On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1405

—arecommonlyaddedtotheliquidtolower
the amount of malt needed, and so the
brewer’s production costs. Unlike malt, they
contribute little or no flavor of their own.
They’rethereforemostlylimitedtopale,mild
brews like standard American lagers, which
may start with almost as much adjunct grain
asmalt.
WaterWateristhemainingredientinbeer,so
its quality has a definite influence on beer
quality.Thoughmodernbrewerscantailorthe
mineral content of their water to the kind of
beer they’re making, early brewers tailored
theirbeersinparttomakethebestofthelocal
waters. The sulfate-rich water of Burton-onTrent gave English pale ales a bitterness that
limitedtheuseofhops,whilethemildwater
of Pilsen encouraged Czech brewers to add
large amounts of bitter and aromatic hops.
The alkaline, carbonate-rich waters of
Munich, southern England, and Dublin can


balance the acidity of dark malts that
normallyextracttoomuchastringentmaterial
from barley husks, and encouraged the
development of dark German beers and
Britishportersandstouts.
Boiling the Wort Once the liquid wort has
been drawn off the grain solids, the brewer
runsitintoalargemetaltank,addshops,and
boils it vigorously for up to 90 minutes.

Boilingconvertstheinsolublehopalphaacids
into their soluble form and develops the
beer’s bitterness, and inactivates the barley
enzymesandsofixesthecarbohydratemix—
a certain portion of sugar for the yeasts to
convert into alcohol, a certain portion of
dextrins for the beer’s body. It sterilizes the
wort so that the brewing yeasts won’t have
any competition during fermentation, and it
concentratesthewortbyevaporatingoffsome
ofitswater.Boilingdeepensthewort’scolor
by encouraging browning reactions, mainly