When assessing a beer's quality, home-brewers will often speak of esters. But what exactly are esters, you may wonder. Esters are the fruity sweet aroma you experience when selecting the ripest ...

Esters are formed by the condensation reaction between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. This is known as esterification. In a condensation reaction, two molecules join and produce a larger ...

To make an ester, a hydrogen atom must be removed from the hydroxyl group (–OH) of the alcohol. The –OH portion of the acid's carboxyl group must also be removed. The hydrogren atom and the ...