Do you drink beer? Ever wonder where your favorite brews come from? They aren’t just harvested from the mountains like those commercials; obviously. There is a specific detailed process to brewing beer!

Millions of different beers are brewed each day. The Beer Drifter states that there are over 56,000 beers in the world. That being said, I highly doubt the majority of us have tried every single beer that is out there.

Most of them are brewed with the German Purity Law [or Rheinheitsgebot] in mind. This law is the “collective name for a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and its predecessor states.” The four ingredients consist of barely, yeast, hops and water. The most common beer would be a Sam Adams. Some brewing companies will use adjuncts. This interferes with the purity law. Three would be corn, rice and an assortment of fruits.

Before we start learning about the brewing process, it is important to know the fermentation equation. This equation is sugar + yeast = ethyl alcohol + carbon dioxide. In simpler terms, it is the idea by which sugar is converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide, in the presence of yeast.

The brewing process contains four phases. I will not go into extreme detail on each, but here is summary. The first phase is named the Malting Process. During phase one the grain is soaked into water, which causes the plant to grow. This growth will initially create amylase, an enzyme that converts starch to sugar or converts a complex carbohydrate into a simple carbohydrate. Heat from kilning will roast the grain and therefore stop the growth of a plant. This helps to preserve the amylase; which gives the beer color and flavor. Our final product will be Barley Malt.

Phase two starts off with milling. This is simply crushing the malt. This step is when we would use those adjuncts. Then we move onto mashing [cooking the grain] and lautering [rinsing and removing the husk] of the grain. Finally we add those hops! These are the strobiles of a plant called Humulus Iupulus. Hops are very oily and floury. The oils have a bitter taste to them that will offset the sugary taste of the malt. Along with the bitterness, these hops provide aroma and helps to stabilize any bubbles. We then move onto trub separation, which will remove the proteins. Wort will be the final product. The wort will ferment into beer.

Fermentation will be the next phase. There are two different fermentations. We have primary and secondary. Primary is the yeast conversion into alcohol, while secondary is when the beer rests [lagering]. Over time the beer will mature. Finally we are set for the fourth phase that is finishing. The chillproofing step will eliminate any protein haze. Here is a list of the different agents used to chillproof beers. Then there is blending and filtering to remove any access particles. So in the end we have our beer that is then pasteurized to protect the beverage from spoilage on the shelf. Note: this is not done for kegs.

Our two main beer types are Ales and Lagers. These are complete opposites of each other. Ales are top fermented with saccharomyces cerevisae at a temperature between 53-77. Their primary fermentation is about 3 days and secondary could be from 7-14 days. As for Lagers, these are bottom fermented with saccharomyces carlsbergensis the 42-52 degree area. There is a longer fermentation period with primary being 7-14 days and secondary as long as 90 days. Both of these beers have a concentration of esters. Esters are natural chemicals that are created or released during the fermentation and aging. There are a few factors that will effect the fermentation.

So when you’re out drinking… you’re drinking science! Weird huh? Yes, but that is because science is everywhere! Now go have a beer!