Brewing

Process:

Making beer is a lot like making a nice cup of hot tea.  Think of barley, the main ingredient, as the tea bag.  You heat up water, and mix the barley with the water for a certain amount of time (depending on the style of beer).  While the barley is mixing with the hot water, the starches in the barley are converted to sugars.  After this step, the sugary liquid, called wort, is then separated from the barley.

The next step is to bring the wort to a boil.  The length of the boil also varies depending on the style of beer, but it's usually a 60 minute boil.  This step is two-fold.  The first reason it's done is to sanitize it - the boil will kill any bacteria that could result in off-flavors.  The second reason is that during the boil, the hops are added.  The acid in the hops, which impart the bitterness in the beer, are more easily dissolved in boiling liquid.

After the hops have been added and the boil is complete, the next step is to cool it down as fast as possible, to get ready to add the yeast.  The yeast will eventually consume the sugars in the liquid.  As a result of this feeding frenzy, the yeast cells produce alcohol.  The strength of the beer is mostly determined by the amount of barley used.  More barley equals more food for the yeast, which will result in more alcohol.  After the beer has been cooled down to refrigerator temps, the yeast is added.  The fermentation usually takes 1 - 2 weeks, and afterwards, the liquid (wort) is now officially beer.  It's usually stored for a month or two after the fermentation to condition and age the beer.