Beer is a carbonated low-alcohol drink with a characteristic bitter taste and smell of hops. Its production process is based on natural fermentation, but modern technology and the desire to reduce the cost of the process have led to the emergence of a new method of obtaining - this is powdered beer from dry ingredients. It is a mixture of beer wort concentrate, devoid of liquid by means of a vacuum. It is sold most often in the form of a powder, in rare cases it has a pasty appearance. By adding yeast and diluting with water, you can get a drink ready to drink. Powdered beer is found in Russia, Japan, the USA and other countries.

Live beer

The taste of the finished hop drink is primarily influenced by the quality of the barley malt used. It is he who is the main opportunity for savings for brewers. It's not just that almost all labels on cans and bottles have such a phrase as “contains barley malt”. But its quantity in the composition is a trade secret.

Malt belongs to the category of expensive ingredients and is often replaced by analogues with a lower price and quality. They can account for almost half of all content. Rice chaff, wheat, etc. are used. The wort for cooking is made from malt, and then hops are added to it.

Real non-powder beer has its bitter aftertaste and specific pleasant aroma precisely due to its base, it increases the amount of foam and is used as an antiseptic, cleansing the microflora. Many manufacturers are trying by all means to reduce the cost of production, while absolutely not caring about the final result.

After the end of cooking, the semi-finished product is cooled, yeast is added and left for fermentation, which will take about a week, provided the temperature is low. Then, after separating the yeast, it is infused for three months, due to which it acquires qualities that are unique to this variety. beer at this stage is completed.

But the savings opportunities don't end there. Since it is unprofitable for entrepreneurs to wait a long time for the final preparation of the drink, accelerated technologies have become widespread. Special inhibitors and carbon dioxide are added to the product to reduce the fermentation process. Artificial frothers allow you to get a lush foam cap.

How to make beer from powder

Such a concentrate is not profitable for large plants due to its high cost. Its use is more typical for establishments selling their own draft beer and small breweries. It is unprofitable for such organizations to produce beer in accordance with the full technology, since this requires ingredients with a short shelf life and expensive equipment. Therefore, as a way out, they use a concentrate. Subject to the subtleties of such a production process, it is possible to obtain a product of satisfactory quality, but it cannot be compared with a real “live” version.

What is used as a basis

The raw material is dried. It is produced under special conditions from brewing malt by sprouting barley grains. It is characterized by the occurrence of hydrolysis under the influence of certain substances, that is, the separation of non-starch type polysaccharides, proteins and starch. As a result, quickly digestible substances with a low molecular level are formed, including organic acids, sugars and dextrins. In the process of malting, B vitamins are also accumulated and activated in germinated barley.

Then the wort is prepared, which is an extract (extract) and has in its composition all the substances mentioned above. Then the wort is subjected to drying - to obtain a powdery mass.

Determination of foam quality

The distinctive characteristic of beer is the foam. It refers to one of the methods for determining its quality. If it's unsightly, reddish in color with a runny consistency and lots of bubbles, it's probably a powdered beer. In a real drink, the foam is absolutely white, it is characterized by the absence of bubbles, uniformity and compactness. If it is poured into a large glass, then the resulting foam should be at least 4 cm high and last for about five minutes. A lower level and rapid disappearance indicates no product. You can try to blow a little on the foam, it should bend, but not disappear. There is also some “sticking” to the glass.

Many people use a coin as a verification method, laying it on top of the layer. She will not drown if the drink is of good quality. Remains of foam remain on the glass with the end. In their absence, one can doubt the naturalness of the product.

Colour

There is a light and dark type of drink. But each manufacturer's product has its own shade. For evaluation, the European Convention uses special standards, which are several discs of glass with different tones. The method of diluting iodine in water is also used, until a color similar to the shade of the drink is formed, the determination occurs by the specific gravity of iodine.

In such a concept, not only a special tone plays a role, but also the presence of colors, transparency. Light beer has a harder time. It should have a certain luster, a golden, slightly transparent pure hue, with no greenish, brown or red tone. However, a dark beer product does not need to have these characteristics, but at the same time, no professional can identify powdered beer by its color.

