lecture #1 and #2

beer and the brewing process

alcohol

-What is it?

a class of molecules that have an OH group

methanol- 1 carbon
ethanol- 2 carbons
propanol- 3 carbons
butanol- 4 carbons
pentanol- 5 carbons

alcohol

-Where does it come from?

fundamental metabolic processes:

extracting energy from sugar

glucose

aerobic respiration
- requires oxygen
- 36 ATP per glucose
molecule
- low energy waste
products, H2O and CO2

anaerobic respiration

alcoholic
fermentation

lactic acid
fermentation

alcohol

-Where does it come from?

anaerobic respiration = fermentation

- extraction of energy from glucose without oxygen
- only 2 ATP per glucose molecule
- very inefficient, high energy waste products
- lactic acid
- ethanol

alcohol

-Where does it come from?

Were only concerned with alcoholic fermentation

- many fungi and bacteria can perform alcoholic
fermentation; fairly common amongst microorganisms
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae brewers and bakers yeast

water + sugar + yeast + time = alcoholic beverage

- alcohol is a byproduct of yeast metabolism, its
a waste product, its yeast poop

alcoholic beverages

the source of sugar, the process, other ingredients, and

geographic origin are used to classify types of alcoholic
beverages
In other words, why are there so many types of alcoholic
beverages?
What makes beer beer?

alcoholic beverages

-Sugar source

beer

grains

whiskey, vodka, gin

wine

grapes, fruit

brandy, grappa

sake

rice

awamori

mead

honey

distilled mead

cider

apples

calvados, apple jack

pulque

agave sap

tequila

masato

manioc root

??

chicha

corn

bourbon

cyser

honey and apples

birch beer

birch sap

alcoholic beverages

-Process

beer

grains

whiskey, vodka, gin

wine

grapes, fruit

brandy, grappa

sake

rice

awamori

mead

honey

distilled mead

cider

apples

calvados

pulque

agave sap

tequila

masato

manioc root

??

chicha

corn

bourbon

cyser

honey and apples

birch beer

birch sap

alcoholic beverages

-Process

the process
- wines typically have nothing
added to them, just juice; not
cooked, but cider too
- sake is made with different
yeasts than beer, different
process
- chicha is made with different
yeasts than beer, different
process

alcoholic beverages

-History

geographical factors:
- where each type of sugar
source was first
domesticated
- degree of isolation
- local names/traditions lead
to divergence of beverages

alcoholic beverages
today, beer is usually made with four primary ingredients:
(1) water
(2) malted barley
(3) hops
(4) yeast

Modern beer also has a very particular process of production

the beer we know today has only been around since the mid 1600s

brewing beer
cultivate
malt
mill
mash
sparge
boil
hop
fine
cool
oxygenate
pitch
ferment
age
fine
filter
package
enjoy

HISTORICAL DISCLAIMER

brewing beer

-Cultivating

What are grains?

- Angiosperm, grasses, Poaceae,
(flowering plants)
- the fruit of the grass, but
starchy not sugary
- Hordeum vulgare, barley

brewing beer

-Cultivating

other grains used in brewing:

- wheat
- corn
- rice
- rye
- oats

brewing beer

-Malting

but yeast cant use starch to live, thus they cant make
alcohol from starch
- this is not an issue in wine making, why?
- a big difference in process

brewing beer

-Malting

what is starch?

brewing beer

-Malting

need to convert the starch to sugar so that the yeast can use
the energy stored in the starch to make alcohol
- what is fruit for?
do

why do plants have fruit?

grasses have grains?

why

brewing beer

-Malting

no living thing (or very few living things) can use starch
directly to get energy
- most living things need to convert starch to sugar
first
- yeast cant do it
- some fungus can
- plants can
- humans can

brewing beer

-Malting

brewers borrow the plants ability to convert starch to sugar

by tricking them into thinking theyre growing
this is malting
soak
sprout
spread and germinate
kiln

