Tour The Brewhouse
Welcome to the map of our new brew house. Here you can get a virtual tour of the new brewery and learn about the basics of brewing beer. Click on the equipment to get a description of what’s happening, or just look the map over and scroll down to the description of the brewing process below.
For a tour of the real brewing facility, visit Anderson Valley Brewing Company, at 17700 Hwy. 253, Boonville, California. We offer tours of the brewery daily at 11:30 am and 3:00 pm. (except Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s during winter) Stop by the Visitor Center to arrange your tour.
PLEASE NOTE: For safety’s sake, closed footwear must be worn on the tour - no sandals – no backless shoes – no open toed shoes.
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. Back to brewery map
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. Back to brewery map
3 THE GRIST CASE
The crushed malt, now called grist, is moved transported to the grist case , where each batch is weighed out. Back to brewery map
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 . Back to brewery map
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 . Back to brewery map
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. Back to brewery map
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). Back to brewery map
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). Back to brewery map
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 . Back to brewery map
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. Back to brewery map
11 THE FILTER
After fermentation, the beer is filtered through several layers of diatomaceous earth , to remove any remaining trub, hops, and yeast. Back to brewery map
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. Back to brewery map