Our Process
For us, brewing is about getting the right balance between the science and the art. We engineer, we calculate, we cook, we manage and occasionally we sample. But mainly we try to create great tasting, brilliant beers. Here's the basics for anyone who loves craft beer.
Milling: The outer husk of malted barley is crushed to make it easier to release starch later in the brewing process.
Mashing: Water is mixed with the milled grain to allow the starches to break down into fermentable sugar so yeast can later "eat it."
Lautering: After mashing, the wort is drained out of the grain like a strainer. Liquid runs through and grain is held back. It's rinsed to remove the clinging residual sugars.
Boiling: The wort is vigorously boiled to kill any bacteria and extract bitterness and flavor from the hops. Hops balance out the sugary sweetness of wort and eventually the beer.
Whirlpooling: After boiling the wort is pumped around to generate a teacup effect that separates the denser solids into a cone in the center of the whirlpool.
Cooling: After the whirlpool, the brewer wants to cool the wort as fast as possible so it's safe for adding the yeast. Too hot equals dead yeast.
Yeast: It is critical to use good healthy yeast, free from infection or mutation. Sanitation and cleanliness are critical so that the yeast won't lose the battle to get to the sugars first.
Fermenting: Once the yeast is pitched it metabolizes sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the product can be called beer for the first time.
Maturing: The beer is almost ready, but not quite. It needs to rest and mature at very low temperatures. This helps to drop the yeast to the bottom of the fermenter to aid its removal and also to mellow slightly rugged fermentation characteristics.
Filtering: At this point, the yeast has completed its job and it’s time to remove it from the beer. We gently run the beer through a filter to catch and leave behind the yeast and to give us brilliant, bright, fresh and clear beer.
Packaging: Kegs, growlers or bottles, direct to the customer!