-amylase
-amylase

also in human
saliva

brewing beer

-Malting

malting is also where much of a beers character is determined

- type of barley used
-

2 row vs 6 row
color, protein
American
Canadian
English -Maris Otter
Scottish Golden Promise terroir?
German
Belgian

- malting method
- floor malted
- machine malted
- kilning fuel peat, wood smoke

brewing beer

-Malting

kilning
- temperature
- length
- moisture content
types of malt
-

base malt
biscuit
Vienna
Munich
aromatic
crystal
chocolate
black patent
roasted barley

brewing beer

-Milling

need to expose the starch

dont want to pulverize the grains, need to keep the husks
intact for the sparge or else big trouble peated malt

brewing beer

-Mashing

converting starch to sugar by activating a suite of enzymes

that were created by malting the grain
mix milled grains with water in a mash tun
water/grain ratio, temperature, water chemistry all affect how
the starch is converted
low temps, 140F = lots of glucose
high temps, 160F = lots of complex sugars, dextrins

brewing beer

-Mashing

glucose

F
140

150F

+
starch

16
0

glucose
maltose

dextrin

brewing beer

-Mashing

some beers use unmalted grains in the mash such as corn, rice
wheat, the big 3 use a lot of these adjuncts
- how could this be a problem?
problem?

how to remedy the

brewing beer

-Sparging

how to separate the crushed grain from the sweet liquid, the
wort, that will become beer?
- straws
- grain bed, husks

lauter tun
(usually mash tun
too)

brewing beer

-Sparging

recirculation recirculate the wort until it is clear

parti gyle do one mash, then drain all the wort off, add more
hot water, do another mash, drain all the wort,
continue until all sugars are gone
- usually results in two or three smaller batches
of beer that range from strong to medium to weak
sparging do one mash, begin to drain the wort off and as the
wort level falls, add hot water, sparge water, to
rinse the sugars from the grains, continue until all
sugars are rinsed
- usually get one big batch of beer that is one
strength, weaker than first runnings of parti
gyle but stronger than second runnings

brewing beer

-Sparging

What do I mean by strong and weak wort?

original gravity the density of the wort before
fermentation determined by how much
sugar is dissolved in the wort

high gravity = lots of sugar = high density

lots of sugar = potential for lots of alcohol

brewing beer

-Boiling

wort the clear, sugary liquid that is collected during

run off, also called sweet wort
collected in the boil kettle or just kettle

why boil?
- sterilize wort
- coagulate proteins
- concentrate sugars
- extract hop oils

brewing beer

-Hopping

Humulus lupulus
a tall, non-woody vine that dies back to the ground every
winter, perennial, Cannabaceae family, sister genus to hemp
female flowers produce cones that bear lupulin glands which
contain many different oils that contribute bitterness, flavor,
and aroma to beer, also bacteriostatic, used to balance
sweetness of malt
must be boiled vigorously to extract the oils

brewing beer

-Hopping

brewing beer

-Hopping

many different varieties, typically grouped by region of

origin, American hops most distinct

- England
-

Fuggles
East Kent Goldings
Target
Challenger

- Germany
- Spalt
- Tettnanger
- Hallertau

- United States
-

Cascade
Simcoe
Chinook
Magnum

- Czech Republic
- Saaz

brewing beer

-Hopping

hops are just one type of spice

others still used today
- orange peel
- coriander
more historical
-

rosemary
spruce tips
myrica gale
wormwood
mints

brewing beer

-Fining

fining the addition of material to beer or wort that aids in

the clarification of the wort and beer
during the boil, carrageen in Irish Moss helps pull
proteins out of solution

brewing beer

-Cooling

brewing beer

-Oxygenating

even though fermentation is an anaerobic process, we want the

yeast population to be large enough and strong enough to have
a healthy fermentation

brewing beer

-Pitching

pitching the addition of

yeast to the cooled wort,
also called bitter wort now
until very recently, 1940s
and 50s in England, mixed
cultures of yeast were
pitched
pure culture fermentation,
only one type of yeast, was
not adopted until 1890s in
Europe, now almost universal