Smell

When evaluating beer, the most attention is paid to the sense of smell, not to sight. When tasting, the main perception occurs with the help of the nose, while inhaling the specific aroma of the product. And this is not surprising, since a person has a much more sensitive sense of smell, but less versatile. To find out which beer is not powder, you need to determine the harmony of mixing all the notes of smell, after inhalation and a small sip. Characteristics such as yeasty, fresh, clean, hoppy and even floral are used to describe it.

What you need to know

It should be noted that the nose is not an olfactory organ, it is a passage for oxygen to enter the mucous surface, which is very small in size, due to which quite few odors are detected. To maximize the aroma, you need to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, repeat this action several times. But the smell is perceived somewhat differently during sips, since aromas absorbed by the mucous surface of the mouth reach the shell. At the end of the sip, perception reaches its maximum.

How to distinguish powdered beer from natural beer by taste

Most brands of foamy drink contain all four basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter and sweet - in various combinations. And such a concept as “tasty beer” is formed from a general feeling, while stretched for some time. During the slow flavor transition, pleasant sensations should occur, as well as in the aftertaste. All harmony can disappear because of any dissonance. During tasting, not only the tongue is involved as a receptor, but also the palate, cheeks and lips, which allow the formation of thermal and tactile characteristics. And among them - oiliness, astringency, consistency and temperature, which is very important when you need to determine draft beer from powder.

Differences

A light drink is distinguished by the finest hop bitterness - it should not be dominated by extracted elements. After it, a feeling of specific, quickly disappearing bitterness should remain on the tongue, while the aftertaste is practically absent. A real light foamy drink is characterized by such terms as “harmonious”, “clean”, “thin”.

In the dark version, the hops and malt are felt differently, there is no pronounced bitterness, but the taste is more full and “thick”. The malt feel is top notch.

The aftertaste is a characteristic that deserves no less attention. At the same time, a prolonged feeling of bitterness indicates a poor-quality product, as it arises due to violations of production techniques or the poor quality of the ingredients included in the composition.

Peculiarities

The classic beer production technology is based on the use of malt, purified water, yeast and hops. Belonging to a particular variety is formed by the choice of malt base. In Russia, for the production of high-quality beer, imported ingredients are most often used, this is due to the high cost of equipment for obtaining dried barley. Hop cones are responsible for foam formation and specific bitterness. Many believe that Chuvashia is the country that produces the best hops. But even he has disadvantages, including the rapid loss of smell and other characteristics that are so necessary for the manufacture of a foamy drink. Therefore, many countries store it in vacuum special packages, in granular form.

Production stages

Beer consists of the following steps.

First of all, the malt is prepared. For this, cereals are germinated, dried, after which sprouts are removed from them.

For the wort, malt is finely ground and mixed with purified water, which forms a taste with a sweetish tint. A mixture of crushed grain products is called a shutter, subsequently it is again frayed with water.

Next, the shutter is filtered by transferring to a special container and separating into two components: unhopped wort and the so-called grain, the basis of which is represented by small particles of barley.

All ingredients are heat treated. Boiling for 2 hours completely dissolves the hops and evaporates elements that have a negative effect on flavor and aroma characteristics.

Clarification is carried out in a whirlpool - this is a special installation in which hops and malt are separated, not dissolved during the previous stages. Under the influence, they accumulate on the sides of the device. It takes about 30 minutes to settle the wort, then the dense residues are separated.

During the cooling stage, a fermentation tank is used, into which the base of the drink is transferred. At this time, the wort acquires a lower temperature and is saturated with oxygen, which is the main condition for the yeast to work.

Fermentation

Specials are added to other components. Brewing technology at the plant requires about a month for complete fermentation. In this way, a rather cloudy substance is formed, which tastes completely different from beer and requires additional fermentation, in the form of aging in a closed container under the influence of slight pressure. As a result, carbon dioxide is formed. At the same time, the type of the future drink is determined by the period of aging.

The insoluble residues are then separated again. This process is most common in industrial manufacturing. Due to some techniques, it is possible to increase the shelf life, due to the destruction of the existing microflora.

The final stage is pasteurization, during which the drink is brought to a temperature of 80 degrees. It is not used for all varieties, and similarly to filtration, it extends the shelf life. But many believe that the taste characteristics are reduced after such heat treatment.

