Principles of beer production

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Beer is an alchoholic beverage produced by fermenting sugary solution called wort, obtained by dissolution of malted cereal grain.

Brewing is therefore the the process of converting the wort into alchohol by yeasts. Thus beer is made by yeast fermentation of the sugary solution which is also rich in nitrogenous substances, vitamins and some trace elements necessary for the growth of yeasts. The sugars and the other substances are traditionally derived from cereals such as barely, sorghum, rice, maize e.t.c

Photo credit : food and industrial microbiology text book

Beer making is one of the oldest arts known to man. Man, it is now believed, was brewing beer at the same time as he was learning the rudiments of making bread, for any number of grains which were used to make bread could easily have been transformed into bread like drinks through the nutural fermentation ( beadle, 1975 ). The activity of microorganisms (yeasts) to produce alcohol from sugary solution was the oldest and the most important of all the industrial processess. The discovery of this process is lost in the mists of antiquity but was probably due to observation of the spontaneous fermentation of grape juice and other sugar containing juices to wine.

The brewing of beer was also known to have been carried out in Egypt as early as 400BC. The Egyptian were known to have practised the art of brewing using spices and herbs-forerunners of the present day hops which were added to beer with the intention to counteract the sweet taste of the malts (germinated and dried barleys ). From Egypt, the Greeks carried the art to Europe, and the Romans learned about beer during their conquest of Greece. It is believed that beer was introduced to England by Roman armies.

Photo credit : food and industrial microbiology text book

Four basic ingredients needeed to produce beer. They are the malt, hops, water and brewer's yeasts.