From Grain to Glass: Exploring Every Step of the Beer Brewing Process

Beer is widely regarded as the most complex fermented beverage in the world. Its taste, color, and mouthfeel have more variations than other handcrafted beverages. The beer uses a lot of raw materials. This creates complex flavors that cannot be achieved by distilled spirits, wine, and cider. This is why most people love beer. The process of brewing beer is like a foreign language to many people. But if craft beer lovers want to appreciate the delicious drinks in front of them. Then when drinking delicious craft beer, a basic understanding of the basic steps of brewing may be helpful. Let us get acquainted with the process of beer production.

Malting and Milling

The brewing begins with raw barley, wheat, oats, or rye sprouted in the malt house. Generally speaking, barley is the most common malt in craft beer. Wheat and rye are two other commonly used malt grains. We need to dry the grain in the beer cellar, and possibly dry it. Malted barley is a barley grain that has already begun the germination process. The malting process is carried out to form the enzymes in the grain. These enzymes are necessary for the conversion of starch in grains into sugar.
Grinding is the crushing of the outer shell or outer layer of the grain. Then, the process of breaking the inner layer so that the saccharification liquid contacts the whole grain. This is a very critical step in the process. Because incorrect grinding will affect the beer before the brewing starts. The key to this process is to crush the grain sufficiently to expose the starch center of the barley seed. Of course, this process will not damage the grain husk that wraps them.

Mashing

After the milling is completed, the mashing process is started. Mashing refers to the process of soaking barley. This process allows barley and hot water to merge to activate maltase. Mashing also converts the starch in the grain into fermentable sugar, which eventually becomes alcohol. Generally, the mashing process needs to be carried out at 100°F~170°F. Because the type of sugar produced by the enzyme can be controlled by raising and lowering the temperature. So, it is necessary to closely check the mashing temperature when brewing beer. For heating, you can choose steam heating, direct flame heating, and electric heating. The mashing process takes one to two hours.

Lautering

Lautering is the process of separating the wort from spent grain as efficiently as possible. Generally, it is done in a separate lauter tun. Of course, there are now some large beer brewing chambers that carry out this process in mashing tun.
A lauter tun has a perforated or slotted bottom with runoff ports. The solids from the mash settle on the bottom and form a filter for the wort.
Lautering consists of three steps: mashout, recirculation, and sparging. The mashing consists of raising the mash temperature to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. It stops enzymatic reactions and preserves the fermentable sugar profile of the wort. Of course, It also makes the wort less viscous and easier to work with.
After the wort is transferred, the remaining used grains need to be taken out. This grain consists of chaff and the remaining particles of mashing. Sparging is the process of rinsing the spent grain. It with heated water to get as much of the sugars as possible from the wort’s remaining grain.

Boiling

The brewer needs to boil the wort in a kettle. There are two main reasons for the process of boiling wort. One is to pasteurize the wort. The other is to add hops or other flavors, such as ginger or molasses. The longer the hops are boiled in the wort, the stronger the bitterness of the beer. If hops are added at the end of the boiling process, the bitterness of the beer is not very strong and the taste is sweeter. Generally, the boiling process needs to last 60-120 minutes.

Understanding the wort boiling process

Usually, homebrewers don’t think about boiling, and aside from the need to add hops, nothing seems to happen. But, the boiling of wort is a key link in the winemaking process. The chemical reaction that occurs during this process has an important impact on the flavor of the final beer. Wort is a mixture of

Benefits of boiling wort

Boiling wort is one of the most critical and complex aspects of the brewing process. Many new whole-grain beer brewers read about the effects of different temperatures, mash thickness, and other aspects of boiling to understand what happens during the boiling process and how to deal with it. Boiling is one of the standard steps

Understanding the wort boiling process

Benefits of boiling wort

Whirlpooling

After boiling, the vortex stage removes protein and hop solids by sedimentation. This process can further clarify the wort. The removed solid is called trub. The Boiling tun can be used as a whirlpool. Of course, you can also use a separate container designed separately.

The four processes of Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, and Whirlpooling are carried out in the brewing system. The brewing system is also called the brewhouse. We can provide a variety of combined brewing systems according to your different needs. If you want to buy microbrewery equipment, you can contact us at any time. Micet Craft can provide you with a complete turnkey solution.

Fermentation

After the Whirlpooling is over, the wort needs to be transferred to the fermenter. It is necessary to add brewer’s yeast to the fermentation tank during fermentation. Beer yeast is a living organism, it is very picky about environmental temperature. So, the wort needs to be cooled. When the wort is transferred to the fermenter, it needs to pass through a heat exchanger to reduce the temperature. This process requires controlled cooling to a specific temperature. Generally, the temperature at which beer is brewed is 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
After the transfer is complete, need put the brewer’s yeast into the fermentation tank. Yeast consumes the sugar produced in the mash and converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. When the fermentation is complete, the “beer” needs to be cooled to 30°F for conditioning. Yeast settles to the bottom of the fermenter. This is done to help clarify the beer. Of course, you can also collect the yeast at the bottom and use it in the next fermentation.

Conditioning

During the conditioning process for ales and lagers, the beer will mature and smooth. Of course, the by-products of fermentation will be reduced. It is possible to dry hop during this stage for added aroma. The conditioning process may last from one to six weeks, sometimes even longer. Depending on the type of beer, the brewer can choose to filter out residual yeast or other particles from the beer.

Racking

At the end of the conditioning phase, the beer is filtered into a bright tank. In the bright tank, the beer can be carbonated to carbonate the beer. Forced carbonation is to add CO2 under high pressure to the container to force the beer to absorb carbon dioxide. Most breweries use this operation. Because it can make the beer complete carbonation faster. This can also make the beer clearer. Of course, some people will pasteurize beer to improve transparency and shelf life.

Packaging and Distribution

After the racking is completed, the beer needs to be packaged using a beer filling machine. Beer can be packaged in bottles, cans, and kegs. After packaging, it can be sold all over the world. It can be sold to bars and restaurants. Of course, it can also be sold in grocery stores and convenience stores.

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This is the complete beer brewing process. If you want to learn more about brewing beer, you can bookmark our blog. We will update the blog regularly. Of course, if you are ready to start your microbrewery project, you can contact us at any time. Micet Craft will provide you with the most complete technical support.

The beer brewing process