Posted on 09/14/2002 4:19:09 PM PDT by blam
Coors is like making love in a row boat.
Ditto Bud.
Well, what are you waiting for!? Post it up!
Of course, everybody knows that the more beer you drink the smarter you get and women actually get better looking too.......
Answer to the enzyme question: In order for grain to germinate and grow it needs enzymes to break down the long starch molecules contained within the husk into simpler sugar molecules. Brewers use the process of malting to more fully develop these naturally occurring enzymes (ALPHA AMYLASE AND BETA AMYLASE) within the grain, and then during the mashing process they heat the grain with water at about 150F (the temperature at which the enzymes work most efficiently) for a half hour or so to complete the conversion from starch to sugar. This "sugar water" is then separated from the spent grains, boiled with hops and then cooled before pitching the yeast for fermentation.
Barley is particularly suited to making beer because it contains higher concentrations of enzymes when malted than wheat, corn, rice or other grains. Also different types of grain (two-row versus 6-row) and different malting procedures (degree of modification) produce different amounts of available enzymes.
From Wikipedia: [Alpha-amylase randomly cleaves the α(1-4)glycosidic linkages of amylose to yield dextrin, maltose or glucose molecules. It adopts a double displacement mechanism with retention of anomeric configuration. Beta-amylase also catalyzes the hydrolysis of a-1,4 glycosidic bonds but only from the non-reducing end to yield maltose molecules. Beta-amylase is present in germinating seeds prior to germination whereas a-amylase and proteases appear once germination has begun.]
Corn in the Eastern Hemisphere?
In Europe and the bible, corn is used generically to mean various kinds of grain. I recall some reference in the bible about someone in the alien corn. New World corn was only developed a few thousand years ago, and was not found in the Old World until explorers returned with it, potatoes, and tomatos.
Yeast would be an air contaminant that would get into the liquid and grain. Once they had a contaminated batch that turned out well, they would keep a small portion to put in the next batch. Or before they figured that out they would just reuse the contaminated container which would innoculate the new batch without their even knowing it was happening. Kind of like making sourdough bread with sourdough starter. Make your bread, keep a little dough in a cup in the fridge, and mix it with more flour and water to make your next loaf. During the depression, my father lived in the mountains of Arizona running a trapline, and always kept his sourdough starter handy for breadmaking.
(When most people realize that women always made the beer, and somebody says "don't ask about the yeast", the first assumption is a bit different from yours. Rather disgusting, actually. But it was spit).
You have to carmelize the sugars. That requires heat.
Germination releases the enzymes from the husk, heat turns the starches into fermentable sugars. You can't throw alfalfa sprouts into the fermenter and expect to get alchohol. Gotta carmelize them first.
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