Question by Carrot, the Peanut: What proportions of yeast and sugar solution…etc do you need to make beer and wine?
What is the difference? What is hte chemical theory? What wuantities do you need? How is the process different between beer and wine? Can you mix an orange sugar solution with many other sugar solutions and create original forms of beer and alcohol?
Thanks Goldista. You know quite a lot. I was somewhat familiar with the process already However, I was really looking for proportions between yeast and sugar solution…etc. How much of each ingredient do I need for homebrewery?
Proportions please… How much of each ingredient? You can’t just mix random amounts…
Best answer:
Answer by Goldista
Barley, water, hops and yeast — brewers combine these four simple ingredients to make beer.
But it’s not just a matter of mixing the right amount of each ingredient and voila!…you have beer. A complex series of biochemical reactions must take place to convert barley to fermentable sugars, and to allow yeast to live and multiply, converting those sugars to alcohol. Commercial breweries use sophisticated equipment and processes to control hundreds of variables so that each batch of beer will taste the same.
Barley is the seed of a grain that looks a lot like wheat. Before barley can be used to make beer, it must be malted, which involves a natural conversion process.
First, the barley must be allowed to germinate, or start to sprout. This is done by soaking the barley in water for several days, and then draining the barley and holding it at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 C) for five days. This allows the husk to open and barley to start to sprout — at this point it is called green malt. Like all seeds, the barley contains nutrients that can sustain the growing seed until it can produce its own nutrients using photosynthesis. During the germination process, enzymes released by the plant convert these nutrients (which are starches) into sugars that can feed the plant while it grows. The key to the malting process is to stop the germination of the barley at a point when the sugar-producing enzymes are present but most of the starch is still unconverted. Eventually, these enzymes will produce the sugars that will feed the yeast to make the alcohol in the beer.
After this natural process has released the enzymes, the green malt is dried by gradually raising the temperature. The intensity of the malt flavor and color depends on how high the temperature is raised during the drying process. One final step must be completed — removing any small roots that formed during germination — and the malted barley is ready to begin the brewing process. Most breweries buy barley that has already been malted to their specifications.
Hops – The hops used to make beer are the flower of the hop vine, which is a member of the hemp family (Cannabaceae). Hops are closely related to another member of the hemp family that you may have heard of — cannabis, or marijuana, although hops do not have the psychoactive effects associated with marijuana.
Hops contain acids, which give beer its bitterness, as well as oils that give beer some of its flavor and aroma. Adding hops to beer also inhibits the formation of certain bacteria that can spoil the beer.
There are many different kinds of hops, each of which gives a different taste, aroma and amount of bitterness to the beer it is used in. In the United States, hops are grown mainly in Washington state. Hops are also grown in Germany, Southern England and Australia.
Yeast – Yeast is the single-celled micro-organism that is responsible for creating the alcohol and carbon dioxide found in beer. There are many different kinds of yeasts used to make beer; and just as the yeast in a sourdough starter gives sourdough bread its distinctive flavor, different types of beer yeast help to give beer its various tastes.
There are two main categories of beer yeast: ale yeast and lager yeast. Ale yeast is top fermenting, meaning it rises near the surface of the beer during fermentation, and typically prefers to ferment at temperatures around 70 F (21 C). Lager yeasts are bottom fermenting. They ferment more slowly and prefer colder temperatures, around 50 F (10 C).
Wine is an alcoholic beverage derived from grapes by fermentation, much the way beer is derived from the fermentation of grains. Unlike beer, wines are not carbonated (except champagne and sparkling wines). They also have about twice the alcohol content of beer.
Grapes for winemaking are grown in many areas of the U.S., as well as other countries such as France, Chile and Australia. The major wine-producing area in the U.S. is California, which accounts for 80 to 90 percent of U.S. wine production. Typically, the type of grape that is used to make the wine gives the wine its name, such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. However, some wines are blends of various types of wines, such as a Semillon Chardonnay. The blending of various wines to produce a given flavor is part of the art of the winemaking.
In the fall, it is crush time. The grapes are harvested. Some vineyards use mechanical harvesting techniques, but most hire workers to pick the grapes by hand. The grapes are then brought to the winery. Many wineries are located on or near the vineyards. If the wineries are far away, the grapes are shipped in refrigerated trucks.
Once the grapes reach the winery, they get crushed. Inside the crusher, there is a perforated, rotating drum. The holes in the drum allow the juice and the skins of the grapes to pass through, but keep the stems inside the drum. The crushed grapes and juice are called must.
What happens next depends on the type of grape. Red-grape must is sent directly to the fermentation tanks. White-grape must is sent first to a wine press, where the juice is separated from the skins, because white wines are fermented from skinless grapes.
The must, whether from red grapes or pressed white grapes, is ultimately sent to the fermentation tanks. The fermentation tanks are airtight, made of stainless steel and can hold 1,500 or 3,000 gallons (5,678 or 11,356 liters). The tanks are cooled with glycol to maintain a temperature in the 40-F range (4-C range). The winemaker adds sugar and yeast to start the process of fermentation. The type of yeast and the amount of sugar added depends on the type of grape.
When the yeast first hits the must, concentrations of glucose sugar (C6H12O6) are very high, so it is through diffusion that glucose enters the yeast. In fact, it keeps entering the yeast as long as there is glucose in the solution. As each glucose molecule enters the yeast, it is broken down in a 10-step process called glycolysis. The product of glycolysis is two three-carbon sugars, called pyruvates, and some ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP supplies energy to the yeast and allows it to multiply. The two pyruvates are then converted by the yeast into carbon dioxide (CO2) and ethanol (CH3CH2OH), which is the alcohol in wine. The overall reaction is:
C6H12O6 => 2(CH3CH2OH) + 2(CO2)
The fermentation process takes about two to four weeks. During this time, the winemaker samples the fermenting must and measures the pH or acid levels to determine that the fermentation process is proceeding as it should.
Once the fermentation process is completed, red wines are sent to the press to separate the skins from the wine. The red wines are then filtered to remove the yeast. White wines are allowed to settle and are filtered to remove the yeast. Once the yeasts are removed, the wines are stored in either stainless steel storage tanks or oak barrels (oak gives many wines a characteristic flavor) depending on the type of wine. In some red wines, a second type of fermentation, called malolactic fermentation, is undertaken while in storage. In malolactic fermentation, the winemaker adds a bacteria to the wine that breaks down malic acid, a byproduct of aerobic (oxygen-requiring) metabolism, into lactic acid, a byproduct of anaerobic (no oxygen) metabolism. Lactic acid is a milder acid than malic acid. The aging process can be anywhere from three months to three years.
After the wine has aged sufficiently, as determined by the winemaker, it is time to bottle and package it for sale. The operator pumps the wine from the storage tank to the bottling machine. There, bottles are loaded by hand and a pre-measured amount of wine flows into each bottle. After each bottle is filled, the operator removes it and places it in the corking machine. The machine draws a vacuum inside the bottle that sucks the pre-loaded cork into the neck of the bottlel.
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Tags:beer, Green, Living, need, Proportions, solution...etc, Solutions, Sugar, Wine, Yeast
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