# Maize and Sorghum as Raw Materials for Brewing, a Review
## 2 Maize and Sorghum: Raw Materials for Brewing
### The Use in Brewing
#### 2.3.1 Maize
Opaque beers are called burukutu or pito in Ghana and Nigeria, chibuku in Zimbabwe, utshwala in South Africa, ikagage in Rwanda, mtama in Tanzania and tchakpalo in Ivory Coast and Togo. The technology used to produce these opaque beers differs slightly from country to country, depending on the local raw materials available to them. Some use sorghum, while others may use millet, cornecal, or even bananas. These beverages are a completely natural and nutritionally balanced product and rightly considered a liquid food and an alcoholic drink. Perhaps this is the reason why Africians--especially in rural regions--consume them in great quantities. The consumption of these beers often occurs while the fermentation state is still active [83]. Tella is a beer that is widely brewed and consumed in both rural and urban regions of Ethiopia. It is mainly obtained from cereals e.g., maize (_Zea mays_ L.), wheat (_Triticum aestivum_ Z.) and barley (_Hordeum vulgar_ L.). In addition to cereals, _Rhamnus prinoides_ L., which is known as gesho in Amharic, is used to add a special flavor to the finished product. It is also used as an antiseptic agent against bacteria. Alcohol is produced by _Saccharomyces cerevisiae_, but it is not able to metabolize starch. However, [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2013) showed that yeasts other than _Saccharomyces cerevisiae_ should be avoided in the tella production process, as their role in converting starch into fermentable sugar is reduced compared to malt amylase [85]. In the process of preparing tella, various substrates, including malt, enkuro (roasted dry corn ground into fine flour, mixed with water and boiled), kita (bread made from grain flour such as corn, wheat, or barley, separately or in the mixture), and derokote (fried maize, wheat or barley grains) are used as a source of carbon in fermentation. Malt amylases may not be sufficient to break down starch molecules into fermentable sugars in different substrates, as kita, enkuro and derokote are produced from cereals with a high starch content. Thus, various microorganisms from environmental sources may contribute to amylases and increase the efficiency of the conversion of starch from malt and adjuvants into maltose and other fermentable sugars [86]. Sekete is a drink made from germinated corn grains. It has a low alcohol content. This beer is commonly consumed by native people in rural areas in western Nigeria. Very little scientific research has been done on this beer. Studies show that after fermentation, the mineral content (phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and sodium) is decreased, while the content of some vitamins (riboflavin and niacin) is increased. This beer is a rich source of important amino acids like tyrosine, alanine, lysine and leucine, but it is deficient in arginine and proline. The drink exhibits high acidity. It contains species of bacteria of the genus _Lactobacillus_ and yeasts of the genus _Saccharomycesces_, in whose technological processes, lactic fermentation predominates--to the detriment of alcoholic fermentation. The commonly experienced relaxing, medicinal, and stimulating effects of the drink may be the result of its microbial profile, acid content and microorganism activity. [PERSON] et al. (2016) recommended fortifying and sweetening sekete to increase the overall acceptability of the drink [89].