We have been to asked to begin by researching into a range of information and responses that clearly and effectively communicates and utilises our concepts in relation to:
- A Brief History Of...
- A Collection Of...
- An Introduction To...
- Things You Need To Know About...
- An Exhibition Of...
The format of our research is to be both visual research and written information which we will be presented in the form of a series of design boards.
For my research theme I have chosen beer. I chose beer as my chosen research theme as I felt this would give me a good starting point for my research which I would then able to focus down to one area such as packaging.
Beer:
An alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted barley and malted wheat.
Most beer is also flavoured with hops which adds bitterness and act as a natural preservative though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included.
Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea.
HISTORY
Beer is one of the worlds most oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed and is recorded in the written history of ancient Iraq and Ancient Egypt.
Archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilisations.
The earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500-3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zargros Mountains of western Iran.
Beer was spread through Europe by German's and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.
As of 2006, more than 133 billion litres are sold per year producing a total global revenues of $294.5 billion. In 2010, China's beer consumption hit 45 billion litres or nearly twice that of the US but only 5% sold were premium draught beers compared with 50% in France and Germany.
BREWING
The purpose of brewing is to convert the starch source into a sugary liquid called wort and to convert the wort into the alcoholic beverage known as beer in a fermentation process effected by yeast.
The first step, where the wort is prepared by mixing the starch source (normally malted barley) with hot water, is known as "mashing". Hot water (known as "liquor" in brewing terms) is mixed with crushed malt or malts (known as "grist") in a mash tun. The mashing process takes around 1 to 2 hours,] during which the starches are converted to sugars, and then the sweet wort is drained off the grains. The grains are now washed in a process known as "sparging". This washing allows the brewer to gather as much of the fermentable liquid from the grains as possible. The process of filtering the spent grain from the wort and sparge water is called wort separation. The traditional process for wort separation is lautering, in which the grain bed itself serves as the filter medium. Some modern breweries prefer the use of filter frames which allow a more finely ground grist.
Most modern breweries use a continuous sparge, collecting the original wort and the sparge water together. However, it is possible to collect a second or even third wash with the not quite spent grains as separate batches. Each run would produce a weaker wort and thus a weaker beer. This process is known as second (and third) runnings. Brewing with several runnings is called parti gyle brewing.
The sweet wort collected from sparging is put into a kettle, or "copper", (so called because these vessels were traditionally made from copper) and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Boiling also destroys any remaining enzymes left over from the mashing stage. Hops are added during boiling as a source of bitterness, flavour and aroma. Hops may be added at more than one point during the boil. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness they contribute, but the less hop flavour and aroma remains in the beer.
After boiling, the hopped wort is now cooled, ready for the yeast. In some breweries, the hopped wort may pass through a hopback, which is a small vat filled with hops, to add aromatic hop flavouring and to act as a filter; but usually the hopped wort is simply cooled for the fermenter, where the yeast is added. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer in a process which requires a week to months depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. In addition to producing alcohol, fine particulate matter suspended in the wort settles during fermentation. Once fermentation is complete, the yeast also settles, leaving the beer clear.
Fermentation is sometimes carried out in two stages, primary and secondary. Once most of the alcohol has been produced during primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage before packaging or greater clarity. When the beer has fermented, it is packaged either into casks for cask ale or kegs, aluminium cans, or bottles for other sorts of beer.
INGREDIENTS
- Water - Ingredient which beer is mostly composed of
- Starch Source - The starch source in a beer provides the fermentable material and is a key determinant of the strength and flavour of the beer.
- Hops - The flower of the hop bine is used as a flavouring and preservative agent in nearly all beer made today
- Yeast - Yeast is the microorganism that is responsible for fermentation in beer.
- Clarifying Agent - Some brewers add one or more clarifying agents to beer, which typically precipitate (collect as a solid) out of the beer along with protein solids and are found only in trace amounts in the finished product
Beer colour is determined by the malt.The most common colour is a pale amber produced from using pale malts. Pale lager and pale ale are terms used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke was first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it was not until around 1703 that the term pale ale was used.
