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Hops are used as a flavouring agent
Hops are the female flower clusters or seed cones of the hop vine Humulus lupulus, which are used as a flavouring and preservative agent in nearly all beer made today. Hops had been used for medicinal and food flavouring purposes since Roman times; by the 7th century in Carolingian monasteries in what is now Germany, beer was being made with hops, though it isn’t until the thirteenth century that widespread cultivation of hops for use in beer is recorded. Continue reading
The Basic Ingredients of Beer
The basic ingredients of beer are water; a starch source, such as malted barley, able to be fermented (converted into alcohol); a brewer’s yeast to produce the fermentation; and a flavouring, such as hops, to offset the sweetness of the malt. Continue reading
Advanced Wort Cooling Techniques
After the whirlpool, the wort must be brought down to fermentation temperatures (20–26°Celsius) before yeast is added. In modern breweries this is achieved through a plate heat exchanger. A plate heat exchanger has many ridged plates, which form two separate paths. Continue reading