BREWING OF BEER- AN EXAMPLE OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY PROCESS
Introduction
Brewing has been a human activity ever since the beginning of urbanization and civilization in the Neolthic period. Beer is a product valued by its physic-chemical properties (i.e. quality). Accordingly, the history of beer brewing is not only one of scientific and technological advancement, but also the tale of people themselves: their governance, their economy, their rites and their daily life. It encompasses grain markets as well as alchemy.
The quantum leap in brewing during the eighteenth and nineteenth century was for the most part the results of the implementation of scientific principles that facilitated the development of appropriate equipment and technologies. The first step toward brewing was the adaptation of measuring devices to the specific needs of the brewers and maltsters, and the development of new instruments. In 1769, James Beverstock used a hydrometer to measure hop extract.
However, it was John Richardson’s treatise on Statistical Estimates of Materials of Brewing that precipitated the search for means to measure the attenuation (i.e. the decrease of wort density and concomitant formation of ethanol with increasing precision). After considerable progress linked to the names of T. Thomson, S Hermbstädt, J. Long, C. Steinheil and J. Fuchs, it was Carl Josef Napoleon Balling from Prague who finally established a reliable method to measure and control the conversion of wort sugars into ethanol by fermentation in the brewing in 1843 ([1][2][3][4]).
Unlike most other organisms, plants are generally immobile. Therefore, they have developed several elaborated mechanisms for their propagation. Two of those are of special interest with respe...
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Storage of Hops- Hops are sensitive to oxidation and chemical alteration of their components. The bittering strength can decrease with poor storage temperature conditions by oxidation of the α-acids. The aroma becomes displeasing and cheese-like with incorrect storage of the hops before and after refining. This applies particularly to raw hops and pellets. Therefore hops should be stored protected from light , at cold temperature and protected from external influences (odor, water etc.). α-Acids oxidize in the presence of oxygen and isomerize under an inert atmosphere. This explains the loss of α-acids during storage. Hard resin components are already present in raw hops. Furthermore, oxidation products of lupolone can develop in thhe presence of oxygen (also called polar bittering substances). As a consequence, cold storage of raw hops and pellet is a necessity.
Belgium is known for a culture of high-quality beer and this concept was formulated by an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado. The electrical engineer, Jeff Lebesch, was traveling through Belgium on his fat-tired mountain bike when he envisioned the same high-quality beer in Colorado. Lebesch acquired the special strain of yeast used in Belgium and took it back to his basement in Colorado and the experimentation process was initiated. His friends were the samplers and when they approved the beer it was marketed. In 1991, Lebesch opened the New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) with his wife, Kim Jordan, as the marketing director. The first beer and continued bestseller, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was named after the bike ride in Belgium. The operation went from a basement to an old railroad depot and then expanded into a custom-built facility in 1995. The custom-built facility included an automatic brew house, quality-assurance labs and technological innovations. NBB offers permanent, seasonal and one-time only beers with a mission to be a lucrative brewery while making their love and talent visible. In the cases presented by the noted authors (Ferrell & Simpson, 2008), discusses the inception, marketing strategy, brand personality, ethics and social responsibility that New Belgium Brewing Company has demonstrated. The key facts with New Belgium Brewing Company are the marketing strategy, promotion, internal environment and social responsibility with the critical issues of the public, brand slogan, growth and competition.
Tom Standage has described the beginnings of six beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola and has found many connections, and information helpful in finding out history of the drinks themselves but also their impacts on the growth of civilization as a whole. This book connects everything with society both past and present, it makes learning about history and the way drinks connect fun and interesting. Like learning without even realizing you are. A History of the World in Six Glasses is more than just talking about each beverage as a single but as a whole, it’s connections, uses, relations, and growth they started.
Understanding the process of brewing will help explain the time limitations of brewing and storing beer, and will ultimately help explain how this tug of war came into existence, as the process of brewing itself is largely responsible for the limited availability of beer early in American history. The process begins with malted barley which is heated to, and held at, a temperature between 60o and 71o C. This process is known as mashing and serves to activate the amylase enzymes which convert the complex starches into fermentable and unfermentable sugars. The wort is then transferred to a boil kettle where hops are introduced and the liquid is boiled extensively to isomerize the bittering oils in the hops. In their isomerized states, these oils will be more soluble and able to impart their bittering qualities into the wort. Finally the wort is chilled as it is transferred into a fermenter and yeast is added to begin the fermentation. The fermenter is sealed from the environment to prevent oxygen, which would stop fermentation, from entering. Fermentation must then be carried out at cool temperatures – about 18o C when using ale yeast and much colder when using lager yeast. Fermentation above these temperatures will still occur but yields an unpalatable product. These temperature requirements made beer a seasonal beverage and limited storage prior to the advent of mechanical refrigeration.
In the book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom standage, is about Standage trying to validate that these six drinks (Beer, Wine, Spirits, Tea, Coffee, and Coca-Cola) are what help create a path for America, human history, and the development in history. In the introduction of the book, Standage voices that “Drinks have had a closer connection to the flow of history than is generally acknowledged, and a greater influence on its course. Understanding the ramification of who drank what, and why, and where they got it from…” (5) Standage is an Author and Journalist from England. His book A History of the World in 6 Glasses helps probe the development of history and social branching. In the book civilization and globalization is also a key point because Standage believes that those six drinks are what created a catalyst for each drink to shape the world around us.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses is broken down into six sections, one for each drink, the first of which is beer. Man's first civilizations...
