When You Make Your Own Beer This is What Happens During Fermentation

If you are relatively new to home beer brewing I am guessing that, at one time or another, you've paused to wonder what exactly is happening during the fermentation process. After all, this all happens without much input from you but is absolutely critical to the whole process. If the fermentation process doesn't happen like you want it to, all your other efforts are wasted. Even more importantly, without the fermentation process there is no beer!

For there to be fermentation there must first be yeast. Yeasts are living micro-organisms that science classifies as fungus. There are around 1,500 species of yeast that have been described and that is estimated to be just 1% of the total. The specific species used in fermenting beer and wine is "Saccharomyces cerevisiae". It is not surprising that this is the most well researched of all the currently described species.

While there are other types of fermentation processes, the one that we are interested in is called Ethanol Fermentation. In this process the yeast breaks down the sugars found in the malt into different chemical compounds. These compounds are ethanol and carbon dioxide. Once this process has begun and is in process the mixture can properly be called "beer" for the first time.

For us home brewers it's a good idea to do all that we can to get rid of the free floating yeast and bacteria that is all around us but some brewpubs that make a show of their equipment use open fermentation tanks as do some European brewers in the belief that the local wild yeast makes for a better beer.

Regardless of how the yeast is introduced to the malt, once it has metabolized the available sugars into carbon dioxide and ethanol, the fermentation process slows down remarkably and the yeast begins to settle to the bottom of the fermentation tank. Although this usually occurs in 3 to 5 days, it's a good idea to leave the beer in the fermentation tank for another week before beginning the bottling process.

Instead of searching the online beer sites endlessly for information about home beer making, simply download the ebook Brew Beer Bible found at Brew Beer Today.com.

The Brew Beer Bible is inexpensive, has an iron clad money back guarantee if it does not meet expectations, and offers step by step instructions on how to always get the best tasting beer out of your home brewery.