2 of 2Making ancient Egyptian beerLearn about the beer of ancient Egypt and the role of the yeast microbe in the brewing process.(more)See all videos for this articleBefore 6000 bce, beer was made from barley in and . Reliefs on Egyptian dating from 2400 bce show that barley or partly germinated barley was crushed, mixed with water, and dried into cakes. When broken up and mixed with water, the cakes gave an extract that was fermented by microorganisms accumulated on the surfaces of fermenting vessels. The basic techniques of brewing came to from the . The Roman historians and (both in the 1st century ce) reported that , , and Nordic and Germanic drank . In fact, many of the English terms used in brewing (malt, mash, wort, ale) are in origin. During the the monastic orders preserved brewing as a craft. Hops were in use in Germany in the 11th century, and in the 15th century they were introduced into Britain from . In 1420 beer was made in Germany by a - process, so called because the yeast tended to sink to the bottom of the brewing vessel; before that, the type of yeast used tended to rise to the top of the fermenting product and was allowed to overflow or was manually skimmed. Brewing was a winter occupation, and ice was used to keep beer cool during the summer months. Such beer came to be called (from German lagern, “to store”). The term lager is still used to denote beer produced from bottom-fermenting yeast, and the term ale is now used for top-fermented British types of beer. Behind the scenes: How Samuel Adams beer is madeLearn about the chemistry of beer and the process of brewing from a brewmaster of the Samuel Adams Brewery, Boston, Massachusetts.(more)See all videos for this articleThe brought the mechanization of brewing. Better control over the process, with the use of the and saccharometer, was developed in Britain and transferred to the , where the development of ice-making and equipment in the late 19th century enabled lager beers to be brewed in . In the 1860s the French chemist , through his investigations of fermentation, established many of the microbiological practices still used in brewing. The Danish botanist devised methods for growing yeasts in cultures free of other and . This technology was taken up quickly by Continental lager brewers but not until the 20th century by the ale brewers of Britain. Meanwhile, German-style lagers bottom-fermented by pure yeast cultures became dominant in the Americas., Beer is distributed in bottles and cans, and is commonly available on draught in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries., Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by extracting raw materials with water, boiling (usually with hops), and fermenting. In some countries beer is defined by law—as in Germany. Brewing in the 21st century is a large-scale industry. Learn about the history, types, and brewing process of beer..