Before one can truly appreciate craft beer, one should first understand how the libation is produced. While there are numerous texts and diagrams that describe the brewing process, there is perhaps no better way to develop a basic understanding than by watching it first hand.
At their pilot brewery on the lake, Eric and Patrick walk you through the entire process of producing beer in five minutes.
All grain home brewing is nearly identical to the process at a commercial brewery:
- The brewer builds a grain bill with various types of malted barley, according to a specific recipe.
- Malted barley is cracked open in the mill, exposing soluble starches.
- In the mash tun, an enzymatic reaction triggered by the addition of hot water converts soluble starches into fermentable sugars.
- Spent grain husks are separated from the liquid ‘wort’ in the lauter tun.
- Wort is heated to a roiling boil in the brew kettle. Bittering hops are added at the start of the boil, and aroma hops are added at the conclusion.
- The whirlpool separates liquid wort from solid proteins.
- Wort is rapidly cooled to the appropriate fermentation temperature as it passes through a heat exchanger.
- Yeast is pitched to the fermenting tank to convert sugars in the wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Freshly fermented beer is often cooled during the conditioning process.
- Most beers are filtered to remove solid proteins.
- Filtered beer is transferred to the bright beer tank prior to packaging.
- Optional sterile filtration or pasteurization neutralizes any live yeast in the beer prior to the racking of kegs.
- Bottles are filled in a bottling line.
- Beer is shipped to wholesalers.
Timeline: The "hot" brewing process generally only takes about four hours. The entire process (including fermentation, conditioning, and packaging) of producing an ale usually takes about four weeks, while lagers generally take about six weeks to produce.
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