Virtually any starchy grain can be fermented to alcohol, but to really make lager, only an exclusive few will do. The commonest grain used is malted barley.

Malted barley is produced by taking barley grains and letting them start to sprout slightly and then drying them out and at last roasting them to differing levels. When you have your malt, it has to be mashed to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. The mash process involves adding a pre-measured quantity of grains to a pre-measured amount of water that’s roughly 155 degrees Fahrenheit and letting sit for a period, usually around 1 hour. While the grains are mashing, enzymes break down the starch chains into sugars. When the mash is complete, you’ve got to first drain the sweet wort (pronounced wert), and then run hot water over, or sparge the grains to wash the remainder of the sugars from them. Once there’s satisfactory wort, you may boil it to decrease its viscosity. In the boil, hops can be added at varying stages to create antagonism, smell, and extra flavor. The boil process can take anywhere from half an hour to over 2 hours. When the boil is complete, you should chill your wort down as fast as possible to avoid contamination by wild or undesired yeast.

After it has cooled down to roughly eighty degrees Fahrenheit, you can transfer the wort into a clean and fermentation vessel, add your yeast, cover, and let it ferment for roughly a week.

The finalized profuct will be lager. At about that point you have many options available. You can transfer your lager to a new vessel, ensuring it’s cleaned and again; you can transfer into a keg; or you can bottle your lager, let it sit for a week, and like it. All in all, the art of brewing isn’t a tough process. It takes patience, usually around sixty minutes. While the grains are mashing, enzymes break down the starch chains into sugars. When the mash is complete, you’ve got to first drain the sweet wort (voiced wert), and then run hot water over, or sparge the grains to wash the remainder of the sugars from them, and the eagerness to get a little grimy while putting in a little hard work But in the final analysis when you crack open that first bottle of your own beer, you understand that it was worth each second.