Beer
Beer is the oldest drink and its history spans several millennia. A number of authors believe that beer was already known to people 5000 years ago, although there is an opinion that beer was brewed even before 7000 BC. Beer and bread were highly valued as staples in the ancient world. In particular, beer (as well as wine in some countries) was used as a liquid that does not contain microflora harmful to the human body to quench thirst. Therefore, beer as a means of quenching thirst was used daily.
As for the history of beer brewing in Georgia, first of all it should be noted that the Babylonian art of brewing penetrated the peoples settled in the Caucasus, including the Georgians, where it found fertile ground for this field of activity, because beer is made from grain, and Georgia is considered one of the centers of origin of grain. Because of the nineteen varieties of breads known in the world, fourteen were known here and there were hundreds of their varieties. The division of Georgia into two parts, mountain and bar, was produced according to where the grapes grew. It was naturally selected so that wheat was sown in the lowlands, and barley in the highlands, because it grows quite well up to 2000 meters above sea level. Therefore, beer production in Georgia was more widespread in the mountainous region, especially in the mountainous region of Eastern Georgia.
The technology of beer as a beverage is divided into two large parts: malt technology and beer technology. Four types of raw materials are used to produce beer: barley, hops, water and yeast.
Barley is the main raw material for beer preparation. It has always been considered the main raw material for brewing beer, because the dry malt obtained from it, which is used to make beer, determines such basic indicators of beer as color, taste, persistence, foaming ability, etc.
Hops give beer a bitter taste and participate in the formation of its typical aroma.
Water is an important raw material for beer production. At least because, unlike the rest of the raw materials, it is present in the biggest quantity in the final product. In addition, water is a necessary component for most technological operations of brewing beer.
Because beer is a product of alcoholic fermentation, the participation of yeasts in the brewing process is important. In addition to the fact that yeasts ensure the flow of such an important operation of beer-making technology as alcoholic fermentation, they also affect the quality of beer as co-products of alcoholic fermentation.
Beer technology, actually beer brewing, combines such operations as: preparation of beer wort, fermentation of beer wort (main fermentation), fermentation and aging of beer (maturation), filtration and bottling of finished beer.
The malting process begins with cleaning and sorting the barley, during which impurities such as sand, mallow, and weed seeds are removed from the barley on air-sieve separators. Large, uniform-sized barley grains are used for malting, while fine, coarse grains are delivered to distilleries or used as cattle feed. Cleaned and sorted barley grain should be kept in the grain store for 6-8 weeks, during which a number of biochemical and physiological processes take place in it - this period is also called "ripening" of the grain. The malting process begins with 2-3 days of resting grain in water to a certain moisture content (44-48%), followed by 7-9 days of germinating the grain in batch or continuous action maltings.
During germination, complex biochemical and physiological processes take place in the grain, as a result of which the structure, chemical composition of the grain changes and it is enriched with enzymatic hydrolysis products. Germinated barley, which is also called "green" (raw) malt, undergoes drying in continuous or periodic dryers. During drying, as well as during malting, physiological and biochemical processes take place in the grain, and when the temperature of drying rises (70-105°С temperature interval), physiological and biochemical processes stop and give way to chemical transformations, during which coloring and aromatic substances are formed. As a result, dry malt with a pleasant aroma is obtained, which must be immediately freed from growths , otherwise the beer will acquire bitterness.
Freshly dried and dehulled malt is kept in the grain store for 4-6 weeks before being used in the next technological operation, during which physico-chemical transformations take place in the grain, as a result of which the grain loses the specific defects characteristic of freshly dried malt, and this stage is known as "ripening" of malt.
For the preparation of beer sweet, the "mature" malt is removed from the dust and remaining grains with a polishing machine, after which a polished and shiny malt is obtained. Crushed malt is mixed with four times the amount of water at a temperature of about 50°C. This operation is called mashing. To remove the insoluble part of the malt, the beer wort is filtered in a filter device or filter press, and the resulting clear beer wort is boiled with hops for a certain time, during which the part of the beer wort is evaporated, aromatized, sterilized and cleaned. The hop-boiled sweet is freed from the hop particles with a hop holder and cooled to a temperature of 5-6°С.
Brewer's yeast is added to cooled beer wort and alcoholic fermentation is carried out.
In order for the finished beer to have full transparency and brightness, the beer is filtered or cleaned at the end of the fermentation.
In the separator, after which the transparent beer is delivered to the bottling unit and poured into different types of bottles.
Additionally, such operations as: carbonization, pasteurization, stabilization, production waste processing, utilization, etc. can be used in beer technology.
