Brewing is the production of
beer by
steeping a
starch source (commonly
cereal grains, the most popular of which is
barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with
yeast. It may be done in a
brewery by a commercial brewer, at home by a
homebrewer, or by a variety of traditional methods such as communally by the
indigenous peoples in Brazil when making
cauim. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations including
ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia brewed beer. Since the nineteenth century the brewing industry has been part of most western economies.