The art of brewing an alcoholic beverage from cereals is one of great antiquity, though not so old perhaps as the art of making wine from grapes. The term "beer," "ale," "porter," or "stout," is applied to an alcoholic beverage produced chiefly from barley by converting the starch into sugar, mixing it with the extract of hops, fermenting the product with yeast, and ageing the fermented product in casks. The term "beer" is applied to a fermented product of barley or barley admixed with other fermentable substances, forming a mash of such density, that is, content of sugar, as will produce an alcoholic beverage containing from 3 to 5 percent of alcohol. "Ale" is applied to a similar product made from a more concentrated mash and containing in the final product from 4 to 7 percent of alcohol. The character of the fermentation is somewhat different in the two processes, the beer being made from a so-called bottom fermentation and ale from a so-called top fermentation. The yeast cells tend to sink in a mash of the consistency which produces beer, while they will tend to come to the top of a denser mass such as is used in the manufacture of ale. The terms "porter" and "stout"are given to products similar to beer and ale, made under slightly different conditions of fermentation.

Color

Many shades of color are found in the products embraced under the above names. In some instances the finished product is only of a pale amber color. This increases through all shades of amber to red and even to black. The dark products are colored by using a certain quantity of malt which has been partly parched, thus giving the deeper color to the finished product.

Manufacture

The process of manufacture of these fermented beverages is as follows: Barley or other cereal, is first converted into malt. This is done by spreading the cereal on a floor, usually of concrete, moistening it with water, and allowing it to remain in this condition until it has sprouted. The best malts are made where the temperatures are relatively low, as the sprouting is less rapid and the growth is retarded. During the sprouting process there is formed in the grain large quantities of a ferment which is known as diastase.' Diastase has the property of converting starch into a sugar, maltose. During the sprouting, especially if it is a slow one, practically all the starch in the grain is converted into maltose. When the sprouts are approximately one-half inch in length, which requires from 5 to 15 days according to the temperature, they are removed to a drying kiln and dried at a low temperature until the moisture is reduced to 5 percent or below. The grains apparently have not changed much in size or even appearance by this process, except due to the sprouting, but on chewing the malt instead of the ordinary taste a sweet taste of the maltose is noticed.