Lesson 1 - What is Beer

Question 1

What are the common ingredients of beer?

Answer 1

Grains, Water, Hops, Yeast

Question 2

Grains

Answer 2

Grains ultimately provide a brewer with the sugars that the yeast turns into alcohol. They also
provide most of a beer’s colour and some of a beer’s aroma. Malted barley is the most commonly
used grain but others, such as wheat, rye and rice, are also used.

Question 3

Water

Answer 3

In terms of volume, water is the main ingredient in beer. It provides the liquid environment in
which yeast can consume sugars and turn them into alcohol. Brewers use a lot of water. They
either use the municipal water supply or they may have access to a well or spring water. As a
starting point, almost any water can be used to make beer as long as it is clean.

Question 4

Hops

Answer 4

Hops, or more precisely hop cones, are the part of the hop plant that brewers use. They were
initially used in brewing primarily for their anti-microbial properties, helping to preserve the beer.
Today, hops are more prized for the bitterness and aromas they bring to beer. Other flavourings,
such as fruits, herbs and spices, are also occasionally used to bring aromas or bitterness to beer

Question 5

Yeast

Answer 5

Yeast is a tiny microorganism. They create the alcohol found in beer and they can also give a
beer some of its aromas

Question 6

How do you make alcohol?

Answer 6

Sugars (dissolved in water) + yeast create alcohol + carbon dioxide (aromas/flavors)

Question 7

Where do the sugars come from?

Answer 7

Grains provide the sugars that brewers require in order to create alcohol. Yet, when the grains
are delivered to the brewery, they do not contain sugars in an accessible form, instead they are
full of a substance called starch.
Starch is made up of sugar molecules that are bonded together into long chains. This is an
efficient way for some plants to store energy. However, when the sugar molecules are bound into
starch, they cannot be accessed. As a consequence, chemicals called enzymes are needed to
unlock these bonds and break up the starch into different types of sugar molecules. This is called
starch conversion

Question 8

What is starch conversion?

Answer 8

Usually, malted barley is the source of the enzymes that brewers need to convert the starch back
into sugar. This is why malted barley is so important in brewing.
During mashing, when the milled grains are mixed with hot water, the enzymes from the malted
barley convert the starch into sugar. This sugar dissolves to form a sugary liquid and can then be
turned into alcohol by the yeast