This is Part 7 of The Story of Beer, our journey through the people, ingredients, discoveries, and traditions that put beer in our glass.

Beer brewing can sound intimidating when every step is described with technical terminology.

Mash tun. Wort. Lautering. Sparging.

It can start sounding less like making beer and more like something that requires safety goggles.

The basic process, though, is surprisingly understandable.

A brewer is essentially trying to extract sugars from grain, flavor the resulting liquid, and let yeast turn those sugars into alcohol.

Let’s walk through it.

Step One: Mashing

Brewing usually begins with malted grain, most commonly barley.

The crushed grain is mixed with hot water in a vessel called a mash tun.

During roughly the next hour or two, enzymes in the grain convert starches into sugars.

The resulting sweet liquid is called wort.

Pronounced “wert.”

Yes, beer has been around for thousands of years and that’s the word we settled on.

Step Two: Separating the Wort

The brewer then separates the sweet wort from the spent grain.

Traditionally this is done through a process called lautering.

The grain may also be rinsed with additional water through a process called sparging, helping collect more of the fermentable sugars.

Once the liquid has been collected, it’s time for heat.

Step Three: The Boil

The wort is transferred to a kettle and boiled, traditionally for around an hour.

This helps concentrate the wort and stops the enzymatic activity that occurred during mashing.

This is also where hops commonly enter the picture.

Hops added at different stages of the boil contribute different combinations of bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

Step Four: Cool It Down

Yeast dies if you drop it into boiling liquid.

Understandably.

So after boiling, you must cool the wort.

Some breweries also pass the wort through additional hops for aroma before fermentation.

Once the wort reaches the appropriate temperature, you move it into a fermenter.

Step Five: Yeast Goes to Work

Now comes fermentation.

Yeast consumes sugars in the wort and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The specific beer and yeast determine whether fermentation takes a few days or considerably longer.

As fermentation finishes, yeast and other particles settle.

The sweet wort has officially become beer.

Step Six: Carbonation and Conditioning

Beer may naturally retain some carbonation from fermentation, or brewers can add carbonation later.

Some beers undergo additional conditioning to improve clarity and allow flavors to develop.

Bottle conditioned beers can even receive additional yeast or sugar in the bottle, allowing carbonation to develop naturally inside the package.

Step Seven: Time for a Pint

Once fermentation and conditioning are complete, you can package the beer.

Kegs.

Casks.

Bottles.

Cans.

The process that began with grain and water finally ends with something considerably more recognizable.

Beer.

Next Pour

Of course, knowing how brewers make beer only tells half the story.

Next we’ll meet the four ingredients responsible for most of the magic: water, malt, hops, and yeast.

Previous | All Chapters | Next