Elliott Reeves

Dr. Fotis Spyroupolos

An Insight into the production of

Beer
Contents
PAGE
Introduction 1
Processing Steps 2
Main Process Step 3
Conclusion 4
References 4

Introduction
More than 133 billion litres (35 billion gallons) of beer are sold per year—producing total global
revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) in 2006. (Research and Markets, 2016). That is enough
beer to flood the vale village by x m. From malting to mashing and eventually packaging, the
beer production process is one which can be performed on a large industrial scale, or at home
as a microbrewery.

Some Historians believe that nomads were able to produce beer before they were able to
make bread. Brewing was believed to have begun in Egypt and was a common practice by the
fourth millennium BC (Glick, Livesey, & Wallis, 2005). The word ‘brewing’ is originated from the
Roman and Celtic Populations who spoke Germanic languages. The Celtic word for malt was
‘brace’, which is most likely the origin of the German
‘brauen’ and English ‘brew’ (Glick, Livesey, & Wallis,
2005).

There is a beer culture in almost all regions of the world

and beer festivals such as Oktoberfest in Munich are
very common. The brewing industry is one which is
dominated by a small number of major brands and is
multinational. However, before then (pre-1960s)
making and selling beer was a small business due to
(Gammelgaard & Dörrenbächer, 2013) the lack of technology. Computer-aided control of the
processes and packaging gave the large companies a competitive advantage which helped
the mass production of beer.

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 An insight into the production of Beer

Processing Steps

The barley grains are hydrated and allowed to germinate. Once

Malting the grains begin to sprout, they’re heated to halt the process.

Milling includes crushing the barley seeds so that it exposes

Milling enough of the starch.

The milled grain is mixed with hot water (liquor) in a vessel, which
in turns activates enzymes in the barley to convert starch to
sugars, most likely maltose. Mashing, also generally known as
Mashing
steeping, creates a liquid called wort and occurs in a vessel
called a mash tun.

The grains and the wort are separated in a lauter tun, which is a
tank with small holes on the bottom and essentially acts like a
Lautering sieve, holding back the large pieces of hull from the barley
seed. This bed of sediment acts as a natural filter for the wort.

The filtered and mashed beer wort is boiled in the company of

hops and possibly other flavourings. This sterilises the liquid by
killing the unwanted bacteria and releases the hop flavours due
Hops Boiling to isomerisation of -acids to iso--acids (humulone mainly). The
hops also contain antimicrobial compounds which help to
sterilize the beer.

Once the boiled wort has cooled to a temperature suitable for

the yeast to anaerobically respire, they are added. Once again
Fermentation the way in which you ferment the wort will change the type of
beer you have.

Most beers are then usually filtered to remove cloudiness and

any remaining pieces of hull or hops. They also remove all of the
Filtering
yeast.

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 An insight into the production of Beer

Main Process Step- Fermentation

Fermentation is arguably the soul of the brewing process and is the point at which the product is
first identified as beer. During this stage of brewing, the sugars that were extracted from the malt
via mashing are turned into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide by the yeast added. This gives the
product its alcohol content and the carbon dioxide is captured and then used later on for
carbonation of the beer, so it is not flat.

But how does the yeast convert the sugars in solution into alcohol? The yeast use a ten-stage
process called glycolysis. Maltose, the preferred substrate used by yeast in fermentation has
chemical formula: C6H12O6 (Purves, Sadava, & Orians, 2004).

The general reaction equation is shown below:

C6H12O6 2C2H5OH + 2CO2

Overall, two ATP are produced from glycolysis and fermentation, this is tiny compared to the
theoretical production of 38 ATP if aerobic respiration is carried out by the yeast. The 6-carbon
glucose is converted to two, 3-carbon pyruvate molecules, in doing so, 2 molecules of NAD
(nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) are reduced and 2 ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) are
produced. Usually, in the presence of Oxygen, the NADH (reduced NAD) molecules are oxidised
in mitochondria as they release their electrons and protons onto the electron transport chain.
However, under anaerobic conditions the yeast will undergo fermentation which will replenish
the NAD and hence allow glycolysis to continue producing ATP for the eukaryotic single celled
organism.

Although at every stage of the beer making process the flavour of the beer is contributed to,
non-more so than fermentation. Factors affecting flavour of the beer that are generally
considered: yeast strain, temperature, the vessel/tank and composition of wort. Yeasts can fall
into two categories: ‘Top yeasts’ or ‘Bottom yeasts’. Top Yeasts are used for the making of Ale
and get their name because they float on the surface of the liquid. This can be seen in breweries
as a foam which accumulates as the yeast respire and grow. Bottom yeasts are typically used
for producing lager beers, this strain of yeast is more complex than the ale producing yeast
strains. All brewing strains produce glycerol, vicinal diketones (VDKs), alcohols, esters, short-chain
fatty acid, organic acids, and diverse sulphur-containing substances. (Bokulicha & Bamforth,
2013). The levels of all these compounds in the final product will be dependent upon conditions
which are controlled by the brewer e.g. oxygen availability. The optimum temperature at which
the different strains of yeast grow are also different with Top-fermenting yeasts preferring a range
of around 10 to 25°C. On the other hand bottom-fermenting yeasts are best used at the lower
temperature range of 7 to 15 °C. (Beeradvocate, n.d.)

Technological advances over centuries has meant that the tanks where fermentation occurs
have been iterated to increase efficiency of the fermenting process. Vessels are mainly made
from stainless steel because of its inability to affect taste and the materials low reactivity.

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 An insight into the production of Beer

Conclusion
In recent years the production of industrial alcohol by the fermentation process has
declined because of the-increased cost of raw materials and the rapid developments
of synthetic ethanol production. Industrial alcohol will probably continue to be obtained
on a diminished scale from certain processes. For example alcohol is obtained as the
end product in the processes designed to reduce biological oxygen demand (BOD) of
some industrial wastes, including whey and sulphite waste of paper mills. The large
amount of carbon dioxide evolved from decarboxylation of pyruvate during the
fermentation period is recovered and converted to solid carbon dioxide.

Gram-negative bacteria.The aerobic, Gram-negative acetic acid bacteria (AAB) were once a serious
threat to beer production, but their activity in modern beer production is negligible, as oxygen
exposure can be avoided (204). In a bygone age, when beer was aged in barrels without the luxuries
at the disposal of the modern brewer (e.g., conical steel fermenters and controlled headspace), AAB
were a more prevalent threat, and they are still commonly found in barrel-aged beers (228). These
AAB include Acetobacter aceti, Acetobacter pasteurianus, andGluconobacter oxydans. These bacteria spoil
beer through the oxidation of ethanol to acetate, effectively transforming beer into vinegar.

As dissolved oxygen concentrations declined in beers with the introduction of modern techniques, a
new threat replaced the enemies of old.

References
Bokulicha, N. A., & Bamforth, C. W. (2013, June). The Microbiology of Malting and
Brewing. Retrieved from American Society for Microbiology:
http://mmbr.asm.org/content/77/2/157.full

Gammelgaard, J., & Dörrenbächer, C. (2013). The Global Brewery Industry. Berlin: New
Horizons in International Business series.

Glick, T. F., Livesey, S., & Wallis, F. (2005). Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine:
An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge.

Purves, W. K., Sadava, D., & Orians, G. H. (2004). Life, the science of biology. London:
Macmillan.

Research and Markets. (2016, 10 18). Beer: Global Industry Guide. Retrieved from
Research and Markets:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/53577/beer_global_industry_guide
.htm

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 An insight into the production of Beer

Nicholas A. Bokulich, and Charles W. Bamforth

Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 2013;77:157-172

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