In terms of sales volume, most of today's beer is based on the pale lager brewed in 1842 in the town of Pilsen in the present-day Czech Republic. The modern pale lager is light in colour with a noticeable carbonation (fizzy bubbles) and a typical alcohol by volume content of around 5%. The Pilsner Urquell, Bitburger, and Heineken brands of beer are typical examples of pale lager, as are the American brands Budweiser, Coors, and Miller.
Dark beers are usually brewed from a pale malt or lager malt base with a small proportion of darker malt added to achieve the desired shade. Other colourants—such as caramel—are also widely used to darken beers. Very dark beers, such as stout, use dark or patent malts that have been roasted longer. Some have roasted unmalted barley.
STRENGTH
Beer ranges from less than 3% alcohol by volume (abv) to around 14% abv, though this strength can be increased to around 20% by re-pitching with champagne yeast, and to 55% abv by the freeze-distilling process. The alcohol content of beer varies by local practice or beer style. The pale lagers that most consumers are familiar with fall in the range of 4–6%, with a typical abv of 5%. The customary strength of British ales is quite low, with many session beers being around 4% abv. Some beers, such as table beer are of such low alcohol content (1%–4%) that they are served instead of soft drinks in some schools.
VARIETIES
Pale Ale
Pale ale is a beer which uses a top-fermenting yeast and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles.
Stout
Stout and porter are dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with slow fermenting yeast. There are a number of variations including Baltic porter, dry stout, and Imperial stout.
Mild
Mild ale has a predominantly malty palate. It is usually dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter hued milds as well as stronger examples reaching 6% abv and higher.
Wheat
Wheat beer is brewed with a large proportion of wheat although it often also contains a significant proportion of malted barley.
Larger
Lager is the English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin. Pale lagers are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. The name "lager" comes from the German "lagern" for "to store", as brewers around Bavaria stored beer in cool cellars and caves during the warm summer months.
Lambic
Lambic, a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. Many of these are not strains of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and may have significant differences in aroma and sourness.
BEER CULTURE
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest is the world's largest fair held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16-day festival running from late September to the first weekend in October with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event every year. To the locals, it is often simply called "Wiesn", after the colloquial name of the fairgrounds (Theresienwiese) themselves. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the original Munich event.
Otley Run
The Otley Run is a pub crawl in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The route follows the A660, also known as Otley Road at the point the pub crawl commonly begins. The Otley Run is a popular social gathering for student clubs and societies from The University of Leeds, Leeds College of Music, Leeds College of Art, Leeds Trinity University College, Leeds Metropolitan University and The University of Bradford and is also a common activity for birthdays and other celebrations.among graduates and city residents. Participants often wear fancy dress and coordinate their costumes to a particular theme.
Depending on the route taken, the Otley Run can include 20 drinking establishments:
1. Village leeds north devere, top of headingley
2. Woodies Ale House, Far Headingley
3.The Three Horseshoes, Far Headingley
4.The New Inn, Far Headingley
5.Havana Bar and Cocktail Lounge, Headingley (formerly Voodoo Bar)
6.Headingley Taps, Headingley
7. Trio, Headingley
8.The Arc, Headingley
9. The Box, Headingley
10. The Skyrack, Headingley
11. The Original Oak, Headingley
12. The Hyde Park, Hyde Park Corner
13. The Library, Woodhouse Lane (formerly Feast and Firkin)
14. The Packhorse, Woodhouse Lane
15. The Eldon, Woodhouse Lane
16. The Old Bar Leeds University Union
17. The Terrace Leeds University Union
18. The Fenton, Woodhouse Lane
19. Strawberry Fields,(Strawbs) Woodhouse Lane
20. The Dry Dock, Woodhouse Lane
Bierkeller
PACKAGING
Beer Labels
Beer Boxes
BEER ADVERTISING
