I have already addressed some things about water in the previous post.  Let’s address grains.  Grains are the next integral part of what makes a beer.  When fermented beverages were first discovered they were only sporadic in nature.  It wasn’t until humans moved from nomadic life to agrarian life that “beer” was truly discovered (as early as 8000 b.c.).  Here is (in my opinion) the most probable circumstance.  Excess grains that were to be stored became wet and sprouted.  People noticed that when these grains sprouted and were cooked they tasted better.  Having discovered this, they attempted to to store the grains, which were subsequently saturated.  Wild yeast from the air caused the watery grains to become fermented alcohol.  Some brave soul smelled and then drank the liquid, and beer has been here ever since.

This was a very primitive beer that we are talking about.  This is not to say that beer technology stayed that way.  In fact, beer tech in the ancient world become increasingly developed and complicated.  One thing that was largely missing from the ancient world was the know how and technology for the malting (i.e., kilning process) for grain.  The kilning process helped to keep grain and store starches (which become sugars during the moderate heating of grain) in the grain.  The amounts, types, and availability of grains varied for the ancient man.  Do not mistake this for saying that they did not have variety; some ancient cultures had up to 30 types (read variations) of beer.  One thing remains true…only those drinks whose primary ingredient in some form of grain are properly considered beer.

One of the great ironies that we experience in modern times is that we have more varieties, flavors, and types of beer and grain than almost any time in history–but we are content to drink inferior beers.  The ancient man would marvel!  Here is what makes one beer inferior or superior (in terms of grains).  There are two types of grains suitable for brewing.  The first is two row grains.  The second is six row grains.  One is superior and the other inferior.  Large scale breweries often use the inferior, which is why they use rice hulls to smooth the harshness of their product.  Smaller, home, and quality concerned brewers use the superior (and more expensive) grains to make a much better product.  Hence the price difference.

Due to the length of this post I will post part II of part two tomorrow.  We don’t want the posts to become cumbersome to read, and my hope is that we can generate interest this way also.