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The production of beer is the age-old art of turning malted barley into
an alcoholic beverage through fermentation. Making beer begins with the
malting of raw barley seeds. Malting is a chemical process that converts
the starches in the barley seed into sugars. The malted barley is milled
or crushed to a course consistency similar to that of corn meal. The
milled barley is added to hot water to achieve a temperature of 150 degrees
Fahrenheit. At this temperature the sugars in the grains liquefy and
can be extracted from the seed. The sugar rich barley juice is run off
of the grains into a kettle. Once the sugar water is in the kettle the
liquid is boiled for 90 minutes. During the boil hops are added to give
a distinct bitterness and flavor to the liquid. After the liquid has
boiled it is then cooled to 70 degrees. This is the point where the magic
comes into play.Yeast is the magic makers in beer. Up until this point,
all we have done is made sugar water. Yeast are single-celled organisms.
What they do for a living is eat sugar and metabolize the sugar. Basically,
yeast eat sugar, piss alcohol and fart carbon dioxide. The yeast will
ferment, or eat the sugars, for about one week. Once the sugars have
been consumed the liquid is cooled to 32 degrees and left to condition
for a period of one week. After conditioning the beer is transferred
to the serving cellar where it is carbonated and ready for serving. It
takes about 8 hours to cook the beer and about two weeks before it is
ready for consumption. |
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