Beer Ingredients

The main ingredients found in beer are water, maltedbarley, hops, and yeast. There are other ingredientssuch as flavoring, sugar, and other ingredients thatare commonly used. Starches are used as well, as
they convert in the mashing process to easilyfermentable sugars that will help to increase thealcohol content of beer while adding body and flavor.

Water

Seeing as how beer is mainly composed of water, thesource of water and its characteristics have a veryimportant effect on the character of the beer. Alot of beer styles were influenced by thecharacteristics of water in the region. Althoughthe effect of minerals in brewing water is complex,hard water is more suited to dark styles, whilesoft ware is more suited to light styles.

Malt

Among malts, barley is the most widely used due toits high amylase content, and a digestive enzymethat facilitates the breakdown of starch intosugars. Depending on what can be cultivated locally,
other malts and unmalted grains can be used, such as wheat, rice, oats, and rye.

Malt is obtained by soaking grain in water, allowingit to germinate, then drying the germinated grainin a kiln. By malting the grain, enzymes will
eventually convert the starches in the grain intofermentable sugars.

Hops

Since the seventeenth century, hops have beencommonly used as a bittering agent in beer. Hopshelp to contribute a bitterness that will balancethe sweetness of the malts. They also contributearomas which range from citrus to herbal.

Hops also provide an antibiotic effect that favorsthe activity of brewer's yeast over the lessdesirable microorganisms. The bitterness in beer
is normally measured on the InternationalBitterness Units scale.

Yeast

Yeast is a microorganism that's responsible forfermentation. Specific strains of yeast are chosendepending on the type of beer produced, as thetwo main strains are ale yeast and lager yeast,with other variations available as well.

Yeast helps to metabolise the sugars that areextracted from the grains, and produces alcoholand carbon dioxide as a result. Before the functionsof yeast were understood, all fermentations weredone using wild or airborne yeasts.

Clarifying agent

A lot of brewers prefer to add one or moreclarifying agents to beer that aren't requiredto be published as ingredients. Examples include Isinglas finings, which are obtained from swim bladders of fish and Irish moss, which is a type of red alga.

Since these ingredients can be obtained from animals, those who are concerned with either the use or consumption of animal products should obtain detailed information from the brewer.