FALCONE CARLA PIASTRELLINI FRANCO BEER The beer is one of the oldest fermented drinks of the humanity. Beer is produced by alcoholic fermentation of cereals aided by the action of various yeasts. The basic ingredients involved in the preparation of that drink are: water, cereals (usually barley or wheat malt), yeasts and (recently in history) hops. The combination of the quality, quantity and species of each of these ingredients produces a great variety of types of beer. In the first step, the cereal grains, usually wheat or barley, are immersed in water so that they begin to germinate and dry with hot air soon after. Depending on the degree of roasting, lighter or darker malts are obtained, which will bring the color of the beer. This stage is called malting. Secondly, grinding and maceration are carried out. The cereal is ground and mixed with water at a suitable temperature to extract the sugar from the grain and thus obtain a sweet wort. Water is the main ingredient with more than 90% of the product, so the duration and temperature during the process will greatly influence the type of final beer. Thirdly, the wort is boiled in order to eliminate the bacteria that may appear during the process, and at that time hops are added, an ingredient that will provide the desired scent and bitterness. This stage is called cooking. Then, the fermentation of the beer is carried out. The product passes to the fermenter, where the yeast is added. Enzymes transform wort sugars into alcohol and mark the beer's profile. If the fermentation is produced at high temperature it will result in a beer of type Ale or 'high fermentation', while, if it occurs at low temperature, we will get a beer of type Lager or 'low fermentation'. Next, the resulting liquid is kept in a maturation tank, where it rests cold so that the flavor and scents achieved during the process are stabilized and the final product maintains the desired character. Finally the beer is ready and is packaged into cans, bottles, or kegs. During bottling, additional carbon dioxide from the fermentation kettles is used to improve the scent of the beer.
