Beer

a malt beverage. It is fermented but not distilled, belonging in this respect to the same class as ale, stout, and porter, It is composed largely of water and contains starch, sugars, the bitter principle of hops, and about four per cent of alcohol. Beer is made from wheat or any of the cereals, but chiefly from barley. Two distinct processes of malting and brewing are combined in making beer.

In the simplest language malting is sprouting the grain. Barley is steeped in water for about two days; then heaped up in small piles on a floor in a moist, warm room to sprout. The piles are shoveled over frequently to avoid spoiling, and the grain is watched with solicitude until, at the end of four or five days, tiny hair-like roots appear. The growth is then checked by drying promptly in a kiln until the grain is dry and brittle. The malt, as it is now called, is tumbled about and put through a blower or fanning mill to remove dust, shrunken kernels, and roots. Barley is full of starch. Malting, like sprouting in the field, changes a little of the starch into sugar. The flour of sprouted wheat makes bread noticeably sweet to the taste. Germination also develops the principle that converts more starch into sugar. Prior to the process of brewing, malt may stand in bins until needed. The two processes of malting and brewing are so distinct that many maltsters sell their product to brewers, but both operations are carried on by most establishments.

In brewing the malt is first crushed to liberate the starch grains. The ground malt is then cooked into a mash. For various reasons, to reduce cost of production and to make a lighter color of beer, a separate mash, possibly three times as great, is made of unmalted rice or corn grits, corn meal, corn starch, possibly potato starch. The two mashes are then run together and boiled in an abundance of water in large tubs. The process started in the sprouting of the malt continues to convert starch, not only of the malt, but also of the corn products, into sugar. After various periods of boiling, stewing, stirring, and settling, best known to the brewer, the liquid, now called wort, is drawn off from the mash into kettles. The mash is washed pretty thoroughly for wort and the leavings, including the hulls of the original barley, are sold for feed. Other cheapening but not undesirable materials are usually added to the wort, particularly sugar, glucose, and molasses. Hops, a very important ingredient, are now added, for, it is said, three distinct purposes. The tannin clarifies the wort by coagulating the albumen; the hop oil gives the beer a certain hop aroma; and the hop resin gives a bitter taste supposed to be desirable. Henry VIII forbade the use of hops. In 1649 London citizens petitioned Parliament to forbid "hoppes," lest "this wicked weed spoil the drink and endanger the lives of the people."

After boiling in the wort kettles and cooling in tanks, the liquid is filtered and drawn off into vats in cellars, where yeast is added to produce fermentation. This process is continued for about ten days, or until a large part of the sugar has been converted into alcohol. The liquid is now beer. It is kept in storage vats as near a freezing temperature as possible for two or three months. After this it is put up in kegs and bottles for the market. Various devices are employed, among others charging with carbonic acid, to give the sparkle of aerated waters.

The brewing industry, introduced mainly by Germans, has grown to tremendous proportion in the United States. It is exceeded by that of two countries only, Germany and the United Kingdom. Boston, Newark, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, and New York, named in ascending order, sell from 1,200,000 to 5,000,000 barrels a year.

The consumption of beer in America during the year 1907 amounted to 1,814,000,000 gallons. The consumption of beer per person for 1907, as reported in German official publications, was as follows: Gallons.

See Hops; Bavaria; Alcohol