Text a6 brewing: raw material and technology

Beer is considered to be an effervescent (шипучий) beverage resulting from an extract of malted barley boiled with hops and fermented by yeast.

The basic raw materials for brewing include cereals (besides barley, oats, rice, maize, wheat); water (it accounts up to 90% by weight); yeast (specially selected strains). The first phase in the brewing process is malting: the barley is steeped in water for forty-eight hours or longer. Many complex changes take place during malting. The product resulting from the sprouting of the barley is called malt.

The next stage – mashing – consists in mixing malt with water in a special machine called a mash tun. The final result of mashing is the production of wort. The wort is then boiled with hops and later on hoped wort needs cooling.

The essential step in the brewing of beers involves fermenting: the fermentation of malt wort flavoured with hops takes place by means of adding to it yeast. The type of yeast determines the type of fermentation. There are two types of fermentation: “top fermentation” where yeast rises to the top and “bottom fermentation” where yeast falls to the bottom of the tank. The yeast changes the malt extract into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

It should be noted that the fermentation comes only as a climax of a whole series of operations, and the taste, aroma, and appearance of the beverage depend, to a large extent, on the stages leading to the fermentation.

When fermentation is completed the beer is clarified or filtered and is either pumped into storage tanks or racked into casks and finally packed into bottles and cans. The problem of packaging appears to be of great importance as the popularity and demand for brewing production greatly depend on the quality of packaging materials and their forms, their attractiveness playing a significant role.

Brewing is known to be traditionally done, but techniques are better understood and constantly improved. For example, brewers are increasingly using on-line measurements (замеры в режиме онлайн (в темпе поступления информации)) to monitor and control blending. They tend to influence flavour by controlling the raw materials, the fermentation and subsequent processing conditions and packaging techniques. A lot of work is being done to maintain or increase brightness and clarity. There have been considerable improvements in equipment as well.

Brewers are very concerned that the finished techniques they use are the best in terms of product quality and cost effectiveness. Nowadays, various kinds of beers are being manufactured, including light beer, ice beer, dry beer, etc.

Assignments

1. Пользуясь текстом, укажите, под каким номером предлагаются определения к следующим словам; переведите полученные словосочетания на русский язык.

1. … beverage, 2. … raw materials, 3. … barley, 4. … process, 5. … changes,

6. … tank, 7. … tun, 8. … techniques, 9. … measurements, 10. … conditions

1. on-line, 2. packaging, 3. processing, 4. mash, 5. brewing, 6. basic, 7. complex,

8. effervescent, 9. malted, 10. storage