The beer is a fermented alcoholic drink whose basic ingredients are malted barley (germinated barley), water (beer contains 95 % of it), hop and yeasts.

The production of beer is made of three big steps: malting, mashing en fermentation.

These three steps are divided in many operations. We will particularly describe the following ones :

1. Malting 
2. Mashing 
3. Boiling and hopping 
4. Fermentation
5. Maturation and bottling

 3 - Boiling and hoppping

Hop is a plant whose flowers are used to flavour beer. Hop, responsible for the fresh and thirst-quenching taste of beer, gives also a light bitterness which will be more or less strong according to the added quantity, the moment when we add it and the maceration duration.

After half an hour boiling, one add hop at a rate of 150 to 300 grams per hectolitre according to its strength and to the wished bitterness. The total boiling duration is one hour and a half. Wort is then clarified, cooled and aerated (to favour the growth of yeast) then pumped into a fermentation tank.