About beer, as well as about many other things that surround us, a large number of myths and stereotypes have developed over a long time. Let's try to figure out what is true and what is not.

1. Alcohol is added to beer.

Perhaps the most common myth, especially due to the strong beers popular in Russia, such as “Okhota strong” and “Baltika No. 9″. Indeed, this is not surprising, because the alcohol spirit that knocks you down at the first attempt to sniff beer in a glass immediately leads to such thoughts.
In fact, alcohol in beer, if added, is extremely rare. These cases are an exception to the rule, since the use of alcohol in the production of beer is extremely unprofitable. And, in fact, it is forbidden. Since any additives in beer exceeding 0.5% must be declared on the label.
In addition, yeast can naturally produce up to 13% alcohol, brewers simply don't need to add what yeast gives for free.

2. Beer makes you fat.

There is certainly some truth in this statement, but the cause of fullness is not beer at all, but the food that we eat after it. Beer stimulates the appetite, so after a heavy drink with friends you always want to eat. Excessive high-calorie food leads to fullness.
And then, a lot depends on genetics, look at the Germans, there are few fat ones among them, and by the amount of beer they drink, they will put anyone in the belt.

3. Beer is made from powder.

Not a single brewery, be it a microbrewery or a large brewing holding, would do such things. The beer production process is quite standard and consists of certain stages that require certain equipment.
This myth appeared due to the technology of making beer at home promoted by some firms. They suggest diluting the beer concentrate, fermenting it in plastic containers and consuming it. But the liquid obtained in this way is by no means similar in taste or smell to beer. Therefore, you will never mix up this “product” so that you happen to buy it in a store. Yes, yes, they have already penetrated the shops

4. Beer can be poisonous.

When I am told about beer poisoning, I am reminded of a well-known anecdote. “We sat with the boys, talked well, drank two bottles of vodka, and then I got poisoned with a cookie ...”
What I love about beer is precisely its absolute food safety.
It combines several factors:
a. High alcohol content
b. High acidity - low pH
in. Anthocyanogens in hops - natural antibacterial substances
d. High carbon dioxide content
e. Low sugar content

All these factors individually and together are a powerful antibacterial barrier that prevents the appearance of bacteriological contamination in beer (from which they are poisoned).

The only thing that can spoil beer is the so-called beer spoilage bacteria. There are several types of them, and all of them lead to the fact that beer loses its taste and organoleptic qualities. There is one BUT, which completely eliminates the possibility of poisoning with such beer. It is simply impossible to drink it. Its smell, color and taste will not allow you to take a single sip.

5. Russian beer is worse than imported.

This opinion is heard very often, especially from people who have been abroad at least once.
To be honest, I never understood in Russian people this desire to seem worse to themselves than we really are. Why do we have such a need for self-abasement? After all, not a single German admits that German beer sucks, although, I assure you, among German beer I have met many not the most delicious examples.

This opinion we have developed due to the lack of an established culture of drinking beer in our country. First beer was in short supply, then prohibition, our management did everything possible to protect us from the opportunity to taste good beer.
Then came the first import and our hearts were given to Finnish, Czech and German beer.

And no one can imagine that Russian brewers can be no worse than German or Czech ones, because a lot of time has passed.

Now Russian factories mostly use modern imported equipment, which is no different from the same equipment at European factories. The brewing technology is exactly the same. Our brewers study at the same brewing schools as the Germans.
The raw material used is the same. Yes, of course, now there is a tendency to use domestic malt, but it is produced by imported (Cargill and Souflet) companies and the European quality system.

So really no difference. And we can have great tasting beer and you can find crap abroad.

And finally, I will give just two examples:
The beer that I tasted in Munich at the famous Hofbrauhaus brewery had a very unpleasant defect - diacetyl (the smell of rancid butter). For this defect in my brewery, I would instantly get on the ears. There is a lack of professionalism of the brewer.
Oetinger beer, which is rightfully considered the cheapest beer in Germany (it really costs half as much as any other) is produced in a fully automated production - only three people work per shift, it turned out to be a completely tasteless watery slurry, which cannot be called a beer. A Soviet alcoholic of the 1980s would also dare.

