that both brew and serve beer, and home
brewing. Some of these small enterprises have
grown with their success, and the giant
brewers are now making microbrew
lookalikes. And it’s now possible to find beers
from all over the world in liquor stores and
supermarkets. These are good times for
exploring the many different styles of beer
and ale.
Brewing Ingredients: Malt
Beer begins with barley. Other grains — oats,
wheat, corn, millet, sorghum — have also
been used, but barley has become the grain of
choice because it’s the best at generating
starch-digesting enzymes.
Malting The first step in converting barley
grain into malt is to steep the dry grain in cool
water and then allow it to germinate for
several days at around 65ºF/18ºC. The embryo