1/1000 of a millimeter

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

fungi
Ascomycota
yeast

Basidiomycota

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

Basidomycota
Ascomycota

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

fermentation the period of time from pitching to complete

attenuation (also the biochemical process that
makes ATP without oxygen)
attenuation the degree to which the yeast convert sugar to
alcohol and CO2
original gravity density of the bitter wort before
pitching, many sugars dissolved in the
wort
final gravity density of beer after fermentation is
complete, depends on yeast strain, mash
temps

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

stages of fermentation
primary fermentation -where vast majority of attenuation
occurs, 3-20 days
lag phase yeast are acclimating to wort, little
obvious activity, 2-24 hours
aerobic phase -yeast grow very rapidly, population
increases exponentially, consumes
much of the sugar, much attenuation
occurs here, consumes oxygen,
obvious activity, 1-5 days
anaerobic phase yeast begin to ferment the sugars
left in the wort, activity slows,
1-15 days

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

secondary fermentation to be covered in aging section

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

Saccharomyces cerevisiae
sacchar- sugar (saccharide,
saccharine)
myces- fungus (ancient Greek)
ceres- Greek goddess of
agriculture? (cereal)
Saccharomyces carlbergensis
Carlsberg- Danish city where
lager species was
first isolated

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

Saccharomyces cerevisiae -ale yeast warm fermentation,

between 65-90F (avg 70F),
typically more character than lager
strains, less attenuative, short
fermentation and aging, as short as
5 days from grain to glass, top
fermentation

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

S. uvarum (S. carlbergensis) lager yeast cool fermentation,

between 48-55F, typically
cleaner than ale strains, more
attenuative, long fermentation
and aging, primary: 20 days,
secondary or lagering period,
at least 14 days, bottom
fermentation

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

many different strains within each species, 1000s of strains

- in addition to alcohol and CO2, different strains
contribute different flavors and aroma
- Belgian strains: lots of character, fruity,
clove, can be very attenuative even though
theyre ale strains
- English strains: lots of character, fruity,
bready, not attenuative, ale strains
- German strains: mostly lager strains, clean,
attenuative
- American strains: both ales and lager,
typically clean

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

brewing beer

-Yeast and fermentation

spontaneous fermentation no yeast is added by hand; Belgian

lambic style beer; many different
microorganisms

brewing beer

-Aging

after fermentation, beer is generally racked from one vessel to

another, from the primary fermenters to the aging tanks
beer is aged for a couple reasons
- to complete attenuation
- *for proper flavor development, yeast reabsorb certain
molecules, chemical reactions occur etc.*
- for the beer to clear
aging also known as secondary fermentation
some ales not aged at all, Upland Wheat, most aged only 1-2
weeks, very strong ales aged up to a year or more

brewing beer

-Aging

brewing beer

-Aging

lagering a long period of cold aging that is normally

required when using a lager strain, lager = to store
lagering takes at least 2 weeks, usually a month to
6 weeks, the stronger the beer, the longer the aging

brewing beer

-Fining

at this stage, finings are added to encourage the yeast to

drop out of suspension, but also proteins and other large,
haze forming molecules, both a physical and electrical process
isinglass and gelatin are popular finings, some strict
vegetarians object to its use, swim bladders and bones etc.
usually used in British breweries, synthetics are
becoming more and more popular such as polyclar and
DE

brewing beer

-Filtering

beer is typically filtered immediately before packaging

filtering removes all yeast and other microorganisms,
can also remove proteins and other large molecules
has an effect on packaging because filtering impacts
stability of the product, when stripped of large
molecules, there cant be much chemical activity in the
beer and thus it cant change much and of course
with everything living having been stripped out, nothing
can grow and spoil the beer that way

brewing beer

-Packaging

cans
bottles
kegs
casks
How to get the gas into the beer?
artificial carbonation filter the beer and forcibly
inject CO2 then package
natural carbonation
- do not filter, add extra sugar or actively
fermenting wort, and put a cap on it
- filter, add some sugar AND yeast or actively
fermenting wort (Sierra Nevada)

brewing beer

-enjoy responsibly