6. Imported beer produced in Russia is worse than original beer in Europe.

This stereotype appeared as soon as our breweries began to brew beer under license. One of the first was Lowenbrau beer, which we brewed at Bochkarev.
Here, the same factors played in many respects as in paragraph 5.

As proof, I would like to cite the following facts:
In the production of Dutch beer Heineken:
Each batch of Heineken was sent to the head office in Holland. There was a blind tasting (that is, it is not visible which beer is being tested).
And on a seven-point scale, all samples were evaluated. Where "7" was taken brewed in Holland. Our beer has been rated 6.8 and 6.7 throughout the year. This is a very high rating.
But in terms of taste, the raw materials that are used naturally play a role. We have different water (much better, I must say), the same malt was used then (now domestic), hops are still used the same as in Holland.
Taste may vary, of course. But this is being monitored and the basic flavor profile will remain the same. And in the production of beer, it is the profile of the beer that determines its “similarity” to the original. And if beer experts think it's similar, then maybe it is?

7. “Live beer” is healthier than regular beer.

The term “live beer” appeared with the light hand of marketers who are able to develop any, even the most ridiculous idea and make it earn money.
That is why a new product under this name appeared on the market.
The main advantage of “live beer” was its health benefits (it was necessary to come up with something).

In fact, real live beer (which can still be found in microbreweries engaged in bottling beer) contains live yeast, which, in fact, makes it “alive”.
Due to this, the beer can be stored longer than usual and becomes stronger during storage (the yeast continues to work, producing alcohol).
But even in such conditions, beer can be stored for no more than a month.
In addition, such live beer is not only not healthy, but, on the contrary, can cause problems for people with a weak stomach.

Large breweries cannot afford to produce beer with a shelf life of 1 month, so all produced beer is necessarily pasteurized, that is, heated to a temperature of 68-72 degrees, after which all yeast cells die.
And therefore, such beer cannot be called “live”.

Although, in fairness, it should be recognized that there is indeed a little more vitamin B in such beer, but in this case it is better for them to wash their hair

8. The more foam, the better.

This is another misconception, apparently inspired by advertising and numerous beer tasting guides. You can also pour bad beer so that there will be more foam than beer.
In fact, for the quality of beer, it is not so much the amount of foam that matters, but its quality and consistency.
The foam should have small bubbles and stick to the rim of the glass as you drink, leaving it in thin rings.
Foam is an indicator of the brewer's professionalism, because good foam and clear beer are completely opposite concepts in the technological sense. After all, it is the substances responsible for good foam that are also involved in the formation of haze in beer.

9. Real beer should consist only of malt, hops and water.

Indeed, five hundred years ago (in 1516), William IV, tired of fighting the lawlessness of German brewers, issued a law regulating the composition of beer.
This was not done in vain, as at that time everything was called beer. A standard was needed and it was made.

Now, following tradition, some (but by no means all) German brewers still brew beer with only three components and proudly put Reinheitsgebot 1516 on the label.
But now, after 500 years of improving the technology of brewing, this is nothing more than a tradition.
And beer brewed with, for example, rice and unmalted barley, I like a lot more. It has a fuller soft taste and rich aroma.

So try, experiment and don't let the brand name or your stereotypes affect your taste.

After all, the best beer is the one you like.

10. The darker - the stronger.

In our country, dark beer is not very popular. I remember the period when there was no dark domestic beer on the shelves at all. Perhaps that is why this myth appeared.
In fact, the strength of beer is determined by yeast, because it is they who produce alcohol during the fermentation process. And the amount of alcohol in the finished product depends on how many sugars there will be at the beginning of fermentation. And the amount of sugars is described by another figure mentioned on the beer etiquette - the extractivity of the beer wort (usually 11-15%, for strong varieties up to 20%).
The color of the beer is determined by the type of malt used. It comes in a variety of colors, from the lightest to almost black. Sometimes natural malt colorings are used to “darken” beer, they are a little more expensive, but much more convenient to use.

11. Beer should be drunk cold.

There are several different opinions on this matter, and each is correct in its own way.
The only thing not to do is put the beer in the freezer. Firstly, there is a big risk of beer freezing, as already at -5 the beer turns into ice and you should not drink it after that, as the taste qualities are lost.
Secondly, drinking ice beer you will never feel its taste, and then drinking beer turns into a banal booze.

