BEER PRODUCTION
The process of making beer is called brewing. It includes breaking the starch in
the grains into a sugary liquid, called wort, and fermenting the sugars in the
wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeasts. Two main species are used in
the fermentation process: Saccharomyces cerevisiae (top-fermenting, since it
forms foam on top of the wort) and Saccharomyces uvarum (bottom-
fermenting). Top-fermenting yeasts are used to produce ale, while bottom-
fermenting produce lagers. The temperature used for top-fermenting (15-24ºC)
leads to the production of a lot of esters and flavor products that give beer a
fruity taste. Hops are added to introduce a bitter taste and to serve as a
preservative.
Steps involved in beer production are:
1. Malting:
Beer is produced from barley grains.
Barley grains are first cleaned and then soaked in water for about 2 days.
Then excess water is drained away and the barley are incubated for 4-5
days to allow germination
The germination steps allow the formation of highly active α-amylase, β-
amylase and proteases enzymes as well as various flavor and color
components
Malt adjuncts:
Barley contains considerable amount of protein. So, if only
barley are used for beer production, the final beer will be dark
and unstable. Therefore, protein present in malt should be
diluted by adding additional starch or sugary materials.
Such sugary or starchy materials are called malt adjuncts and
includes dextrose sugar syrup.
2. Kilning:
The germinated seed are then killed by slow heating at 80° This process is
called kilning.
The kilning temperature must not harm amylase enzyme. Furthermore, if
kilning temperature is higher, darker will be the beer produced.
3. Milling:
The dried barley grains are then crushed between rollers to produced
coarse powder called grist
4. Mashing:
Grist is mixed with warm water and the resulting materials is maintained
at 65°C for about 1 hour.
In doing so, starch is hydrolyzed by amylase enzyme to produce single
sugar, maltose, dextrose etc. similarly, protein is hydrolyzed by proteolytic
enzymes into small fragments and amino acids.
The degree of enzymatic hydrolysis is strongly depends on pH and
temperature. β-amylase has optimum activity at temperature 57-65°C
whereas α-amylase has optimum activity at temperature 70-75°
The liquid obtained by mashing is called wort. The husks and other grains
residue as well as precipitated proteins are removed filtration.
5. Boiling of wort:
The filtrate is then bolied with stirring for 2-3 hours and hop flowers are
added at various interval during boiling.
Reasons for boiling of wort:
For extraction of hop flavor from hop flower
Boiling coagulate remaining protein and partially hydrolyze protein
and help in removal of protein
Boiling also sterilize and concentrate the wort
6. Hops:
Hops are dried female flower of hop plant Humulus lupulus.
Approximately one quarter pound of hop flower is added per barrel of beer
and up to 2 pound per barrel of ale.
Advantages of hop addition in beer are;
Provide beer with its pungent and aromatic character
Provide tannin which helps in coagulation of remaining protein
Contains α-resin and β-resin which gives bitter flavor as well as
preservative action against gram Positive bacteria
Contains pectin which is responsible for foam characteristic of beer
7. Fermentation:
Beer production utilize strain of S. uvarum which are bottom yeast and S.
cerevisiae which is a top yeast.
Yeast cells for inoculation are usually recover from previous fermentation
tank by treatment with phosphoric acid, tartaric acid or ammonium
persulphate to reduce the pH and removed considerable bacterial
contamination.
Fermentation is usually carried out at 3-4 °C but it may range from 3- 14°
Fermentation usually completes in 14 days.
During fermentation yeast converts sugar mainly into ethanol and CO2
plus some amount of glycerol and acetic acid.
For fermentation open tank fermenter can be used however closed
fermenter tank is preferred, so that CO2 liberated during fermentation can
be collected for later carbonation step.
CO2 evolution is maximum by fifth day of fermentation, there is no
evolution of CO2 by 7-9 days because yeast cells become inactive and
flocculate.
Most beer contains 3.5-5% alcohol.
8. Finishing, Ageing, Maturation and Carbonation:
The young and green beer is stored in vat at 0°C for several weeks to
several months. During this period, precipitation of protein, yeast, resin
and other undesirable substances take place and beer become clear.
Ester and other compounds are also produced during ageing which gives
taste and aroma.
After ageing, the beer is carbonated by carbondioxide of 0.45-0.52%.
The beer is then cooled, clarified, filtered and packed in bottles, barrels
and cans.
