It is what happens in the hands of brewmasters that determine the quality and variations of taste in beer . For instance, you can use hard water, soft water, spring water, or distilled water. The malting of barley can produce pale, crystal, roasted and chocolate malts.
Brewers soak barley in water and make it sprout.
Then they dry the barley and remove the sprouts, leaving only starch, or malt. The malt is ground and mixed with water to form a mash. It is then added to another mash, a preparation of cereal grain such as corn or rice that has been crushed and heated. This process converts the starch into sugar. Dried flowers from the hops plant are added for flavour, and then the mash is fermented.