The Brewing Process To make beer, brewers use water and barley to create a sweetened liquid (called the wort), which they flavor with hops, then ferment with yeast. The basic process may be simple but the execution is highly sophisticated. The three most important stages are malting, brewing and fermentation – followed by maturation, filtering and bottling. [For a nice background on the beer making process, visit the Beer History section of our website.] Malting is the process of readying barley to be used in brewing. Barley cannot be used to create the wort in its normal state, because the starch in its floury kernel is un-fermentable. So the grain is steeped in water, then spread out on racks until rootlets appear. The germination process produces enzymes which break down the starch. Once the plumule below the husk grows to three quarters the length of the grain, germination is halted by drying the green malt, as the barley is now called, on metal racks in the kiln house at 50° C. The temperature is then raised to 85° C for a light malt, or higher for a dark malt. The malt shoots are removed for cattle feed, and the dried malt stored in silos. Although malted barley is the primary ingredient, unmalted corn, rice or wheat are sometimes added to produce different beer flavors. Brewing is the process of turning the coarsely ground malt, the grist, into a sweetened liquid, the wort. The grist is mixed with warm water then gradually heated to around 75° C in large Mash Tuns to dissolve the starch and transform it into sugar – mainly maltose. The spent grains are filtered out and the wort is ready for boiling. Hops are added at this point to give a special bitter taste and aroma to the beer, and to help preserve it. The wort is boiled for one to two hours to sterilize and concentrate it, and extract the necessary essence from the hops. Cooling follows, using a heat exchanger. The hopped wort is saturated with oxygen essential for the growth of the yeast in the next stage. A fermentation tank usually features the conical shape shown here for easily capturing the yeast cells at the end of bottom fermentation. Yeast is a micro-organism that turns the sugar in the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process takes 3-5 days for most ales, 7-10 days for lagers. The wort finally becomes beer. Each brewery has its own strains of yeast, and it is these that largely determine the character of the beer. In some yeast varieties, the cells rise to the top at the end of fermentation, and are then skimmed off. This is called top fermentation, and ales are brewed in this way. When at the end of fermentation the yeast cells sink to the bottom, the process is known as bottom fermentation, used for lagers. Some special Belgian beers, called lambic, or gueuze, use a third method where fermentation relies on spontaneous action by airborne yeasts typical of the Zenne valley near Brussels. The beer has now been brewed, but it can still be improved through maturation. The taste ripens. The liquid clarifies as yeast and other particles settle. Further polished filtration gives the beer a sparkling clarity. Then the beer is ready for packing – in kegs, casks or bottles. Filling techniques ensure air does not come into contact with the beer, and cannot be trapped within the container. Drink the beer as fresh as possible, serving it at the right temperature in classic beer pint serving glasses, and properly poured.  Cheers!