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THE BREWING PROCESS
1 THE GRAIN SILO
We store pale malt barley, the grain of which we use the most, in the grain
silo, beside the brew house. Upon harvest, the barley kernels are
malted
(allowed to begin germinating), then are kiln dried to halt the growth. This
sprouting of the grain allows the kernel to begin the process of converting its
starch into fermentable sugar, a process that will be continued later, during
the
mash
procedure. We also use specialty malts, which in addition to being malted,
have been roasted to varying degrees. These malts are used to inpart color,
flavor, and complexity to the brews.
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2 THE MILL
Malted barley and other specialty malts are lightly crushed in the
mill
, keeping the husk mostly intact, but exposing the starchy
endosperm.
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3 THE GRIST CASE
The crushed malt, now called grist, is moved transported to the
grist case
, where each batch is weighed out.
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4 THE HOT LIQUOR TANK
Hot water from the
hot liquor tank
is mixed with the grist in the
steel's masher
, a blending device located between the grist case and
mash/lauter tun
.
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5 THE MASH / LAUTER TUN
The roughly mixed grist and hot water, now called
mash
, are thoroughly mixed in the
mash/lauter tun
, and allowed to rest for 90 minutes. During this time, naturally occurring
enzymes from the grain become activated and convert the grain's starch
into fermentable and non-fermentable sugars. This process is called
conversion
. After conversion is complete, we begin
lautering
, or run-off to the kettle. More hot water is sprayed on top of the mash,
to rinse the grain, and extract all of the sweet liquid called
wort
.
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6 THE BREW KETTLE
Once the
brew kettle
is full of
sweet wort
, we begin boiling.
Hops
are added at different times during the boil, to impart bitterness, character,
and aroma.
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7 THE WHIRLPOOL
After boiling for 90 minutes, the hopped wort is sent to the
whirlpool
, which clarifies the wort by settling out the hops and the
trub
(proteins which coagulate during the boil).
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8 THE HOP BACK
From the whirlpool, the wort is strained through more fresh hops, in the
hop back
. This gives our beers a fine fresh
hop nose
(aroma).
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9 THE HEAT EXCHANGER
The wort passes through a
heat exchanger
, to bring its temperature down from 200+°F to 70°F in a matter of
seconds. After the wort is cooled, yeast is added to it, on its way to
the
fermenter
.
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10 THE FERMENTER
In the fermenter, the yeast metabolizes the fermentable sugars, producing
ethanol (the alcohol) and carbon dioxide (the bubbles). The fermentation
and maturation process takes about two weeks.
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11 THE FILTER
After fermentation, the beer is filtered through several layers of
diatomaceous earth
, to remove any remaining trub, hops, and yeast.
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12 THE BRIGHT BEER TANKS
In the
bright beer tanks
, the correct CO
2
level is reached and the beer is allowed to condition until
packaging.
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