It is believed that the optimum temperature for comfortable drinking beer is +12 degrees Celsius. It is at this temperature that you can enjoy the taste of beer and feel its taste and aroma.
Some brewers believe that the temperature should be even higher, but this is due to the search for aromatic defects and is not considered a recommendation for beer lovers.
In general, it is best to take a bottle out of the refrigerator half an hour before drinking beer - it will be just right.

12. Cloudy means unfiltered

Unfortunately, not always. Haze in beer can be caused by both chemical (related to the composition of raw materials) and microbiological (related to production hygiene) factors.
Cloudy beer happens:
1. Filtered in the course of production, but with the deposit which has dropped out in the course of storage. - Marriage of technology - it is better not to drink.
2. Filtered during production, but cloudy due to microbiological contamination. Do not drink in any case (however, you will not succeed)
3. Unfiltered wheat - usually not filtered, normal presentation.
4. Unfiltered live - turbidity due to yeast sediment, normal presentation.

13. The best snack for beer is salted fish

You can talk endlessly about a good and proper snack, someday I will write a separate article about this. All I can say now is that connoisseurs and beer lovers believe that beer should be drunk without snacks or with unleavened cookies in order to feel the taste of the drink itself. If you eat salted fish or nuts, the taste becomes dull.
The best way for a brewer to hide his mistakes is to serve a salty and flavorful snack.

14. Beer is good for the kidneys.

Everyone knows that beer is an excellent diuretic. And like any diuretic, it is good for the kidneys.
Another thing is that there is no benefit for the liver at all.

Who doesn't know what beer is? How was it brewed before and how is it brewed today? What ingredients are needed to make it? The standard formulation of this low-alcohol product states that the basis for it is barley. And, to be precise, malt wort based on it. Let's look at how you can brew beer at home, roughly speaking - on your knee.

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A bit of beer history

For Russian people, the word "beer" is directly associated with the word "drink". But in Western languages, almost unchanged, this drink is referred to as "bir". About what word, what people and where such a universally identical perception of the name of beer in different languages ​​​​has occurred, they still argue.

Strange as it may sound, but beer entered the diet of people before bread. In ancient times, cereal plants were grown precisely because of it. And only much later they learned to bake bread from grain and cook porridge.

Interesting homemade beer recipes:

home brewing process

The standard classification of beer is carried out according to four parameters:

• color. The color directly depends on the degree of roasting of the malt. You can get up to 13 shades of this drink, not only in the manufacturing process, but also by mixing different varieties.
• fermentation method. Ways of beer fermentation are divided into top and bottom. In the first case, the process occurs at a temperature of 15-25 degrees, in the second at 4-9. In the old days, all beer was brewed with the help of top fermentation. Bottom (camp) fermentation has already been used in our time.
• Composition of raw materials. Traditionally, beer is brewed with barley malt. But cereals such as wheat, rye, corn, rice can also be used. Exotic beer based on bananas, milk, herbs, vegetables and fruits, despite their name, can hardly be attributed to beer.
• fortresses. The alcohol standard ranges from 3 to 5.5% by volume of ethyl alcohol. Stronger varieties are produced using non-traditional brewing methods.

Schematically, the brewing process looks like this:

1. Cereal grains are germinated, dried and cleaned.
2. Then crushed and soaked in water.
3. The solution is placed in a filter tank, where it is separated into fractions: unhopped wort and grains.
4. Hops and other recipe ingredients are added to the must and boiled for up to two hours, after which it is clarified.
5. At the clarification stage, insoluble particles of cereals and hops are separated, the wort is sent for fermentation.
6. In the process of fermentation for at least a week with the help of yeast, the simple sugars contained in the wort give alcohol and carbon dioxide.
7. Ideally, in order to obtain excellent taste and optimal saturation of the drink with carbon dioxide, the drink should be allowed to ripen (to stand for 1-3 months).
8. The beer is then filtered and pasteurized. Sometimes the ripening process takes place directly in the bottle.

The taste of the resulting drink is directly affected by the amount of sugar in the malt, the hops used, the fermentation temperature and the ripening period.

