Beer, asteroid 1,896 (the 1,896th asteroid to be discovered, on October 26, 1971), is approximately 6.6 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 3.8 years. Beer was named after the prominent astronomer, Arthur Beer, who was a spectroscopist and spectrophotometrist. J. Lee Lehman, perhaps unaware of the astronomer Beer, gives this asteroid a “literal” interpretation, associating it with addiction, particularly addiction to alcoholic substances.
an aromatic, carbonated beverage with a low alcoholic content and with the bitter taste of hops. Beer is produced by the fermentation of wort from barley malt, hops, and water. To produce different types of beer the barley malt is partially replaced by rice, corn, or barley flour, as well as by sugar. Beer is a refreshing, thirst-quenching beverage. The various types of beer contain anywhere from 4 to 10 percent of easily assimilated nutrients, mainly carbohydrates, a small amount of amino acids, other products of protein metabolism, and minerals. In addition, beer contains 1.8–6 percent alcohol, 0.3–0.4 percent carbon dioxide, organic acids, and bitter substances and tannins from the hops.
The manufacturing process involves making the malt from the barley, producing the wort, fermenting the wort with brewer’s yeast, aging, filtration, and bottling. In malting it is necessary to clean and sort the barley, soak the grains, germinate the grains to form the malt, dry the green malt, remove the shoots, and soften the malt. The dried malt has a sweetish taste and characteristic odor. The wort is obtained by polishing and grinding the malt and then mixing it with water. The resulting mash undergoes various fermentation processes at certain temperatures. The most important of these processes is the conversion of the malt’s starch to sugar. The mash is filtered when the conversion is completed, and the transparent wort is boiled with hops. As a result, the wort becomes light and aromatic. The hops are then removed, and the wort is cooled in settling vats in closed plate heat-exchange units.
The wort is fermented with special types of brewers’ yeasts in special containers at a temperature of 5°–9°C for seven or eight days (depending on the type of beer). The fermentable material forms alcohol and carbon dioxide. After fermentation, the young beer is aged in closed cylindrical vessels (lager tanks), in which the temperature is 0°–2°C. The beer becomes filled with carbon dioxide, undergoes clarification, and takes on a full flavor. Aging lasts 21 to 90 days. There are also continual and accelerated beer-brewing processes, in which the fermentation and aging steps are shortened. After aging, the beer is filtered to remove the yeast and then bottled.
There are dark and light beers. Light beer has a subtle aroma and a distinct bitterness from the hops. Dark beer is less bitter and tastes more of malt. Light malt is used to make the light varieties, while dark beers are made with special dark or caramel malts.
Light beers of the USSR include Zhigulevskoe, Leningrad-skoe, and Rizhskaia; among the dark beers are Ostankinskoe, Ukrainskoe, and Porter.
V. G. GRISHCHENKOVA