B. United International Inc. - Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes

Hops

Hops (Hop Lupulus) is a hardy perennial of cannabis family which grow each year in the spring and gradually curl up around a vertical stake, reaching heights up to 7 to 10 meters. Only the female part of the plant are used in the brewing of beer because of their resins and essential oils.

Although hops was already occassionaly used as a spice, it was first truly used to hop beer in the beginning of the 13th century. It's use as an effective preservative is traced back to sister Hildegarde von Bingen (1098-1179) of the Saint-Rupert Abbey of Bingen in Germany. An informed herbalist, she noted that hop helps to slow the degradation of beer and prolongs its life. She wrote in her book "Subtleties of the Divine Creatures" that "... thanks to its bitterness it (the hops) stops the degradation of the drinks to which it is added, so that the drinks thus preserve themselves longer."

Brewing Process:

To brew beer, the barley is initially malted, i.e. soaked in water until it starts to germinate. It is then dried in a furnace. It is at this stage that the color and the resonance of the beer are obtained, which can vary according to the type of grain used, its place of culture, the quality of the mash, the temperature and duration of the process.

The malt is then mixed with hot water and this allows the released starch to transform itself into sugar, this necessary for the fermentation process.

This mixture is called “mash” and it is with this mash that the brewer adds the hop whose essential resins, oils, tannins and preservatives will in time give the beer its flavor. The taste of the hops which his accentuated by bitterness is compensated by the softness of the malt.

Then, when the mash has cooled to the desired temperature, yeast is added. The yeast acts on the sugars contained in malt and transforms them (enzymatic action) into alcohol during fermentation. The yeast also gives the beer its aromatic qualities and makes the beer semi-sparkling by causing a carbon dioxide outburst during fermentation.

The oldest method of mixing is the top-fermentation which proceeds at ambient temperature (of 15 with 20° C, even more), in a relatively short time, and makes it possible for the yeast to rise to the surface during the course of fermentation.