The Finished Beer

Appears in
On Food and Cooking

By Harold McGee

Published 2004

  • About
In the end, brewing has transformed the dry, tasteless barley grain into a bubbly, bitter, acidic liquid (its pH is about 4) that is 90% water, 1 to 6% alcohol, and between 2 and 10% carbohydrates, mainly the long-chain dextrins that provide body.