Of course he does not plant it in the ground, because it would need to be quickly dug up again.
He keeps it warm and moist in a place where he can watch it, and stop the sprouting just in time to save the sugar, before it is used to feed the root and stem. This sprouted grain is called malt.
The brewer soaks it in plenty of water, because the grain has not water in itself, as the grape has.
He puts in some yeast to help start the work of changing the sugar into gas[B] and alcohol.
Sometimes hops are also put in, to give it a bitter taste.
The brewer watches to see the bubbles of gas that tell, as plainly as words could, that sugar is going and alcohol is coming.
When the work is finished, the barley has been made into beer.
It might have been ground and made into barley-cakes, or into pearl barley to thicken our soups, and then it would have been good food. Now, it is a drink containing alcohol, and alcohol is a poison.
You should not drink beer, because there is alcohol in it.
Two boys of the same age begin school together. One of them drinks wine, cider, and beer. The other never allows these drinks to pass his lips. These boys soon become very different from each other, because one is poisoning his body and mind with alcohol, and the other is not.