Brewing beer at home is only difficult due to the lack of malt and hops. If you really want to try it, you can look for the ingredients on the Internet.

Classic recipe for homemade beer with brewer's yeast

• 3 cups hops
• 2.5 kg barley malt
• 10 liters of water
• 25 g brewer's yeast
• 75 g sugar
• ½ tablespoon of table salt

Malt is dissolved in water, infused for a day, poured into another container with the addition of salt, boiled for two hours. Hops are added 20 minutes before the end of the boil. The resulting wort is filtered from undissolved particles, cooled to room temperature. Sugar and brewer's yeast are added, everything is mixed and infused for 10-12 hours. It is bottled. After 12 hours, homemade beer will be drinkable. This is how you get natural beer at home. There are no special requirements for dishes and containers.

Fruit beer without yeast

• A kilogram of ripe or overripe strawberries
• 2-2.5 kg of honey
• water 7 liters
• 2.5 liters of warm water

Water is poured into a vat, honey is added and stirred until it is completely dissolved. Purely washed strawberries are added. The mixture is left for a week in a warm place for fermentation. A starter is obtained, into which 4.5-5 liters of water are added, covered with a lid and left for another five to six weeks, stirring daily.

After the first two weeks, it is advisable to taste the mixture. If there is not enough sweetness, you can also add 0.5-1 kg of honey. When the strawberries are all at the bottom, the fermentation process ends. The resulting wort is filtered and poured into jars, which are placed in a cool place. After a month, sediment will appear at the bottom. Now it is possible to bottling, carefully making sure that the sediment does not get into the finished product.

mulled wine recipe with beer

Any kind of light beer is taken, poured into tall dishes that do not oxidize when heated (enamelled pan, heat-resistant glass containers). Lemon zest or peels, sugar in the amount of 4-5 teaspoons per liter, a little cinnamon and clove inflorescences are added to the beer. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

During the process, foam will rise very strongly., so it is important to take exactly tall dishes. Whilst the mixture is heating, grind the egg yolks with sugar or icing sugar and inject in a very thin stream when the beer begins to boil. You can even turn off the fire. As soon as the drink thickens, it is poured into glasses and served.

What are the benefits and harms of beer?

Benefit:

• With very moderate consumption, the effect of preventing coronary heart disease due to the presence of antioxidants.
• Blocking the effects of aluminum, which affects the occurrence of oncology and Alzheimer's disease.
• Reducing the likelihood of diabetes.
• The presence of soluble fiber, indispensable for the human body.
• Suppression of Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that causes ulcers and stomach cancer.
• The silicon content in beer helps preserve bones.

Harm:

• Beer is a strong diuretic. Due to its excessive use, the body can become dehydrated.
• Beer is, after all, an alcoholic drink. With excessive use, the likelihood of developing alcoholism is much higher than from strong drinks. Taking into account the fact that young people prefer to drink beer, whose body is at greater risk of developing alcoholism than middle-aged and older people, we can conclude that you should not indulge in this drink too much. Bismarck also said: "Beer makes us stupid, lazy and powerless."

How to drink beer correctly?

This question is purely individual. Tasters prefer a temperature around 11-13 degrees so that its aroma and taste can be fully felt. At lower temperatures, the taste of beer changes, the aroma weakens. Some people put a container of beer in the freezer in order to cool it faster. Here there is a danger of the drink turning into a state of ice, which, after defrosting, will not look like beer at all.

In addition to the usual use chilled, you can prepare hot drinks and even beer mulled wine, which also serve as a medicine, for example, for colds and coughs.

What to drink with?

Conventional wisdom: salty foods are the best snack. In fact, pickles, fish or nuts, clog all the aroma and taste of this drink. Unleavened cracker, if you really want to have a snack, ideal.

