BEER.
The name beer is most commonly applied to a fermented infusion of malted barley, flavoured with hops. Its manufacture embraces two distinct operations, viz., malting and brewing. Briefly considered, the former process consists in first steeping barley (the seed of Hordeum distichon) in water and allowing it to germinate by arranging it in layers or heaps which are subsequently spread out and repeatedly turned over, the germination being thereby retarded; it is afterwards entirely checked by drying the grain (now known as malt) in cylinders or kilns.
The degree of temperature employed in drying and roasting the barley determines the colour and commercial character of the malt, which may be pale, amber, brown or black. In the United States the light-coloured varieties of malt are chiefly made. An important change which takes place during the malting of barley is the conversion of its albuminous constituents into a peculiar ferment, termed diastase, which, although its proportion in malt does not exceed 0·003 per cent., exerts a very energetic action in transforming starch, first into dextrine, then into sugar (maltose). The following analyses, by Proust, exhibit the general composition of unmalted and malted barley:—
| Barley. | Malt. | |
| Hordeine | 55 | 12 |
| Starch | 32 | 56 |
| Gluten | 3 | 1 |
| Sugar | 5 | 15 |
| Mucilage | 4 | 15 |
| Resin | 1 | 1 |
| 100 | 100 |
The body termed hordeine is generally considered to be an allotropic modification of starch.
In the brewing of beer, the malted grain is crushed by means of iron rollers, and then introduced into the mash-tubs and digested with water at a temperature of about 75°, whereby the conversion of the starch into dextrine and sugar is effected. After standing for a few hours, the clear infusion, or wort, is drawn off and boiled with hops (the female flower of Humulus lupulus), after which it is rapidly cooled, and then placed in capacious vats where it is mixed with yeast and allowed to undergo the process of fermentation for several days, during which the formation of fresh quantities of yeast and a partial decomposition of the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid take place. The beer is next separated from the yeast and transferred into clearing-vats, and, later on, into storage casks, where it undergoes a slow after-fermentation, at the completion of which it is ready for consumption. The quality of the water used in the process of mashing and brewing is of great importance, and it is of special moment that it should be free from all organic contaminations. The presence of certain mineral ingredients, notably of calcium sulphate, is believed to exert a beneficial effect on the character of the beer obtained.
In the United States, the best known varieties of malt liquors are ale, porter, and lager beer. The difference between ale and porter is mainly due to the quality of the malt used in their manufacture. Ale is made from pale malt, porter or stout from a mixture of the darker coloured malts, the method of fermentation employed being in both cases that known as the “superficial” (obergährung), which takes place at a higher temperature and is of shorter duration than the “sedimentary” (untergährung). The latter form of fermentation, which is used in the preparation of Bavarian or lager beer, occurs at a temperature of about 8°, and requires more time for its completion, during which the beer is, or should be, preserved in cool cellars for several months before it is fit for use; hence the common American name of this kind of beer, from lager, a storehouse. There are three varieties of Bavarian beer, “lager beer” proper, or the summer beer, which has been stored for about five months; “schenk,” or winter beer, which is fit for use in several weeks; and “bock” beer, which possesses more strength than the former, and is made in comparatively small quantities in the spring of the year. A mild kind of malt liquor, known as “weiss” beer, and prepared by a quick process of fermentation, is less frequently met with.
The first brewery in America is said to have been founded in New York in the year 1644, by Jacobus, who afterwards became the first burgomaster of the city, then New Amsterdam. Subsequently, William Penn established a brewery in Bucks Co., Pa., and a century later, General Putnam engaged in the manufacture of beer in the State of Connecticut. The brewing of lager beer in the United States began to assume prominence about thirty-five years ago. It is estimated that, at the present time, over 2000 breweries are devoted to the preparation of this form of malt liquor, with an invested capital of at least 60 millions of dollars, the annual production exceeding 15 millions of barrels.[69] The industry is chiefly carried on in New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.