From the best raw materials
to the finest-tasting beer
Brewing requires craftsmanship
Brewing beer is el
craftsman's trade
calling for great ca
re and patience.
It takes six to eight
■weeks before the
mixture of the basic
ingredients of mal
ted barley, unmalted
grains, water, hops
and yeast can at last
be called beer.
Below, the World of
Heineken lists the
various stages of
the brewing process
for you.
The barleycorns (top) start to germinate,
which activates enzymes. This process lasts
seven days, after which hot air is blown in
(middle) to stop the germination and kilning
begins. At this stage the sprouts are removed
from the grains.
Close-up of the hop cone. Of great importance
in brewing beer are hop resin and lupulin,
which are found between the leaflet-like flo
wers of the hop cone. Tbgether with other sub
stances from the hop, they help to provide the
typically bitter taste and improve the keepabi-
lity of the beer.
Malting
The first important raw material for
beer is barley. Barley cannot be used as
it is. It first has to be malted before the
actual brewing process can begin. Malt
ing comprises three phases: steeping,
germination (sprouting) and kilning.
In the first phase the grains of bar
ley are tipped into big steeping tanks
so that they can germinate. During ac
tual germination (in the second phase)
enzymes are activated in the bar
leycorn. This is essential for a later
stage in the brewing process, for these
enzymes have to convert starch into
maltose (malt sugars). In the final malt
ing phase the germination process is
stopped by blowing hot air through the
barleycorns (kilning, or oasting). This
is done after about one week's germina
tion. The germinated and kilned barley
is now known as malt.
Ground malt
The brewing process proper starts
with the grinding of the malt. The malt
is broken so that the inside of the grain
is finely ground, whilst the chaff must
remain as intact as possible. The chaff
- known by the master brewer as 'husks'
- must not break up too much as it has
to serve as a natural filtering agent later
on in the brewing process. The finer the
husks, the less suitable they are for fil
tering. The ground malt is known as
'grist'. In brewing Heineken beer not
only malt is used but also 'unmalted'
cereals such as maize. This promotes
the clarity and easy digestibility of
Heineken beer.
Mash
The ground malt - or 'grist' - is
mixed with water at 50°C to make a
'mash'. This is done in the mash tun,
one of the boilers in the brewhouse. To
achieve saccharification (conversion
into sugars) the temperature of the
mash has to be 75°C. To attain that temp
erature part of the mash is pumped
twice into the brewing kettle, heated up
to boiling point and then pumped back
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN