Fig. 37 —Photograph of a spray of hops, which are used to flavor beer.
In making beer, a sweet watery mixture is first prepared by mashing sprouted barley grains in water. Barley or any other grain forms sugar as soon as it begins to grow. Yeast plants are added to the sweet mixture. By growing they change some of the sugar into alcohol. Hops are also put in to give the beer a fine flavor. After a time the clear liquid is separated from the barley grains and hops and put into tight casks and bottles.
The Making of Wine.—Wine contains from two to four times as much alcohol as beer. Most of the wine is made in California, France, and Germany because grapes grow better in these countries than elsewhere. Wine may be made from the juice of any fruit, but the grape is generally used.
Fig. 38 —The quantity of grapes required to make this glass full of wine.
The grapes after being picked are thrown into large tubs and crushed so that the juice runs out. The wild yeast always present on the grape skins begins to grow in the juice and change some of the sugar into alcohol. This work of the yeast lasts from one to eight weeks. At the end of that time, the grape juice has become a kind of poor wine, consisting of alcohol, water, grape flavor, and some acid. To make the wine good it must be drawn off into casks, where the yeast causes further changes during several weeks. It is then put into bottles, where it should remain about five years to get the right flavor.
Sherry is a strong wine used in flavoring food, such as puddings and sauces. A few teaspoonfuls of this wine will make a child drunk. The wines made at home from elderberries, blackberries, and cherries contain alcohol which will do just as much harm as that in the purchased wines.
How Brandy is Made.—Brandy contains more alcohol than wine and almost as much as whisky. In fact brandy is only very strong wine. After the yeast plants have formed as much alcohol as they can in grape juice it becomes so strong that it kills them. This wine is then heated in such a way as to separate some of the water from it. The taking away of the water leaves the wine stronger in alcohol and it then forms brandy.