Art and Science
As much an art as a science, brewing is
the fundamental, yet not-so-simple practice of changing water and grain
into beer. At its most basic, the process consists of the mixture of grain
and water; yeast is introduced to initiate fermentation and hops are added
for flavor and aroma. Here's a look at the brewing process:
- Malted barley is crushed in a roller mill
(1) resulting in a grist. (An optional grist case (2) can store the milled
barley.)
- The grist is then mixed with hot water,
called liquor (3) in the mash tun (4). This process results in a mash.
- Wort, a sweet, fermentable liquid, is
then run off the mash through the screened plates to the kettle (5). While
the wort is running off, the grain is sprayed with more hot water, a
process called sparging.
- After sparging, the wort is brought to a
boil and hops are added to provide bitterness, flavor and aroma. Following the
boil, the hot wort travels through a heat exchanger (6) to reduce the
temperature from around 212 degrees F to 68 degrees F for fermentation.
- A refrigerated cold liquor tank (7) may
be used to help cool the beer as it goes through the heat exchanger.
- Before the fermentation process begins,
yeast is added to the cold wort in the fermentation or unitank (8).
Temperatures hover near 54 degrees F causing the yeast to settle out. Beer
flavors mature at this stage, called secondary fermentation, during the 7
to 14 days of storage. Additional hops may be added to give beer more
aroma at this stage.
- Finally, a filter (9) may be used to
further remove the yeast and clarify the beer. The finished beer is then
stored in a bright beer tank, or serving tank (10).
At this point, craft breweries will
carbonate the beer before bottling and/or kegging the final product (11).
It is then distributed for your enjoyment. Brewpubs will often serve the
finished beer on premise right out of the serving tank, at the peak of
freshness and flavor.
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