Tales about beer

1. They get fat from beer. In fact, beer has a lower calorie content (42 kcal/100g) than milk, fruit juices and drinks with added sugar. Beer whets the appetite and more snacks are eaten with it. In addition, it is customary to eat salty foods as a snack. And 1 g of salt retains 80 g of water in the human body.
2. Alcohol is added to beer for strength. In fact, despite the fact that brewer's yeast ends up fermenting at 5.4% ABV, today's technology makes it possible to obtain this drink with an alcohol content of up to 41%. This result is achieved by distillation or freezing technology. Some breweries use champagne yeast.
3. The most useful of the whole variety of varieties is live beer. In fact, marketers so called beer that has not undergone pasteurization. In such a drink, respectively, the shelf life cannot exceed one month. And the composition, strength and content of various substances are the same as those of pasteurized. So the difference here is only in self-hypnosis.
4. So the classic: water, malt and hops. Malt in the production of beer can be used not necessarily barley. It can also be obtained from wheat, rye, rice, corn. An honest brewer will never back down from this golden composition. But lately they have been trying to convince us all the time that modern beer production uses powder concentrates created in Asia. Beer lovers took this information with great negativeness. And although nothing arises from scratch, this information still turned out to be a “duck”. If only simply because such technologies greatly increase the cost of the drink.
5. A good beer should have a lot of head. Hops are an essential component used in the preparation of beer. It is he who gives the beer that charm and pleasant aroma, as well as bitterness. The stability and density of the foam directly depends on the quality of the raw materials used. But its quantity does not characterize the drink in any way - an experienced bartender can pour the most excellent beer into a glass with almost no foam. It all depends on the strength and direction of the jet of the poured drink.
6. Men who constantly drink beer lose their masculine power. This tale is based on the fact that hop cones contain phytoestrogen, a plant female sex hormone that suppresses testosterone (male sex hormone). In fact, in order for the estrogenic effect to be significant, the content of these substances in the drink should be 500 times more than it is contained in any kind of beer. The intestinal microflora of each person has its own characteristics. Therefore, in some individuals, even small consumption of this drink can have an estrogenic effect. And phytoestrogens are even in bananas and pomegranates.
7. Beer is useful from a medical point of view. Glands (lupulin) and hop inflorescences are used as medicinal raw materials for medical preparations. This plant of the hemp class has a slight sedative effect, therefore it is part of many sedative drugs and dietary supplements. Beer contains organic minerals, amino acids and vitamins needed in everyday life. But their content is very small. In order to fully ensure the daily norm of these substances, you need to drink at least 3-5 liters of beer. As a result, the amount of pure alcohol that enters the body will be equivalent to a drunk bottle of vodka. What's the use? And the fact that beer is a powerful antiseptic is not mentioned at all in the medical literature.

Beer is a product obtained by fermenting malt wort with brewer's yeast. Many people love this foamy drink, but not everyone knows what beer is made from. The recipe, meanwhile, is very simple, because the classic recipe uses only four ingredients: malt, hops, brewer's yeast and water.

Classic recipe

Before telling how beer is made, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on one of the components - malt. Malt is specially prepared barley. Barley raw materials received at the plant undergo a mandatory cleaning and disinfection procedure. In order for the necessary chemical changes to occur inside the seeds, contributing to subsequent fermentation, the grain is soaked and allowed to germinate. After that, the green shoots are removed, and the barley itself is dried. After a month of aging, they get what beer is made from according to the classic recipe - barley malt.

The finished malt is crushed and goes to the production of beer wort, the so-called mashing. The essence of mashing is mixing crushed barley grains with water and subsequent gradual heating of the resulting mass. The high temperature is necessary to activate the enzymes and saccharify the mixture. By the way, the quality of beer depends not only on raw materials, but also on water. The softer it is, the tastier the drink is.

The heated infusion is filtered twice and sent to the next stage of beer production - brewing with the addition of hops. It is at this stage that the beer acquires its special taste and aroma. In addition, the brewing process allows you to rid the wort of unwanted substances.

Before adding yeast, the wort is cleaned of malt and hop particles, and enriched with oxygen so that the fermentation process is more active. With direct fermentation of the wort, ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide are released. So everyone's favorite drink falls into the category of low alcohol. Strained beer is kept for several months and bottled.

modern beer

It is worth noting that in modern production, the traditional beer recipe has been somewhat changed in order to speed up and reduce the cost of the brewing process. Barley is diluted with corn, rice and other grains, and various syrups are added to get more wort during cooking. What beer is now made of certainly reduces its cost, but at the same time significantly reduces the taste of the drink.