Wort
Wort is the liquid created by steeping malted barley and/or other cereal grains in hot water (a process called mashing), or alternately by adding a malt extract product to water.[1] Its composition is highly complex — probably thousands of components are present.[2] Sweet wort is viscous, sweet, dense, sticky and colored to some extent.[2] Wort is separated from the spent grains in a process called lautering. Hop compounds are added during the boiling stage. A common adage among brewers is that "brewers make wort; yeast make beer".
The major extract components in wort can be grouped as follows:[2][3][1]
- Carbohydrates (including sugars and dextrins, beta-glucans and arabinoxylans)
- Protein, peptides, and amino acids
- Lipids
- Phenolic compounds
- Minerals, organic acids, and bases
- Other color and flavor compounds such as melanoidins and heterocyclic compounds.
About 75-80% of the grist weight is dissolved (extracted) during mashing. About 91% of that extract is carbohydrates,[4] but only around 66-78% is fermentable sugars:[5][4] All of the undissolved material is discarded with the spent grains.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ a b Holbrook CJ. Brewhouse operations. In: Smart C, ed. The Craft Brewing Handbook. Woodhead Publishing; 2019.
- ↑ a b c Briggs DE, Boulton CA, Brookes PA, Stevens R. Brewing Science and Practice. Woodhead Publishing Limited and CRC Press LLC; 2004.
- ↑ Ferreira IM, Guido LF. Impact of wort amino acids on beer flavour: A review. Fermentation. 2018;4(23).
- ↑ a b Fix G. Principles of Brewing Science. 2nd ed. Brewers Publications; 1999.
- ↑ Kunze W. Hendel O, ed. Technology Brewing & Malting. 6th ed. VLB Berlin; 2019.