larger. The projectile was made from powdered flowers. All three forms can be used to brew beer, mainly based on personal taste and availability in each region. The hops should be stored in a sealed container and stored frozen to avoid exposure to sunlight.
Yeast fermented
Yeast is the main ingredient that ferments beer. It is actually an organic microorganism. There are many kinds of yeast, and the yeast used for beer production is called brewer's yeast. According to the fermentation method, it can be divided into the above fermented yeast and the fermented yeast below. The main role of yeast in beer brewing is to convert the wort's sugar to alcohol.
Yeast is the best gift from nature to humans.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a kind of yeast. It is a kind of unmovable single-celled low-grade plant. Its cells can only be seen with the aid of a microscope. The milk white moist yeast mud that is seen by the naked eye is a collection of numerous yeast cells. There are many yeasts in nature, but not all yeasts can be used to make beer. Scientists call yeasts that are beneficial to beer fermentation beer yeast. In beer production, yeasts need to be obtained through pure cultivation. Alcohol and carbon dioxide in beer are produced by the fermentation of beer yeast.
In order to ensure the purity of the yeast, the beer factory conducts pure culture starting from the single cell culture method. In order to avoid the contamination of wild yeasts and bacteria, it is necessary to strictly clean and sterilize the beer factory.