Beer
Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Beer
Beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world. It is made through a process called brewing. During this process, starches are converted into a sugary liquid, which is then fermented into beer. The starches are usually derived from cereal grains such as malted barley, although secondary sources like rice and corn are sometimes added because they cost less. Beer is usually flavored with hops, although other flavorings are also sometimes used.
If you are in the bar or restaurant industry, you will need to decide what types of beer to offer at your establishment. You may want to offer only a few select kinds or a wide selection. Either way, you have many options from which to choose. Different types of beer are brewed by different methods or using different ingredients that affect their flavors. A few basic types include ale, lager, stout, and wheat beer.
You are also going to have to decide how to obtain your inventory. Beer distributors can often supply you with domestic and imported beer products from a variety of brands. You may also want to work directly with independent microbreweries to offer a unique selection of beverages.
There are many issues to consider if your business plans to offer beer. Explore the links on this Business.com page to learn more.
Beer Key Terms
Learn more about beer and the brewing process with a few key termsBy Emmet McMahan Beer is made by fermenting malted cereal grains such as barley, although corn, rice and wheat are also used. It is usually flavored with hops and may also contain fruit flavorings. Beer is an extremely popular beverage, and its consumption is exceeded only by water and tea. The earliest forms of beer may have been made as long as 10,000 years ago, although hops was probably not used as a flavoring until after 800 A.D. Today, beer is made by a few multinational companies, as well as thousands of regional breweries.
Wort
Wort refers to the mixture of malted barley and water that will become beer. Hops and yeast are later added to the wort so that it can begin to ferment.
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GreatBrewers.com provides a glossary of many terms used in the manufacture of beer, including wort.
Carboy
A carboy is any large container that holds the wort. It is typically made of glass, which is nonporous and easily cleaned.
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BrewSupplies.com offers a glossary of terms used in beer-making, such as carboy. It also provides extensive resources for home brewers.
Alpha Acid Units (AAU)
The AAU is a measurement of bitterness expressed as the percentage of hops that is alpha acid by weight. This value varies from year to year, so a given amount of hops will not necessarily produce the same amount of bitterness.
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Lee's Brewery provides a summary for the use of AAUs in the manufacture of beer.
Malted barley
Malted barley is barley that has been allowed to partially germinate before stopping the germination process. This increases the sugar content of the barley, which allows it to ferment more easily.
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Rich's Beer Glossary explains the uses of malt in beer-making, both as a noun and a verb.
Yeast
Yeast are single-celled organisms that consume sugar and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide as a byproduct. There are many types of wild yeast, but Brewer's yeast has been specifically developed for its ability to make beer.
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Beer Color Laboratories has a more detailed description of the use of yeast in brewing.
Hops
Hops (Humulus lupulus) is a climbing herb, and the term "hops" may also refer specifically to the dried flower used as a bittering agent in beer. There are many varieties of hops, and their use provides the characteristic flavor of modern beer.
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BeerTutor.com provides definitions for many terms used in the manufacture of beer, such as hops.
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