It is not common that when one thinks of the history of the world that the thought of beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, or even Coca-Cola comes to mind. Matter of fact, the thought of a beverage having an impact in history may be the very last thing that comes to mind. But according to Tom Standage in his book A History of the World in 6 Glasses, he argues that these six drinks have had an all-round influence in the history of the world. It is hard to imagine that the drinks we know of today, were the foundation and building blocks of the history that has been engraved in us. As to which beverage has had a greater impact in history, it is a matter of the extent to which each particular drink has contributed to influencing, not just people, but the course of history. Not diminishing the impact of the other beverages, but coffee has had a greater impact in history over tea and the other drinks.
In the span of only a few pages, L.B. Church has given us an overview of the winemaking process. He has done so with sufficient detail for those in the chemistry community to follow along, yet still in a cursory enough manner as to not bog them down with the unnecessary. Written as if it were the procedure of an experiment, he has given enough information for the experiment to be repeated, tested, validated and improved upon. And that is almost assuredly his goal from the very beginning, as it must be for any published author in the chemistry community.
The author gives an elaborate explanation on the history of the beer and how the beer has led to the development of human civilization. The article has a lot of outside sources such as researches and theories that support the author’s point. According to this article, beer has played an important role in human civilization and the article points out a lot of examples on how beer was important to the people of the people for a lot of purposes. This article also uses some credible information from the research to explain how the beer was made and how it was first discovered. Finally, the article proves the point that beer has helped to improve the human
The name for the process of fermentation comes from ‘fervere’, the Latin word meaning “to boil”. Early observers of the process assigned this name to it because as fermentation occurred in barrels containing crushed grapes, being used to create wine, bubbles were produced making it appear as though the mixture were boiling. Yeasts have been secretly creating alcoholic (fermented) beverages since ancient times in Asia, Egypt, Babylon, and many other early civilizations. However, no one knew what made the process work and what made the creation of such fermented beverages possible. When people think of traditional wine makers, it is not uncommon to picture someone standing in a large bucket mashing up grapes with their feet. These ancient wine makers realized that for some odd r...
The Brewing Process Beer is an industrial product. A brewery is literally a beer factory in which the brewer takes advantage of and manipulates natural processes to create the perfect growth medium for yeast. On the surface the brewing process is simple. But it you look a little deeper you find that there is a complex set of chemical reactions at work in the creation of beer.
The brewing industry in the United States began in 1625 when the first brewery was founded. In the early stages the industry, competition among different breweries only existed in highly secluded small geographic areas. It was not until refrigeration and pasteurization that companies could transport beer across previous geographic limits and begin to grow into the industry it is today. After prohibition there was a sharp decline in the number of brewing companies. Almost 90% of the brewing companies from 1947 to 1995 went ...
The Beer makes up most of the alcoholic beverage industry, with a 74% volume in 2002 (Alcoholic Beverages, 2005). The production of beer around the world has increased from 36.85 billions gallons in 2000 to 38.78 billion gallons in 2003 (Alcoholic Beverages, 2005). Beer production has been a part of society close to the beginning of civilization. A Mesopotamian tablet dating back to 7000 B.C. contains a beer recipe named ¡§wine of the grain¡¨ (Alcoholic Beverages, 2005). In 1292, a Czech Republic town produced its first pilsner beer. A prominent beer brand, Pilsner Urquell, brewing dates back to the early thirteenth century.
Coase study #2 Beer: The vice president of marketing for a major brewing company is aware that college students account for a large proportion of beer sales and that people in this age group form lifelong loyalties to brands of beer. The executive is personally uncomfortable with the tasteless gimmicks used by her competitors in the industry to encourage drinking on campuses, including beach parties and beer-drinking contests. She worries about the company’s contribution to underage drinking and alcohol abuse among college students. Should she go along with the competition? State your case/opinion, etc.
Typically when beer is though of or mentioned, people usually always think of the four main ingredients that it is comprised of. These four ingredients are water, barley, yeast and hops. Although water, barley, and yeast have, for the most part, always been key ingredients in beer, the fact that tends to shock people the most is that the addition of hops in beer came long after beer was discovered. Contrary to popular believe, Hops, which are the female counterpart of the plant species Humulus Lupulus, are a fairly new ingredient in what most of us think of as typical beer that we have in our fridge at home. The mystery is what took so long for us to finally figure out that the addition of hops benefits the brewing process and the taste in many ways. For example, before the use of hops, beer would typically go bad very quickly. With the addition of hops, beer stays good for many months. Along with this, yellow glands called lupulin glands that are found within the hop itself produce alpha acids that give beer its distinct bitter flavor. Although the majority of hops produced are used in beer and alcoholic beverages, hops are also useful as cures to diseases as well as pain killers in today’s society. The health benefits of hops can be extracted through the consumption of beer, however; using the hop plant by itself gives you a better outcome of its health benefits.
Alcohol is a class of organic compounds that is characterized by the presence of one or more hydroxyl groups (-OH) attached to a carbon atom. Alcohol was unknowingly produced centuries ago when fermentation occurred to crushed grapes (Pines, 1931). In today’s society alcohol is produced for the use of household products such as varnishes, cleaning products, but is more commercially important in the liquor business. A chemical process called fermentation accomplishes the production of ethanol, the alcohol or liquor. From there, the ethanol goes through distinct processes to become the dark and clear liquors on the store shelves.