Purchasing Resources for Beer

Beer Key Terms

Learn more about beer and the brewing process with a few key terms
By 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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.
Try:  BeerTutor.com provides definitions for many terms used in the manufacture of beer, such as hops.

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