What beers are made by the top-fermenting process?

Top-fermented beers include Brown Ale, Mild Ale, Old Ale, Pale Ale, Stout and Wheat beer. Pale lagers are the most commonly consumed type of beer in the world.

What is the difference between top-fermented beer and bottom fermented beer?

The difference is this: how was the beer fermented? Ale is top-fermented, meaning the yeast is applied to the top of the wort, and at a higher temperature. Lager, on the other hand, is bottom-fermented, meaning the yeast works at the bottom of the wort, at a much lower temperature.

How is beer categorized?

The major difference between types of beer comes down to the type of yeast used to ferment it. A beer can qualify as either a lager or an ale, depending on the fermenting process. Ales are created through top fermentation, a process in which yeast ferments at warmer temperatures and settles at the top of the beer.

Is all beer fermented?

Like kombucha, wine, or your favorite bread, beer is fermented. Yes, every beer. From the lightest of light beers to the funkiest of wild and sour beer. Using grain and water, the brewer creates a sugary liquid called wort and then adds yeast to it.

Is a bottom fermenting beer?

Bottom Fermentation is a process using yeast strains that work effectively at lower temperatures 5°C–10°C (41°F–50°F), causing the yeast to work less vigorously and create carbon dioxide more slowly. Bottom fermentation is usually associated with lager yeasts.

Is all beer made with yeast?

Yes, every beer. The majority of beers use a yeast strain called Saccharomyces. This translates from Latin to “sugar fungus.” It’s apt, given that the yeast that goes into beer looooooves sugar. Within that genera, there are two specific species of Saccharomyces yeast that get the most use: lager yeast and ale yeast.

Are all beers either ales or lagers?

All beer is either an ale or a lager. This is not determined by color, flavor or alcohol strength, but by the fermentation technique and yeast used in brewing.

How many categories of beer are there?

There are over 50+ different types of beer and there are even more ways to categorize them—by flavour, by type, by color, by bitterness, by ingredients, etc.

Are lagers bottom fermented?

The basic difference between these two major beer classifications is how they are fermented. Ales are fermented with top-fermenting yeast at warm temperatures (60˚–70˚F), and lagers are fermented with bottom-fermenting yeast at cold temperatures (35˚–50˚F).