Beer necessities

The brewing of beer is arguably one of the oldest industrial processes in the world in terms of its roots. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the ancient Sumerians were fermenting processed barley at reasonable scale in what is now modern-day Iran, around 3,500 BC.

Its popularity among many divergent cultures – from indigenous African tribes to German beer halls – is largely owing to the simplicity of its m

ethod.

Barley is milled and mashed, boiled with hops to make wort, then pitched with yeast and left to ferment.

For this reason, the basic process has not altered a great deal. Of course it’s been scaled up considerably to meet insatiable, largely Western, demand and altered to reflect changing tastes over time, but it’s remained much the same.

’There are pilot plants located around different countries, but they tend to be quite static in design – just a very basic brewery usually designed for making new products or as a teaching facility – not necessarily ideal for testing new process innovations and technologies,’ said James Van Der Watt, a research consultant at international brewer and bottler SABMiller, whose headquarters are in London.