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What beer is

Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world. Wheat, maize, rice and oats are also used besides malted barley. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. Beer is distributed in bottles and cans, and is commonly available on draught in pubs and bars. A beer hall is a large pub that specializes in beer.

Malt

Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malting produces enzymes that convert starches into fermentable sugars. Different roasting times and temperatures produce different colours of malt from the same grain. Darker malts produce darker beers. Caramel malt provides enhanced caramel notes, while roasted malt contributes more roasted or malty flavours.

Hops and yeast

Hops are the green flowers of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring and stability agent in beer, to which they also give floral, fruity or citrus flavours and aromas. During wort boiling, the humulones in hops are thermally isomerized into iso-alpha acids, which give a bitter flavour to beer. Myrcene, humulene and caryophyllene together make up 80-90% of the essential oil in hops. Top-fermented beers are most commonly produced with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a top-fermenting yeast. Top-fermenting yeast typically works between 15 and 25 °C, and at these temperatures it produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products. Lager is cool-fermented beer, and pale lagers are the most commonly drunk beers in the world.

Chemistry

Beer contains the phenolic acids 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and sinapic acid. Tryptophol, tyrosol and phenylethanol are aromatic higher alcohols produced by yeast during the brewing process. Furfural is one of the most prevalent aldehydes in beers. Esters are synthesised during fermentation, and their amount depends on the yeast strain and the fermentation temperature. The Maillard reaction contributes to the browning of malted barley as found in beer. The caramel and malty notes in beer generally arise from Maillard reactions, caramelisation or pyrolysis products.

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